Hoa Sen University TA081

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION & TRAINING

HOA SEN UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES &
CULTURAL STUDIES

INTERNSHIP REPORT

Company : SIX- MONTH ENGLISH TRAINING AND CONSULTING

COMPANY LIMITED.

Period : 12 July 2010 - 04 September 2010

Supervisor : Mr. Pham Chi Tam

Ms. Hoang Thi Duc Hanh

Student : Nguyen Thi Kim Ha - 081033

Class : TA081

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ABSTRACT
Learning and practice must go together, especially for university and college students.
Because there is always a big distance between the theories provided in school and the
application in reality; so the more a student practices, the easier for him to assimilate
working environment and overcome obstacles at the beginning of his career in future.

As a sophomore of Hoa Sen University, I was given an opportunity to penetrate working

environment, apply my knowledge at school in practice and improve soft skills in this
first internship. During two months, I worked at Six-month English Training and
Consulting Company Limited and got a lot useful experiences.

I was introduced the unique English teaching method of company as well as trained
consulting skills to present it to students who want to speak English naturally. Then, I
joined Editorial Department where I worked for another field of Six-month English
Training and Consulting Company Limited: website hellochao.com. This website
provides English users more than one million free dialogue sentences.

At the same time, I also contributed to PR activities for company. I had the chance to use
my knowledge about the Internet and forums online to advertise website hellochao.com
and Six-month English Center. In addition, the other interns and I made a video clip
together in order to promote hellochao.com and its usefulness. We received good
feedback from members in website’s forum and people from other pages such as study
forum and social networks, where we had uploaded the clip.

It can be said that the more challenges this first internship gave me; the more I improved
myself in many fields.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisors in this internship, Mr Pham Chi
Tam and Ms Hoang Thi Duc Hanh, for their devoted assistance. They created the
favorable conditions which gave me and other interns nice opportunities to develop our
knowledge and also our real experiences.

Besides, I would like to thank all my colleagues at Six-month English Training and
Consulting Company Limited. They were always willing to share their experiences,
support me and welcome me with their open arms. I might not finish the first internship
without their dedicated help.

Finally, I would like to express my acknowledgment to all teachers at Hoa Sen

University, who instructed and supported students in this summer semester.

Many thanks for all your help and best regard.

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INTRODUCTION
The aim of education in universities and colleges is not only providing theories from
books to students but also training them through real working environment in order to
make a new workforce for society. For that reason, Hoa Sen University has built the
studying route for their students with two internships. They are considered as
opportunities for students to test their knowledge, improve their own skills and learn new
things from reality.

My first internship is in this summer semester. I had my own plans to achieve good
results for it and myself, thought about what I should do to improve my knowledge and
skills in a professional working environment. This report is mainly about what I did and
studied in the short period of time I worked as an intern at Six-month English Training
and Consulting Company Limited. It also tells about my learning process here and the
achievements I got from it. In addition, I made self-evaluation and recommendation for
my first internship.

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1. COMPANY PROFILE
1.1 BACKGROUND AND RESOURCES

Six-month English Training and Consulting Company Limited, a member of Hochiminh

City Computer Association, is one of the pioneers in finding a solution for helping
English learners in Vietnam speak English naturally. The company was established in
August 2008, now having two branches:

 Natural Approach – the natural approach to everything

 Hellochao.com – the Vietnamese & English Conversational Encyclopedia

The company’s mission is to make everything impossible happen to improve people’s

lives.

1.2 ORGANIZATION

Director

Deputy Accountant Consultancy

Director Department Department

Sales &
Technical Editorial
Marketing
Department Department
Department

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1.3 DEPARTMENTS

 Administrative Department
 Accountant Department
 Technical Department
 Editorial Department
 Consultancy Department
 Sales and Marketing Department

1.4 PRODUCT CATAGORIES

The company is operating within the educational field including:

 ENGLISH FLUENCY IN SIX MONTHS

Using Natural Approach, a teaching and learning method which has been developed since
2001, the program has been put on charge since 2007 that shall refund the learning fees in
case the student is not able to be fluent in speaking English. Hundreds of students have
completed the program with an ability of speaking English fluently.

