Hazel product launch material

This week, I had to carry out a series of tasks in order to develop my vocabulary around the theme of strategy. Those tasks aimed to improve my use of language in this area so that I could write a professional press release. The task was to devise a new strategic plan for the company Hazel as a member of the senior management team. I had to help rebuild and improve Hazel's image around the world, and I had to improve sales and to fuel global growth.

Our new strategic plan consisted of a new brand name, a new product, a new mission statement.

We have devised the following brand name: 'Colori'. I think this is a catchy name, due to the Italian accent and 'Colori' resembles the word: Color. Hazel is a cosmetics and beauty products company, so I think 'Colori' matches perfect with the company.

Our mission statement is: "Colori's mission is to make the women of today feel confident and beautiful by bringing their true colors to life."

Our new product is a foundation and anti-ageing cream in one. You can read the press release of this new product below.

PRESS INFORMATION

LONDON, ENGLAND, November 29, 2011

COLORI’S INFINITY FOUNDATION

Colori Cosmetics has annunciated the launch of a newly-designed foundation, called Infinity. The foundation is a mixture of leveling make-up and an anti-ageing cream and is designed for women who often are anxious of getting older.

“An impressive appearance is very important for most women”, said John Parker, Colori’s Chief Executive Officer. “We have created a revolutionary formula to support those women, by assembling an anti-age serum with a revived foundation. Infinity will reenergize overworked skin, whereby our customers will look fresh and will feel comfortable all day long”

One of the features of Infinity is the long lasting coverage for more than 24 hours. It contains a moisturizing cream, which will nourish the skin and simultaneously will camouflage the unevenness. Therefore, women will feel natural and comfortable throughout the day. Through the new pump design of the bottle, the foundation is more easily to apply than ever. Furthermore, there is a wide range of flawless-looking tints, whereby there will be a best suit for every woman; from a very light skin, to a very dark one, and everything in between. Infinity perfectly matches the complexion and texture of the skin.

The new anti-ageing foundation of Colori, with a wide range of tints and the new pump design will be available in exclusive cosmetic stores on December 8^th

END

ABOUT COLORI

Founded in 1972, Hazel was one of the world’s largest direct sellers of cosmetics and beauty products. By the 1990s, the sales had begun to decline. Since the last ten years the company is struggling with serious problems. Therefore, a new CEO has been appointed to devise a new strategic vision for the company. Since last month, the company continued under the brand name Colori. From now on, the company is working on improving the brand image by developing innovative products, a new brand logo etc. The products of Colori are available in exclusive cosmetics stores.
Contact information: Coloricosmetics@gmail.com

Language Learning History

Language Learning History

This is a paper which reflects my language learning background. My first experience with the English language was in primary school. I went to an international school, called ‘De Prinseschool’, because that was the best school in my hometown. At that school, the English language was of great importance, due to the many international students. My class consisted of numerous nationalities; Dutch, American, Chinese, Russian etc., whereby the school was obliged to implement an English learning program. ‘De Prinseschool’ was my second primary school and I started there in the fifth class. Ones a year we organized an event named ‘Lets Present’, where all students had to perform on stage. Some students sang, others danced or played an instrument. Everybody had to speak/sing in English during this day. Furthermore, all students had to do an exam ones a year. This exam was called the ‘Anglia Exam’ and showed at which level of English the students were. We had to know all the irregular verbs, the basic principles of the grammar and wordlists and we were trained for this exam during the whole year. Because of this exam, I created a good basis for the rest of my career. In the eighth class, I was appointed to follow a special English class for students who did well enough in Dutch class and were eager to improve their English language skills. In that special English class, the tutor, Mr. Ahmed, taught us the grammar rules of the language. It was not a lecture, but it was more like a practical; we had to practice a lot by doing grammar exercises. This special class contributed to my advanced basis of the English language.

 In secondary school, I had to follow an English course since the first class. In those classes we practiced a lot for improving our knowledge about the language. During classes, we were obliged to speak in English. There were a lot of speaking exercises, we watched English movies and series like ‘Little Britain’, we had to read many books and we had to write reports about those books. Furthermore, we practiced the grammar principles during almost every class. Every year, we had to do a presentation about one of the books, a movie, or cases we discussed in class. In graduating class, the final assignment consisted of a conversation between two students in front of two teachers. The conversation was about the books we had to read and we had to link all those books together. My grade was an eight.

