Linus' Story
Alumnus
BA(Hons) in English Studies for the Professions
My experience at the Faculty of Humanities had been an extremely fruitful one and exceeded my expectations in every aspect. The broad discipline programme is extremely comprehensive and I have received useful advice from the teachers of both ENGL and CBS.
The degree of BA (Hons) in English Studies for the Professions offers top-notch linguistic training in academic field, while specialised language courses are offered to help us excel in professional workplaces. I also completed my capstone project with Prof. Christian Matthiessen, a world-renowned scholar in systemic functional linguistics. His advice and encouragements have helped me enormously to complete this project. I have profited from his wisdom, knowledge, and humanity. I am very pleased that ENGL provides these invaluable opportunities to let us learn from many academically reputable scholars in the department and many of us benefited massively in various aspects.
The Department of English is absolutely supportive in providing overseas learning opportunities. During my year two of study, I went to Toronto to work for a Chinese cultural centre. I managed a 3-day summer festival and achieved community wide publicity with 5,000 participants. During the process, I had the opportunity to liaise with business partners, politicians, and vendors on all aspects of planning the event.
In my penultimate year, I worked in Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Singapore. I assisted the managing director in the development of new Jakarta office by evaluating the operating environment of Indonesia, and drafted a comprehensive guideline for international officers. As I have drafted a similar guideline in an intercultural communication course, I was quite familiar with the format. My supervisor was impressed by the quality of work. I learnt a great deal and this is an example of how skills acquired in ENGL courses can be applied in professional workplaces.
In the second semester, I joined an overseas exchange programme in University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE). I had many fruitful conversations about the similarities and differences among different cultures with people from all parts of the world and this definitely honed my intercultural communication skills and raised my global awareness. The whole exchange experience is very rewarding and I have new found strengths to deal with the challenges ahead.
