How do I make myself fly with English?
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How do I make myself FL Y with English? Our Talents’ Stories October 2013
Transcript of How do I make myself fly with English?
How do I make myself FLY with English?
Our Talents’ Stories
October 2013
Why English is important in HKBN?
Despite being a mainly Cantonese based
company, we encourage all our Talents to
improve their English, and require new
management grade to at least achieve 6.5
IELTS / BULATS in HK and 5.5 in GZ. This is
because we consider English to be an
important global knowledge
language.
Benefits…
enjoying amazing overseas travels
securing business opportunities
promotion consideration
teaching English to your kids
If you master the international language well, you will be more successful in
…
IELTS / BULATS statistics in HKBN
83% (77 out of 93) of Pt.4 or up management reach the English standard set out in Company
73% (8 out of 11) of potential Pt.3 who attempt to take test reach the company’s standard
High portion of management (including potential managers) have reached company English standard.
The remaining few are on their committed schedules to take IELTS / BULATS test within this year.
We foresee there will be more proficient English HKBNers in 2014 and onwards.
How our Management is committed if they do not meet company English standard?
A management team with good English can raise Talents’ English, to a global level.
How our Management is committed if they do not meet company English standard?
Let’s hear the stories and encouragement from our newly
promoted managers
on
the importance of English
Boaris Yau - IT Manager, ITSAG In Guangzhou, the general environment does not provide much opportunity to use English. In contrast, at HKBN, there are much more chances… At work, I often need to read IT agreements and have discussions with vendors. To deliver a better job performance, I have a desire to improve my English. In personal, I am a film lover. I especially enjoy watching US films; however, the translation from English to Chinese is not that satisfied sometimes. With good mastery of English, I now can enjoy watching US movies with English subtitles. Honestly, I am impressed by NiQ’s encouragement that the better skills I master, the more opportunity I can have in future, even in job hunting. In an attempt to polish my English, I do the followings to make obvious improvement.
- Keep writing English in email to my supervisor or teammates, even though they send me email in Chinese; - Practice business English using GlobalEnglish; - Listen to English songs, read English magazines on train; - Enroll online English proficiency test training to familiarize the test format as I want to have assessment on
English standard (know the rule and you will reach your goal easier); - Regard my supervisor ‘s encouragement as a driving force to work harder in English.
How do I improve my English?
Ivan So - Assistant Manager, NOCNM
Watch TVB Pearl every week, join GlobalEnglish course
Speak English to myself, alert myself to improve English in every moment
Buy English reference book and do practice
I tell you a little story of how I truly understand why a “STOP & LEARN” approach is a good way to make your English shine.
I took IELTS test with satisfactory result during my University stage. After years of work without frequent use of English, I doubted “if my English is still as proficient as international standard?” In the meantime, company requires management to take English test, so I have to reassure my English proficiency is still up-to- standard.
Anyway, let’s try. I attempted the BULATS test in Jan this year and the result was very close to company English standard. In Mar, I retook the test. To my surprise, the result was the same as in Jan.
“Shall I retake again?” Well, NO! I found that I really needed to stop taking test but to focus on enhancing some parts of my English literacy. Therefore, I decided to spend the following five months to truly enhance my skills, without using luck to pass the test.
Finally, in Sep, I had another attempt and did pass the BULATS test. The happiness is DOUBLED!! I have my English skills obviously upgraded and my effort paid off.
Ways to polish English
What is your plan in English enhancement?
Contact TM team for English resources
HK: Cyrus Chau
GZ: Winnie Mok
3999 2920
3569 3997