Before I came to university, I thought the English classes would be more or less identical. However, since the start of this first year, I quite improved my knowledge about the English language, for instance my vocabulary. Besides that, I did not expect that the course would contain business aspects.

For the next three years, I hope to improve my vocabulary knowledge to more academic words. Because I am thinking about going abroad after my master, maybe to the United States. Then, it is necessary to have a broad vocabulary and business knowledge. But that thought of my future is left to remain unanswered for now.

Primaryschool "De Prinseschool"

Below you will find a funny video about the irregular verbs. In primary school I had to know all the irregular verbs by heart. However, I had to learn them by reading them and just saying it out loud. I think this is a better way of teaching the irregular verbs. They are so important, and I think if they are teached this way, students will remember them more often.

Vocabulary Profiler

This is the result of the memo report Stitch Wear at the Vocabulary Profiler.

The blue K1 Words should have a percentage of 70%.
The green K2 Words should have a percentage of 10%
The yellow AWL Words (academic) should have a percentage of 10%
The red Off-List Words should have a percentage of 10% as well.

I think I scored quite well, but improvements are needed ofcourse.

Memo Report Stitch Wear

Below you can see the memo report we had to write to The board of directors of Stitch Wear about the urgent need of improving the company's Corporate Social Responsibility.

Memo Report

To:                                                       The board of directors

From:                                                  Tyrza Nanlohij (Head of PR)

Date:                                                   25 October 2011

Subject:                                              Action plan for improving CSR profile

Introduction

On October 20, the departmental heads discussed suggestions for improving the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) profile. We cogently need to improve our CSR profile to show that we pursue child labor-free production processes and that we want to improve the working conditions in the manufacturing countries. We have agreed on the following plan of action to improve the company’s  policy on corporate responsibility.

Manufacturing

Firstly, we agreed that there will not be any child employment under 14 anymore in the factories. It would be more effective  if Stitch Wear goes in a partnership with the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). The ETI screens all suppliers against a sourcing code of practice. We can also send a manager to the manufacturing companies to directly run the production process.  Therefore we can better keep an eye on the working conditions in the manufacturing countries.

Training and programs

Secondly, we propose educational training and health programs for children until the age of 16. Therefore we secure that child labor under the age of 14 is abolished. After the age of 16 the children will have the option for technical training, whereby children will have the choice to work in the factories after the technical training.

Marketing

Thirdly, we recommend to improve the reputation of our company. Thus, we think it is essential to create a new logo with ETI on it and to start a campaign about the health programs and the educational and technical training. We could also set up a sports event and create sports clothes with the new logo. If we make around 2000 pairs, it is not too costly. All in all, we will definitely improve our reputation.

Corporate Responsibility

Finally, we suggest that the Head of PR is the face of Corporate Responsibility. It is not necessary to create a new team under the supervision of a Corporate Responsibility Officer. That will be too costly.

Conclusion

The departmental heads strongly believe that these improvements are core to improving the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility. Although this will need a lot of research and discussion, we think that it is very important that these points are pursued. We believe that this is an essential investment for the reputation of the company.

We are looking forward to hear from you soon.

Tyrza Nanlohij

Head of PR

(S2037300)

(381 words)

Vocabulary Profiler Konopnicka Airport Memo Report

This is the outcome at the Vocabulary Profiler of the Konopnicka Airport Memo Report. The Vocabulary Profiler is a computer program that performs lexical text analysis. It takes any text and divides the words into four categories by frequency. K1 Words (1000 most frequent words), K2 Words (second most frequent thousand words), AWL Words (570 most frequently used words in academic texts across subjects) and the Off-List Words. The Vocabulary Profiler measures the proportions of low and high frequency vocabulary in a written text. A typical educated native speaker result is 70% from first 1000, 10% from second thousand, 10% academic and 10% less frequent words.





