International Summer University Programme
19:53
Last few months ago, I got a call from
my lecturer named Madam Mahani Bt Mohd who told me about this international
university programme and the best part was she had selected me to be one of the
nominees before the final decision was made. Obviously at that particular time,
I was extremely happy yet grateful for having this opportunity. Basically, my
name is Nazirul Ikram Bin Sirozi and I have been studying in University of
Sultan Zainal Abidin taking Bachelor of English Language with Communication. I
am very optimistic person and looking for a better life in the future. When I
got this news, I always imagine in my mind about what could this programme do
with me since I am studying English language with communication. Since then, I
realised that there are numerous benefits that I will get from this programme
if I was one of the participants in that programme. Among the benefits that I
will get from this programme are widening my knowledge and perspective, gaining
independence and maturity along with gaining better appreciation of other
cultures as well as my own culture.
For
the first benefit which is widening my knowledge and perspective, it is mainly
because of the exposure of new learning environment which is a great advantage
for me to learn new things. With a new learning environment and some sort of
different educational format and philosophies, I will definitely broadening my
perspective on English language by looking at different angels and views on how
not only the native speakers communication style but also the international
English speaker communication style. There is one saying by Johan Wolfgan Von
Goethe that sounds “those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of
their own” which means that by joining this programme, I will be able to relate
with what I have learned in lecture with a real-life experiences at there which
I hopefully will get it through this program. For instance, in Sociolinguistics
subject, I have learned about language repertoire, standard language versus
vernacular language as well as how someone could express his or her ethnicity
using the language. This is going to be super fantastic if I get a chance to
observe these things with my own eyes during this programme so that I can share
the inputs with my classmates. Thus, I strongly believe that by joining this
programme, it will benefit me in terms of widening my knowledge and perspective
especially on language study field.
Apart
from widening my knowledge and perspective, this programme will also make me
achieve better appreciation of other cultures as well as my own culture. In my
perspective, I believe that by joining this programme, it will give me an
opportunity to share my culture as a Malaysian among the others. This is mainly
because, it is going to be completely different environment as we know eastern
culture is very contrasts with western culture. This will make me acquainted
with different country’s customs, people as well as region. One best thing
about this programme is that, it will teach me on how to be a cultural-aware
person who is able to accept others culture and be an open-minded person but
still within our culture values and religion views. Besides, I will also be
able to interpret what I have learned theoretically in Human Communication
subject into something practical such as intercultural communication which
means that when I am speaking the language of a certain culture, I will form a
bridge that connects my cultural backgrounds with theirs. This unconsciously
will improve my inter-cultural communication skills. Overall, by learning more
about others culture will make me able to discover the differences that will
help me to learn and identify more about myself. Thus, it is obviously shows
us that, this programme will benefits me in terms of better appreciation of
others culture as well as my own culture.
Last
but not least, this programme will also make me become more independence and
matured person. Living and studying abroad approximately for 3 weeks and
becoming far away from my home and my parental guidance will certainly teach me
to be an independence and matured person. Obviously, when I got to be there, I
need to be full responsible towards myself in any decision making process. For
example, if I want to do something at there, it is all about my own decision
whether it is going to be good or bad to myself. From this decision-making
process, it will increase my self-esteem along with my self-awareness so that
any decision that has been made is not harm for me. Hence, it is obviously
shows us that all these things are about survival skills that can be polished
and I really think that this programme is going to benefit me in terms of
independence and maturity.
As a conclusion, although
there are many more benefits that I will get from this programme, I believe
that the most important thing is that how this programme will give me such a
strong sense of myself and understanding of things around the world. I do
really hope that I will be selected to be one of the participants in this
programme since this is one of what I wanted to do in my life. In general, I
have to admit that this programme is so beneficial for me and others.
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