Murmuring Tigers

Come tune in to an insightful conversation between Nora Ye and accountant Ms. Wang.

Check out Alyssa Xu's research on the media industry and the prospects of landing a job there with an English major background.

The  last  interview  with  CBS  guest—professor  Chen  Chen  from  Xi‘an  Jiaotong Liverpool  University  in  China,  was  held  successfully  remotely  through  Zoom meeting, hosted by senior English majors Yue Wang and Ningyuan Wang.

The  theme  of  this  interview  is  “exploration  and  reflection”,  aiming  at  learning Professor   Chen’s   exploration   process   in   her   career,   and   encouraging   senior students to seek their own interest and career path by trying bravely and reflecting frequently. “Honestly, English study was not my priority when I applied to college. I  even  felt  tough  to  continue  researching  in  this  area  after  gaining  my  master’s degree. However, I switched my path a bit and found passion in doing quantitative research  in  English  teaching”,  says  Chen,  who  completed  her  MPhil  degree  in Cambridge University with distinction.

Prof.  Chen  talked about  her  campus  life  in  Cambridge  University.  “It  was  such  a  precious  chance  to  learn  in that beautiful university, what I gained from here would benefit me in a long term.” she said. Apart  from  sharing  her  experience  about  how  she  obtained  the  master’s  degree,  Prof.  Chen also  talked  about  the  difficulties  and  worries  when  she  was  facing  the  various  choices  of occupation. “As for my first internship, I went to a foreign trade company. However, I found that I was not suitable for this job and lost my interest after several weeks. Then I applied for being a teacher in a university. To be honest, to be a teacher was not my goal in college, but I am  quite  enjoy  interacting  with  different  students  and  witnessing  their  progress  now.”  said Prof.  Chen,  “Like  most  of  you,  I  was  confused  and  worried  after  graduation.  If  you  do  not have a clear orientation, you should try something and gain experience.” Indeed, exploration is indispensable for people to think things from new perspectives and gain new opportunities.

The Career Building Series (CBS) project is one of the most important projects in EH  495  Senior  Seminar  class  at  Brenau  University  in  2020  Fall  semester.  Dr. Wenwen Guo, the professor of EH 495 class, invited more than 10 guests in total from all over the world, to share their career experience and give advice for senior students. “This is the first time that CBS project has been initiated in EH 495 class. I feel so lucky  to  have  the  opportunity  to  interview  and  access  these  excellent  people, listening to their career experience”, says Ting Huang. “The project also broadens our  horizons,  practices  our  collaborating  and  communicating  ability.  It’s  a  very helpful pre-graduation project.”

Written by Ningyuan Wang (Julia) and Hazel Wang, posted on Sunday, October 25, 2020.

We had the honor to invite Joanna for an evening of conversations about head-hunting and interview techniques on November 14, 2020.

We have invited Rita Li Shushu, who is a PhD candidate at the University of Glasgow, Children's Literature major, to join our CBS event interview as guest and share her study and work experience in literature field.

In the interview, Rita shared us many interesting experience in literature study and work from herself, and from other people who major in Literature that she knows about. As she said, there is a wide way rather than limited options for our literature major students to develop in the future, and we have many options on further study in different majors and employment.

Our students also asked many good questions about further study in literature major, employment and work experience of literature majors, and Rita gave many useful response to them in literature study and employment and career. She also gave suggestions on Master's degree's application.

Written by Rico Li, on October 18, 2020.

How to Prepare for Life After Graduation—Karen Ge shares her experience in the 15th Career Building Series

Written by Elle Cheng, posted on Tuesday, October 13, 2020                        

On 7th October, the Career Building Series welcomed its 15th guest, Karen Ge, an excellent Brenau graduate, to share her post-graduation adventure as an English major. Together with hosts Elle and Evelyn, she talked about her experiences at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and provided insights into her editor career.

At the beginning of the talk show, Karen Ge focused on her graduate school application experience. As a great student who received offers from top universities, she advised the seniors present to organize their timetables in a relaxed mentality. Then, she touched on her life at CUHK and emphasized the importance of self-discipline in graduate school. “I would say being strict with yourself,” says Karen. “If you wanna have a better learning result, it is necessary to do a lot of work.”

