Review of application letter

Xie Xinfang Valerie

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Contact Number

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September 17, 2012

Mr. Roland Khoo, Deputy Director

Ministry of Education, Singapore

Address

Dear Mr. Khoo,

Re: Teaching Position under Ministry of Education

I am interested in the position as an educator (full-time teacher) after seeing several motivating commercials that were published. Currently, I am pursuing a degree in Science (Chemistry) at National University of Singapore and will be entering my final semester in the coming year.

My passion in teaching is reflected by the active participation as a student facilitator in National Chemistry Week since my junior college days to guide students so as to ensure more enjoyable learning of chemistry concepts through culinary skills. In addition, I continue as a private tutor in my undergraduate days to help students which are academically weak. I also challenge myself by teaching students of different educational levels to gain experiences of the different teaching techniques catered to them. Furthermore, the inspiring commercial of “Mrs. Chong” leads me to the recollection of my dedicated secondary school form teacher who guided me despite my poor attitude in learning at that point in time. This brings me to the reason for applying the teaching position so as to guide the next generation of students to become better citizens which is stated in the Teacher’s Pledge

Working as a telemarketer in R3 Mortgage Consultancy, communication is an important tool for me to deal with people from all walks of life which allows me to clinch several deals for my company by engaging the customers with detailed and clear explanation of the packages offered by different banks in Singapore. This skill has enabled me to engage my students during tuition lessons, giving them a not only clear concepts but at the same time arouse my students’ enthusiasm in the particular subject through simple experiment carried out using things found I out daily lives. This coincides with the vision of creative learning and values of passing on the learning to students of upcoming generation.

All in all, being an educator allows me to fulfill my values of contributing to the society and set a meaningful career path. With my passion and willingness to take up any challenges, I sincerely hope that I will be able to take up the position and work towards imparting knowledge and values through creative learning, moulding the students to accomplish our mission of shaping Singapore in the next generation.

I look forward to hearing from you and I appreciate for your time.

Yours Sincerely

Xie Xinfang Valerie

Resolving Interpersonal Conflict

"Speak when you are angry and you will make 
the best speech you will ever regret."
-- Ambrose Bierce.

How many of us has experienced of what is meant in the quote? To be honest, I am both the culprit and victim of this quote. Due to anger, I ever said hurtful things which resulted in a detrimental effect on my friendship. Hence, I put this quote here to act as a reminder not only to myself but also to those who are reading.

Anger is one of the biggest barrier that causes unhappiness and conflict among people be it in the professional platform, between friends and even family members. As mention in the lesson, most companies in Singapore have this hierarchy culture of superior and subordinates. When the superior is angry as he/she could not clinch a deal from the client, a small mistake made by the subordinate might cause the superior to explode instantly and cause a conflict between them. This is also viral as subsequent levels of employees below this subordinate will be affected, creating an unhappy working environment and also reduce productivity. Hence, I feel that controlling anger and not let it cloud our vision is the key to resolving conflict.

The willingness to take responsibility is also crucial in resolving interpersonal conflict. I recall that there was once a file containing important documents went missing in the company I was working with. I vividly remember one of my colleagues from another department borrowed from me and she has the habit of placing it below her desk after using it instead of putting it back to the original location. As the auditor was coming the next day, my boss told me to make sure all this documents are in place. So I did a search and found that one of the file went missing. I wanted to confront that colleague of mine but I did not have her number and it was late at night (I happen to work overtime). I went home and talk to my mum about the issue. Knowing my character of not being meticulous, she advice me to own up to my mistake as I might not have search thoroughly. So I took my mum's advice to admit my mistake to my boss that I did not handle the my task properly. True enough, I found that file in time and it was my fault for not checking thoroughly. If I had confronted my colleague the previous night, the consequence will be atrocious. Thus, it is very crucial to admit to our mistake instead of pushing the blame to avoid conflict. 

Finally, I feel that to resolve conflicts is a challenge to a lot of people. To resolve conflicts, we have to know that everyone is not perfect and learn to compromise, communicate and accept these differences.