Konopnicka Airport Memo Report

Below you can see the memo report that I had to write to The Directors of the Polish Airports Agency. We had negotiations about a second runway, a construction of a new world-class passenger terminal, a cargo terminal and a catering base. All in all, I think the negotiations went well, and we came to mutual agreements.

Memo Report

To:                  The Directors of the Polish Airports Agency

From:              C. de Boer and T.E.L. Nanlohij (Polish Airports and Ministry of Infrastructure)

Date:               11 October 2011

Subject:           PPP Negotiations

Introduction

Konopnicka Airport is one of the regional airports operated by the Polish Airports Agency (PAA). Last year, more than 5.5 million passengers passed through the passenger terminal, and a significant growth of freight volume and passenger traffic is forecast for the period to 2020. Passenger traffic has already grown at rates exceeding forecasts and is expected to increase to around 9.4 million in four years’ time. Capacity of the passenger terminal has been set at 12 million passengers yearly. Konopnicka Airport is well suited for further development as an international hub airport and enjoys a geographic advantage, along with other Central European airports. That may relieve the air traffic congestion in many western European countries

Problem definition

In order to adapt Konopnicka Airport to the increasing freight and passenger traffic, the PAA and the Ministry of Infrastructure have taken the decision to add a second runway and construct a new world-class passenger terminal, a cargo terminal and a catering base. The next step in this decision is to choose a suitable construction company and make a favourable contract.

Financing

The airport will cost 120 million to build. 85% will be loaned by the Weber-Merkel bank with a interest rate of 3,5%. The remaining 15% will be financed by Polish Airports. We agreed that Laumann will take full responsibility for designing and building new facilities at Konopnicka Airport. Guarantees will be given by the Polish Government.

Operation and management

The ownership of assets will fully remain with the Polish Airports and Laumann will get the option to manage airport services for 80% and on 8-year concession.

Repayment terms

The loan will be repaid over 15 years and the repayments will begin on full completion of works on a monthly basis. We decided that Polish Airports will collect take-off and landing charges from foreign airlines and over flight fees. These charges will be used to make loan repayments. Excess funds will belong to Polish Airports.

Building Schedule

The construction project will take 30 months, and Laumann is allowed to sub-contract work to and cooperate with Polish construction companies, but they do need to have a proven record.

Risk allocation

We are in agreement that Laumann will get a $150.000 fine for every week’s delay, up to a maximum of $3 million. The polish airport and government will be responsible for adverse weather conditions and the private contractor will be responsible for preliminary environmental studies and consultation of local residents. The risk of low air-traffic volumes will be shared on a 50/50 basis between Polish government and private contractor.

Conclusion

We think that the negotiations worked out well. The appointments are clear and mostly in favour of all the parties involved.

Casper de Boer (2171597)

Tyrza Nanlohij (2037300)

(449 words)

Feedback Treasure Trove presentation

After the Treasure Trove presentation, I received a paper sheet with feedback from every person in our class.
This was the feedback I got:

My fellow students thought that I spoke clearly and with a good pace. They said that I looked very confident and relaxed. I made good eye-contact, but I still made use of my notes, which was not necessary at all.
So for the next time, I have to make less use of my notes, or I do not have to make use of notes at all. Furthermore, I have to look at more than one person.

All in all, I am satisfied with my presentation, I think that I can definitely can improve these points of critique.

Treasure Trove presentation

During class, we had to give a 5-minute powerpoint presentation about presenting tips. Each of us had to choose one article from 'The Treasure Trove Of Articles'. During the presentation, we had to inform each other about presentation techniques. I chose the article 'Presentation Tips For Public Speaking' which you can read below.


Presentation tips for public speaking

- Know the needs of your audience and match your content to their needs

- Know your material thoroughly. This means that you have to practice your presentation at home in front of a mirror or in front of your family or roommates. I prefer practicing in front of people, because they can give you feedback, and with this feedback  you can improve your presentation skills.

- Know what your strong and weak points are. When you are presenting, you’re like an actor on stage. How you are being perceived by the audience is very important. So  dress appropriately (don’t wear any training suits for instance). Remain calm, that’s very important. Don’t show your nerves to the audience. And when you remain calm you speak very clear and slow enough so everyone knows what you’re saying. And speak with conviction as if you really believe in what you are saying, because then, your audience will listen more carefully and they will maintain interested.