Afterward, she told the audience her story as a rookie English editor and how she balanced her spiritual pursuit and realistic problems by “using more professional and rational mode”. During the talk show, the audience listened attentively and many students admitted that their previous doubts about their career development have been answered.

The Career Building Series is a talk show program initiated by Dr. Guo in 2020 fall, aiming at providing chances for English majors to interact with people in different professions. “I have truly learned a lot from the series,” says Julia Wang. “The guests’ experiences are just so inspirational which helps me to explore the various possibilities as a non-native English major.”

The CBS interview on Oct 7 with Anne Yang causes strong responses among Brenau English seniors. Yang answers some burning questions about her career.“

At 6:00 am, I wake up and get ready for the spotlight. I usually think about the information that the interviewee offers in various perspectives, and how it could contribute to my report”, says Yang, who describes her daily work in report preparation process. “Diligence is the basic qualification for a journalist. We also need passion and dedication to work, extensive knowledge, the courage to discover the truth, and good expression to retell the story”.

“I think the development of social media is not to cut down the social function of journalism, but expand the group of reporters. So that everyone can tell their stories”, Yang answers the question about how the rise of social media impacts on journalism, “The biggest difference between traditional media and social media is timeliness, because there’s no standard for new media, which means they can publish any news without verifying the authenticity”.

When talking about how English major contributes to her work, she says, “English fluency definitely brings some advantages in every field. And for journalism, there’s more opportunities for us to do foreign interviews and programs”.

Written by Lingyi Fang, Minglu Gao, October 11, 2020

As   an   English   major   graduate,   professor   Xiaohong   Gao   has   worked   in government  relations  for  many  years  and  has  a  lot  of experience.  At  the sharing meeting, professor Xiaohong Gao answered the students' questions about employment and encouraged them to try different careers.First of all, for the profession of government relations experts, students have a lot of  doubts.  Most  of  the  questions revolve  around  what  the  profession  of  government relations experts really does. Professor Xiaohong Gao replied that “We visit the local governments on a regular basis to report the couple of companies recent development and situation to the government. Then we reflect our requests to seek for government support  and  sometimes  the  government  will  also  come  to  the  company  to  do  some research investigation then we will arrange our companies.”

In  the  process  of  the  meeting,  professor  Xiaohong  Gao  also  kept  isolating students  and  trying  some  challenging  work,  instead  of focusing  on  their  major.  This constructive suggestion helped students get out of the limitation of the type of target job. The  students  had more knowledge about the new type of work. And for their future career planning also has a more detailed plan.

Written by Leo and Kevin, Tuesday, September 29, 2020

On September 22, 2020, we had the honor to invite English professor Jimmy to join us for an evening of conversations about his career path, prepping for the Graduate School Entrance Examination in China, and job hunting.

A meeting with translator Yanyan Chen, on Sept.18, Friday, at 9:30am. This meeting introduced Yanyan Chen’s experiences working as a translator and provided advice to senior students in becoming translators.   

“Being  a  translator  needs  to  be  accustomed  to  work  alone.”  says Yanyan  Chen.  Yanyan  Chen  says  that  she  is  working  alone  all  the  time. She  also  says,  “  When  a  translator  is  working,  it  is  impossible  to  touch anyone else.”   

Yanyan Chen introduces that translators have three levels. “ This year I am  still  trying  to  pass  the  level  second  exam.  That’s  a  really  difficult exam.” Yanyan Chen shares her experience about the level send exam.   The hosts ask what undergraduate students need to do to prepare for working as a translator. Yanyan Chen gives us many suggestions on applying for a graduate university. “China Accreditation Test for Translators and Interpreters -- CATTI is an important exam for translators and translators should prepare for it as early as possible.” Yanyan Chen points the importance of CATTI.    

Through  this  meeting,  the  students  fully  understand  the  difficulties faced  by  translators  and  the  income  status  of  translators.  The  meeting also provided many key information and professional advice to students who want to work in translation.

 Written  by Eve and Twincy.