Abdollah Ahmed Hamood Al-Huseini Swinburne University of Technology Mechanical Engineering
During the time I spent in Kocaeli Province of Turkey , I had the pleasure of working on two different projects with seven other group members who were ( just like me ) ‘ Exchange Participants ’. We were a diverse team of eight from seven different countries . The first project was “ Speaking Café ”. The aim of this project was simple , it was to teach English to the customers of a local café that belonged to the local municipality of Kocaeli . We would talk to customers helping them improve , but we also decided to take it a couple of steps further by organising private and group lessons . We also invited many local secondary schools to bring their students to the café in order for them gain some experience andlearn English in another more exciting and less formal way . The second project I worked on was called ‘ Coach for Equality ’. This project had three aspects to it namely : Women rights , career development and English education . During the first ten days of the project we researched all aforementioned aspects and we interviewed a number of professors and teachers in both Kocaeli University and Sakarya University . We were also presenting our culture to students in those universities . When we finished our research and presentations , we delivered them to the students Kocaeli and Sakarya universities . I had a full schedule when I was there and I barely had any free time . I would leave home at 8 in the morning to teach my classes at the university . When I was done with the last class at around 3 pm , I would immediately head towards the Speaking Café to continue teaching English until 8 at night . However , this busy schedule was not the hardest part of this experience . The hardest part for me was making decisions about the level of English I should use with Turkish students . This was mainly because many students had very limited English , but it was a great experience nonetheless . I also did learn quite a lot while I was there . Teaching there helped me improve my own English language as well as my communication skills . Furthermore , I also attended the local community conference for AISEC , where I was able to improve my leadership and team management skills . For those of you who are interested in having such experience , these opportunities are offered by many different organisations around the world and I got mine through AssociationInternationale des ÉtudiantsEn Sciences ÉconomiquesetCommerciales ( AISEC ). AISEC provides various opportunities around the world . If an opportunity presents itself to you , remember that you ’ re heading somewhere with a different culture than yours , so keep an open mind .
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