As an international student, I was not good at speaking in public to American students even if I was already a senior before taking this class. One reason is obvious that English is not my first or native language. There were so many words and phrases that are very hard to understand. And I found it difficult to follow my teammates’ talking during the first several discussion and team meetings. Then I could not speak a lot. However, after realized that we always need to step out of the “comfortable zone” to improve, I tried to be more open to speak with others. The more I listened and spoke, the more confidence and oral skills I could get. At first, I was mainly a listener during discussion and meetings, but with my efforts and teammates’ help, I could speak as much as American students after two weeks. And I could also share my ideas as a speaker to influence others. Before the final presentation I was nervous, so that I spent a lot of time to practice presenting with my team to improve myself. However, the more I practiced, the less nervous and mistakes I had, and I felt the more clearly and confidently I could did in final presentation. As expected, I did a good job in the final presentation.

This is the first time that I wrote business memo under such “strict” requirements. There were two memos during this term. I think as a student who studies for business, I should be rigorous on every assignment. I did not have good written skills before this class. To be honest, I spent the whole day to complete the first memo, which did not get a good grade though. However, I found that the tutor really helped, she gave me not only new ideas, but also methods to organize my memo.

Besides the memos, this course also provided me the chance to write the formal resume and cover letter, which is helpful for my job hunting. I can use concrete sentences to put my experience and degree together on 1-2 pages for employers to review my skills.