Rachel Sing-Ee Tan

Wanting to have a richer Kiwi knowledge and experience, I decided to be a volunteer at UniCrew. Sze-En Watts, the co-ordinator of UniCrew, matched my interest in teaching with the role of a teaching assistant at English Language Partners Dunedin (ELPD). I got in touch with Jude Thomson, one of the teachers of ELPD. When I visited her class in the city, I was also introduced to Alison Tait, who shared the teaching with Jude. My role as a teaching assistant was to help students cope with the class activities, explaining what their teachers wanted them to do. The class of about 13 students was a different and refreshing educational environment to me. Students of diverse socio-cultural backgrounds and age range wanted to learn English for different purposes such as from daily or workplace conversation to preparing for further English classes. I volunteered for 2 hours every week at these classes. My past teaching experiences and multicultural upbringing enabled me to give exa...

Tired of revising my third analysis. I decided to visit the Morning Magpie cafe with my sidekick, Tracy.  It is an interesting cafe with eccentric set up and arts. It has different sizes of tables and chairs and ample space for us to work.  After discussing with Tracy about my analysis, I managed to unpack my mind for a clearer picture on how to improve my key ideas for the chapter. A great combination after an hour of writing.

A writing retreat is an organised excursion for writing. The idea is to be away from your usual writing environment with the goal to write a section of your thesis or journal article. After writing, you could enjoy some activities as a treat for accomplishing the goal of the day. Some lucky friends have experienced a facilitated writing retreat organised either by their institutions, faculties or supervisors.  I have yet to come across such an opportunity and my strict budget could not accommodate the expenses to be away for a few days. However, a $15 coupon offered by the Wobbly Goat Cafe gave me an idea for a "Write and Bike Retreat". Because the coupon included a food voucher and bike hire for two people, I proposed a plan to my friends. First, we would write, followed by cycling and lunch as our treat, and end with a discussion about our studies. With a plan in hand, Tracy, Naoko and I went for a single day writing retreat on a fine Tuesday.  Locate...

Early this year, my colleague, Tracy Rogers, initiated a writing group in our department, Higher Education Development Centre (HEDC). The group is attended by most of the HEDC postgraduate students. I am delighted to be part of this group. We initially tried fortnightly and monthly meetups, before we came to the agreement that weekly meetups each Monday morning works best. Essentially, we believed that a Monday morning writing session could be a positive motivator for the rest of our week. The overall benefit that I get from the group is developing the mental stamina for writing. The group gives numerous benefits that turn into energy which carries me through my research. In this post, I would like to highlight three vital advantages of a writing group: collegiality, developing focus and enhancing a habit to write that helps me to endure my PhD journey. 1) Collegiality for motivation The writing group delivers a sense of collegiality because we share our research achievement...

The Graduation Day at the University of Otago is an eventful day filled with three main events; a brunch, a procession and a ceremony. Although it was not my graduation yet, I was pleased to attend the August Graduation Day with my friends. For me, it was not only to congratulate our friend’s success but it was a sociable and inspirational gathering. We were there to congratulate Alfie, or to be precise Dr Althea Blakey, on her graduation. For some of us, PhD candidates, it was an inspiration to see our fellow ‘comrade’ who had made it to the finishing line. Alfie is certainly a positive role model. She managed to complete her thesis while juggling between work and family. Alfie, and many other PhD graduands proved that perseveration would bring us light at the end of our PhD tunnel. The graduation’s brunch session allowed us to mix and mingle. Held at the Central Library, guests were invited to attend the meaningful day and congratulate the success of graduan...

Last year, I joined a tour, organised by Lizzy Lukeman from the alumni office, to learn more about the University of Otago. The tour started with a little history of the university, which was the first university in New Zealand. It was founded in 1869 and started with three professors and 81 students. The university has since grown, whereby today, it has more than 22,000 students, 1,500 academic and research staff and 2,000 general staff. From the tour, I learnt about the various facilities and interesting architectural design, and enjoyed a different perspective on the campus. The first highlight was the getting to know the university’s student association, the Otago University Student Association (OUSA). It represents the voice of students in the university and provides different services to enhance student’s life at the campus. Lizzy showed us to the radio station and the office of student magazine, Critic, managed by OUSA. Then, we went to the OUSA’s building that serves $...

My recent trip to the State University of Zanzibar was my first time to travel for work. It was also my first time to Africa and I am especially grateful to Dr Maryam and Umayra for hosting Dr Ben Daniel, my supervisor and I. I am also grateful for Ben’s patience and guidance that helped me to successfully collect rich data from my interviews. Here, I share some of the experiences I enjoyed whilst I was not conducting my research. These experiences, whilst extremely enjoyable, also helped inform my understanding of the research context. I am thankful that our lovely department administrator, Candi, chose an excellent hotel in Stone Town that was within a 10-minute walk to my interview location. Stone Town is a UNESCO World Heritage site and the name was chosen because the buildings were constructed using coral stone. I was living in a 19th-century town and in the middle of historical and cultural sites. The buildings’ architecture have Arab, Persian, Indian, European, and Afri...