Sharing experience part 3
Seven years ago when Kang Ji was a student in my class, she did not speak English well and had a problem with understanding lectures, so I advised her to take additional English classes and lived with American roommates to improve her language skills. After graduated, she worked at Microsoft and seemed to do well. Yesterday she came to visit me, so I asked her to share her working experience with my class. Following was what she shared:
“I began learning English when I was 12 years old. My parents prepared for my education early, because they wanted to send me to study in the U.S. My reading and writing skills were excellent, and I had very high scores on the TOEFL test. But when I arrived at Carnegie Mellon, I had difficulty to understand English and I could not speak much. What I have learned from my school and special language tutorials did not help at all. I did not have many chances to practice my speaking skills with native English speakers, and that was my weakness.”
“When I came here, I realized how much I needed to improve my speaking ability because I did not understand what the professors were saying in class. I read as much as I could to catch up and stayed up late to memorize the textbooks and hoped that I would do well in class. Even I had good reading skills; I could not catch up because college studying was not based solely on textbooks and memorizing but exchange information and discussion. In China, students were told to sit quiet and listen to the lectures, but in U.S. classes, students asked questions all the time, some openly expressed their opinions with the professors, some were even different from the professor's views. Doing that in China, you would be punished or even kicked out of class.”
“I spent the first six months full of frustrations until I took Professor Vu's Introduction to Computer Systems. What surprised me most was he spent the first class talking about career planning and how to study in college. He required all students to develop a career plan with defined education goals. I never developed any plan or set any goal because in my mind, having a degree was the goal and getting the job was the objective. He said: “You need to gather information and explore opportunities to set goals, make decisions, and take action for your career and your lives. By knowing what skills that you need, what are your strengths and weaknesses, and what your future career could be, you can manage your learning and skills development.” This activity opened my mind to the reality of life that many students never had even thought. Most of us grew up in a tradition where parents planned everything for their children, and we just follow that without question. I learned that to succeed at this time; I have to be responsible for my career as well as my life.”
“When I told Professor Vu that I had difficulty with English, he said: “Every foreign student also had a similar problem becauseof their inherent structure of their first language that they are familiar. When learning another language, they think in their language, then try to translate it from their first language to the second language, and it confuses them.” That was the first time someone explained it so clearly to me about my problem. He advised: “The best way to learn English is to start with the vocabulary. You should try to read newspapers and technical articles in English to improve the vocabulary. When you have learned a few words, try to make them into a few short sentences when communicating with your friends. You should pronounce each word and sentences aloud and then try to correct your pronunciation or have your friends to help you. Do not hesitate to talk because the more mistakes you make, the better you will improve. You need to find American roommates so you can talk with them daily to improve your speaking skills.”
“Many international students preferred to have someone who came from the same country as roommates as we felt comfortable with each other. Followed his advice, I requested a room change in the dormitory to live with two American roommates and try to speak more often and asked them to correct my pronunciation. It did not matter whether I said something wrong or right, but as I continue to speak more to my roommates, eventually it also ended my shyness which is a major problem in my English learning. We also watched TV shows together to improve my comprehension skills and familiar myself with American culture. After a few months; my English skills improved significantly.”
“As my English skills improve, I felt more comfortable, and confidence in my study here. I learned that to get a good job, having the technical skills is not enough. Most companies are looking for soft-skills that Professor Vu also taught in his class. I remembered he said: “When the interviewer asks “Tell me about your project …,” that is your chance to demonstrate your communication skills where you explain about your school project. But you should explain in term of what the project has something that meets the company's needs. When the Interviewer asks “Tell me about the problem in your project …” That is also an opportunity to talk about how you effectively handle problems. Never blame anyone but accept the responsibility, remember that teamwork is important. If the question is about people issue, the interviews want to determine your maturity also. Mature people focus on the needs of others; immature people are all about themselves.”
“I never forget his advice because during the job interview at Microsoft, they asked me these same questions and I did very well. The last question that surprised me was: “What is your weakness or your strengths?” I knew that I had very good technical skills, but I did not want to sound arrogant. After hesitated, I answered: “My weakness is communication as English is not my main language but I have worked hard to overcome it by participating in the class discussion. I am confident that I can continue to improve it.”
“After the interview, I went back to my room and thought that I should never reveal my weakness in a job interview as they probably will not hire me. A few days later, I got the job offer from Microsoft. When I went to work there, I met the manager who interviewed me. He said that there were many good technical students and they all did well in the interview, but the answer that I gave allowed him to make the decision to hire me. He said: “By asking that question, I wanted to know your ability to handle criticism, I wanted to see that you can recognize your weaknesses and that you are willing to correct them. And your answer clearly and honestly was just perfect.”
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