 HELLOCHAO.COM

HelloChao.com, the Vietnamese & English Conversational Encyclopedia, is a project to

bring the Vietnamese to the world. This is not a search engine, but a bilingual database
stored with already translated pairs of sentences with an aim of answering the most
frequently asked question: “How do you say that in English?”

HelloChao.com will help learners search English sentences they need by typing
Vietnamese phrases to search. With an extensive database that doesn’t stop being
updated, the system has had over one million Vietnamese and English conversional
sentences including many features such as listening to native speaker’s voice, doing tests
with explanation, learning conversional sentences in context and especially,
HelloChao.com is holding a role as a social network where people can learn, share
experience and members can support pairs of sentence they know in the society. The aim
of developing the website is to make Hellochao.com the first and the last destination for
English learners in Vietnam.

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2. MY TASKS
In a short period of time working as an intern at Six-month English Training and
Consulting Company Limited, I had the chance to join both fields that company is
operating as I mentioned above. I was given a consulting skills training course by
Consultancy Department, which helped me to get the necessary knowledge about that
area. Next, I began working for website hellochao.com and PR activities. Those kinds of
tasks allowed me to take part in Editorial Department and also Marketing Department.

2.1 PARTICIPATE IN CONSULTING SKILLS TRAINING COURSE

After the interview between supervisors and interns had finished, I was assigned the first
task: learn about Six-month English Training and Consulting Company Limited by
visiting company’s websites: www.6thang.com and www.hellochao.com. These two
websites supply basic information about company and its products. On the other hand, I
was received more Six-month English’s consulting documents provided by Consultancy
Department. It included more detailed information about English teaching method used at
Six-month English Training and Consulting Company Limited, frequently asked
questions from people who have interest in English study to company and so on. It took
me a morning to read and catch the key points.

Then, the other interns and I participated in the training course. Firstly, we were taught
useful methods to approach our customers - people who want to study and speak English
naturally. The most important thing is creating a friendly atmosphere between consultants
and custom. Moreover, a consultant must show the attitude that he is always willing to
help his custom. In this part, communication skill is the most important request.

Secondly, we learn how to offer professional advice effectively and the way to give all
necessary information about Six-moth English’s teaching method. Different from and
more difficult in comparison with the first step above - customer approaching, giving
professional advice and providing all the information expect a consultant not only
communication skill but also a deep understanding of what he is talking about. Without a
thorough knowledge about company and its teaching methods, a consultant will never be
able to impart them to students. It is synonymous with the result that he won’t be able to
achieve success in work.

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Lastly, to bring this training course to an end, we had a small role-play. All of interns
were divided into pairs. Two of interns took it in turns to do a consultant and an English
student. Then, our supervisor made detailed comments for each intern, which helped us
improve requisite skills for this kind of task.

 ACHIVEMENTS

Participating in this consulting skills training course gave me an opportunity to learn

about the work of a consultant and factors deciding success in consultancy. I had chance
to apply my knowledge about communication and persuading skills in practice. I tried my
best to use them to express what I have to impart to my customer. Moreover, throughout
the role-play I was able to test myself in cases the job asked me to contact with varied
types of custom.

 STRENGTHS

I have the advantage in communication and persuading skills so I found it quite easy to
work as a consultant.

 WEAKNESSES

In spite the fact that I am confident in speaking, impatience is still one of my

disadvantages. I’m afraid of talking to people who are too hard to please or impolite. I’m
also afraid of coming to terms with their awkward questions. It is difficult for me to
remain cool and calm at that time.

2.2 GIVE OUT LEAFLETS TO INTRODUCE COMPANY

As I mentioned above, the field that Six-month English Training and Consulting
Company Limited is operating now is education. Therefore, it is necessary for company
to introduce its products to custom, especially to students – the main target of education.
My first internship at Six-month English Training and Consulting Company Limited
began at the same time with the college entrance exam this year, so introducing
company’s educational products became the next task of mine.

All of interns joined this task together. We chose a group leader who made plans for
group and report the result to supervisors. The college entrance exam took place in 3
days, so we divided into pairs and localized areas that held the exam to introduce our
company’s products by giving company name cards. Our main target in this task was
students who attended the college entrance exam and their parents.

