Name:

To learn and exchange culture with foreign colleagues

Job descriptions

As my staying as an intern at SEAMEO Secretariat was at the preparatory period for SEAMEO-UNESCO Education Congress and Expo, my assignments was mainly to serve this event. My work accomplishments at SEAMEO Secretariat include:

Summarizing information to be presented in the SEAMEO website: www.seameo.org

Problems and Solution

Without any background in translating works I found that it was relatively difficult for me to do it—especially for some documents that contained many technical terms in which I was not familiar. However, whenever I was in doubt with any pieces of works, I could ask for an advice from Dr.Kantatip, my mentor.

Experience Gained

In attending this internship programme I have gained many good experiences. I had an opportunity to improve my English skills by practicing on communicating in the real-working environment. Working on everyday-paper-assigned accomplishments which include interpretations, proofreadings, summaries, drafting letters and correspondences helped me to improve my reading, writing, and also translating skills. Besides, assisting at SEAMEO-UNESCO Education Congress and Expo as an Information Provider and Press Receptionist was a valuable experience for me that gave me an opportunity to practice English listening and speaking skills.

Except practicing English skills I also have learned how to work in the real international organization and had an opportunity to coordinate with many regional, national as well as international organizations.

Moreover, in this year it was beneficial for me to observe how to organize a big event like SEAMEO- UNESCO Education Congress and Expo since the preparatory stage until the actual event period.

In addition, being an intern at SEAMES also let me have an opportunity to meet new people. It was great to meet and share good experiences with SEAMES staffs as well as two Canadian interns.

Conclusion

In summary, I think that I have reached my objectives of this internship program since I have achieved all of what I expected to accomplish at first. I had many opportunities to fully practice English skills which will be useful for my studying in the second year at NIDA and also for my future career. Besides, I have gained a great chance to assist SEAMEO-UNESCO Education Congress and Expo which was regarded as a very big international event. I have learned how to organize a big international conference in preparatory period as well as actual event period. In addition, from this program I have met and exchanged experiences with many people—SEAMES staffs, two friendly Canadian interns, and also participants and speakers in the Education Congress. I have also gained what I did not expect firstly which are the experience in how to work in the real workplaces. All of these benefits certainly cannot be found in the classroom no matter how.

Recommendations

Upon my experience being an intern at SEAMEO Secretariat for two months, SEAMEO Secretariat is a good choice for anyone who needs to practice and improve his/her English skills especially interpreting skills as well as to experience how to work in the real working environment in an international organization.

Future Plan

I plan to have a full-time job at an international company where I can handle and coordinate with foreign issues and if possible, I would like to be a freelance English-or-Chinese translator.

Self- Evaluation

In doing every works assigned to me during the internship programme I have tried my best and I think that my performance as an intern during the last two months was relatively good. However, from this internship I have learned that there were some skills I should continue to improve such as the use of English skills as well as coordination skills.

Impression on the internship program at SEAMEO

As translation is a skill necessary for my future-planned career as mentioned earlier, translating many documents during the internship programme at SEAMES was really a great practice for me to improve this skill that I never had any experience in before.

Besides, it was actually rare to find an opportunity to be a part of a big international event like SEAMEO-UNESCO Education Congress and Expo like I was in this internship programme. It was special to assist in this event and I was also proud that some of my translated papers related to the Congress were in use and released into the public.