Body language

Body language is very important. Using hand gestures and facial expressions is much better than standing still of even sitting down and reading from your notes. You may glance at your notes infrequently, but don’t stare at them for a long time, because then you’ll start reading them and you’ll stay with your face to the ground during your presentation. And that’s obviously not very interesting for your audience! If you behave naturally, like when talking to friends, your audience will remain enthusiastic at listening to your presentation.

Eye contact

Always maintain eye contact with your audience. There is a 3 second method. This means that you have to look straight into a person’s eyes for 3 seconds at a time. Use this method for a number of people, and glance every now and then at the whole audience. This is very important, because than you make everyone feel involved.

Communication

You have to speak to your audience, listen to their questions and respond to their reactions. This means that there has to be interaction between the presenter and the audience. Because when there is interaction, everyone feels involved just like with eye contact. Interaction makes your presentation alive.

Humor

Add humor whenever appropriate. Because you have to keep your audience interested throughout the entire presentation. And interesting presentation makes time fly, but a boring one is too long to endure, even if the presentation time is the same. So use for instance funny cartoons, or funny short video’s.

Stop

And last but not least, you have to know when to stop talking! Don’t bore your audience with repetitious or unnecessary words in your presentation. Terminate your presentation with an interesting comment or an appropriate punch line. It is important to leave the audience with a positive impression and a sense of completion.

One-paragraph summary of learning goals

I know how to write good English sentences, but I clearly need more practice. This is English at an academic level, which extremely differs from the level in high school. At the end of this year, I want to dispose of a broad academic English vocabulary and I want to speak nearly fluently English. All in all, I am very enthusiastic about improving my communication skills and I am looking forward to write, listen and read at the level required.

Welcome

Hi there!

Welcome to my Language Learning Blog. This is a blog about my learning goals, the improvement of my communication and presenting skills and the progress of my knowledge about the English language. Firstly, let’s introduce myself.

I am Tyrza Nanlohij, I am 19 years old, and I life in Groningen.

This year I started with the study International Business and Management at the Rijksuniversity of Groningen. I think this is an interesting study and I am looking forward to improve my knowledge about it.

Last year I began with Law school, but this was not the perfect study for me. It was too theoretical and you could not discuss your opinion at all, because you had to answer everything by law. Despite of my great effort to pass the study, I just received insufficient grades. So that was not very motivating. At the end of January, I decided to quit Law school.

 

During the remaining six months I worked in an ice cream bar here in Groningen. It is established in the "Folkingestraat". During those six months, I worked their almost every day from 5 p.m. until 11 p.m., so six hours a day. When I just started, I thought it was a very nice job, with a kind boss and kind colleagues. However, after a couple of months, the bosses took kind of advantage of me, because I was so friendly and I wanted to help everyone. Due to my experience in the ice cream business (this was my third year I worked in an ice cream bar), I was able to open and close the store on my own, without any help. Therefore, my boss often asked me if I could work a little bit longer that day, so that he could take his wife out to dinner. Well, I wanted to be friendly so I thought it would be all right. But often the boss came back after four hours, so there were a lot of days that I worked for ten hours instead of six. And I never got any appreciation for it. However, I think my colleagues were very friendly and the work itself was also very nice, despite of my bosses.

During the six months that I was not studying, I attended a study workshop to decide which study I wanted to start with in September. This workshop consisted of three meetings, and every meeting lasted for three hours. During this workshop I learned a lot about myself; what my characteristics are, in which areas my interests lie, how to make the best decisions etc. During this workshop I came to the conclusion that International Business and Management might be the best study for me. Now, after 4.5 months, I think that that was the best decision I could have made.

At the end of August, I became a member of the students association Albertus Magnus. After the hazing we had to form a "yearclub" with a maximum of 15 girls. I formed a group of 14 girls, and they are all very kind. It feels like I know them for years.

All in all, I think this year will be fantastic. With a lot of new friends, a new study, and, of course, the broadening of my knowledge about the English language and International Business and Management.