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My pairs chose Go Vap District as a main local to give out leaflets and introduce name
cards because I used to study high school there so I knew ways. The first day we began
was on 14 July. My partner and I came to high schools in Go Vap District where the exam
was held and introduce name cards to students and their parents. Because on that day
candidates just came to comply all the necessary formalities so two of us ended this task
in the morning and came back to company to report our result.

The next day of giving leaflets was the first day candidates took their exam. We still
introduced name cards at high schools in Go Vap District, especially at Ho Chi Minh City
University of Industry located on Nguyen Van Bao Street. This university had a huge
number of candidates which was a big advantage for our task.

On the last day of the college entrance exam which also was the last day we worked as
leafleters, my partner and I gave out leaflets and introduced name cards at Go Vap and
Binh Thanh District. Because we had come to all of high schools in Go Vap District on
the previous days so some schools in Binh Thanh District were added to list for the third
day.

 ACHIVEMENTS

I think giving out leaflets and introducing name cards are different forms of consultancy.
When I gave students or the parents company’s cards, I had to use communication skill in
order to make good impressions because I knew what I was doing was not a part-time job
which I just needed to give out all the cards/leaflets. It was another chance for me to
improve soft skills that I listed in the first task and a serious work the supervisors had
assigned me. I was working as an official employee and all I had to do was creating a
nice image for company. Being able to aware of it was my most important achievement in
this part.

 STRENGTHS

 Communication skill is one of my strengths.

 Knowing the streets well helped me to save a lot of time.

 WEAKNESSES

As many students who often lack in working experience, I didn’t have a backup plan in
case the main one did not work. As a result, the partner and I wasted the time to look for
another schools when some we listed in the original plan had too few candidates.
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2.3 MAKE A PROMOTIONAL CLIP FOR HELLOCHAO.COM

Website hellochao.com is an English and Vietnamese conversational search engine. It

provides English users more than one million free dialogue sentences used in daily life.
In order to broadcast hellochao.com, its usefulness and give users specific instructions to
use that website, I joined other interns to make a promotional clip.

We shared work for each individual such as director, actor and actress, writer,
cameraman, editor, etc. After receiving the consent of supervisors, we carried out the
filming. Our supervisors and colleagues created favorable conditions for us throughout
the filming progress. We were also assisted in editing the clip.

I worked on this task with the role of a supporting actress. The story told about a young
Vietnamese man who wanted to make friends with a gorgeous lady that he ran into on the
street. Unfortunately for him, this woman spoke in English and told him that she didn’t
speak Vietnamese. The young man disappointed with his poor English level, but he could
not find any solution for it. I, as a supporting actress, took role of a student giving out
leaflets. I introduced hellochao.com to the disappointed young man and told him how to
use it. Finally, our story had a happy ending: the young man improved his English by
trying his best to study with hellochao.com and then, our beautiful lady accepted being
friends with him.

 ACHIVEMENTS

Although the filming took place in a morning only, it was very difficult period of time for
us to take nice scenes. Just a simple video clip with 3 characters and short scenes but we
had to shoot many times for each of them. That was my first time being a supporting
actress in a video clip, so it was such a memorable experience for me. I had chance to
perform in front of camera, try to express exactly what had been written in the script and
how to combine with other members in our ‘film crew’.

 STRENGTHS

 I had experience to perform in front of many people before in some role-plays, so

it was not too difficult for me to be in front of a camera.

 I also worked as a student giving leaflet in the previous task; therefore I found it
easy to follow the script and act that role.

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2.4 ADD VIETNAMESE AND ENGLISH CONVERSATIONAL STATEMENTS

The next task which supervisors assigned me was adding Vietnamese and English
bilingual sentences to hellochao.com’s data store. As I introduced at the beginning,
website hellochao.com provides users conversational statements which were updated
everyday by Editorial Department’s staff. I worked as an editor on this task. My duty was
making sentences on my favorite topics or based on keywords that users had searched.
Besides, I translated sentences that users had posted into the language they wanted.
Because they did not search for some words all the time, most of them wanted to have a
complete sentence.

 ACHIVEMENTS

Being a student of English, I felt lucky that I could get this kind of task. It was a
wonderful opportunity for me to practice my specialized knowledge and learn new things
relating to. Making bilingual sentences helped me improve my vocabulary on varied
topics that I had never known before. I can also review grammars by using sentence
patterns that I studied in the past. In addition, my translation skill was practiced much
throughout the translation Vietnamese sentences into English and vice versa.

 STRENGTHS

 I have taken Basic Writing subject already; therefore, I found it not too difficult to
make English sentences.

 Because I was allowed to add sentences on my favorite topics, I had no pressure

and felt comfortable doing this task. This led to a result that my productivity was
rather good.

 For sentences which was too strange for me or I was not sure whether I used right
English, I looked up on the Internet and dictionaries. The searching skill was one
of my strengths on this task too.

 WEAKNESSES

 My vocabularies are still limited; most of them focus on academic English. There
are many fields that I never had chance to learn and improve my vocabulary about
them. Sometimes, strange topics took me quite a bit of time to find the most
suitable words to use.

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 There were also a number of English words which were very hard to find
synonyms in Vietnamese; and I was really afraid of them.

2.5 RENEW ADVERTISEMENTS FOR HELLOCHAO.COM AND SIX-MONTH

ENGLISH FLUENCY

Six-month English Training and Consulting Company Limited now keeps introducing
itself to more and more customers. With this object, each day during my internship I was
assigned to renew advertisements for company on websites and forums online.

My duty was refresh all of advertisements which had been posted before. On the first and
the middle day of each month, I also updated new course opening dates.

 ACHIVEMENTS

I got to know more and more useful websites for my own study throughout working on
this task. I had chance to visit about one hundreds studying websites and chose for myself
some I found useful.

 STRENGTHS

This task was not complicated for me because I am familiar with computer and surfing
the Internet.

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CONCLUSION
Going through the first internship, I got many helpful knowledge and experiences for
myself. I not only had chance to put theories learning at university into practice, but also
got many lessons from real working environment. The internship is like a big test for me
to find out all my strengths and weakness I have got so far. Thanks to it, now I know what
I should do to better the essential skills for my future career.

The period of time working at Six-month English Training and Consulting Company
Limited was truly meaningful to me. I was given opportunities to try myself in different
positions. Moreover, working in a friendly and professional environment here, I was
supported by all my colleagues and supervisors. I learned from them the seriousness and
dedication to work as well as the enthusiasm and friendliness. I was also taught many
things such as effective team working, time management and so on, which were
important in life and career, I think.

Though I still had some curtain weaknesses, I felt satisfied with this internship since I
tried my best to complete all tasks I was given. In addition, it also brought me more good
relations in work and nice friends in life.

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EVALUATION
As I mentioned many times in the previous parts, this summer semester with the first
internship in my student life gave me a lot of useful lessons. In order to check myself
after two months working as an intern in different positions at Six-month English
Training and Consulting Company Limited, I made an evaluation below.

 STRENGTHS AND IMPROVED SKILLS

 I have the advantage in communication and persuading skills and now they have
already been improved more.

 I studied specialized subjects at university rather well, so I found it easy to work

on tasks relating to English. My theories about English writing and grammar was
strengthened and expanded.

 I was allowed to add sentences on my favorite topics; therefore, I improved my

English vocabulary in many fields.

 WEAKNESSES

Although impatience is one of my biggest disadvantages, I believe that I can change

myself to become better.

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RECOMMENDATION
The first internship is a big challenge for students; however, I think everyone can
overcome it and get good achievement if:

 Try as best as you can to work on all the tasks assigned by the company. When
you were assigned a task, sometimes it could be familiar and easy for you; but
sometimes it could be totally strange and difficult. If you are in the second case,
what you should do is try all your best to accomplish your task. The important
thing here is not only this task’s result but also your working attitude.
 Build relations with colleagues. Good relations can bring you more than what you
expect. Since the colleagues in company have wider knowledge than you,
especially they have a lot of experiences working in the environment which you
are taking your internship; learning from them is never unnecessary.
 Make yourself a sensible schedule to ensure that you can finish your tasks at
company and your report for the internship at the same time.

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REFERENCE

http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm (University Library Guide to the

Harvard, Style of Referencing, July 2008)

http://www.6thang.com/ (Six-month English Fluency)

http://www.hellochao.com/ (English and Vietnamese conversational search engine)

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APPENDIX
 COMPANY’S WEBSITES

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 MY TEAM

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 WITH MY COLLEAGUES AND SUPERVISORS

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