Pictures of Christina St.'s workplace

Visiting Christina St. at her workplace

Hi Christina! What is your role in the organization?

I am attending a placement in the marketing design section of Cool Tan Arts.

What are your daily tasks?

My work starts at 10:00 am and I finish at 6:00 pm. I am working with several graphic programs like Illustrator, Photoshop and Indesign in order to produce proper posters and leaflets for the workshops of cool tan arts. Additionally I am taking part in the poem workshop and started writing.

What are your achievements so far and what have you learnt?

I got to know some new graphic programs and I help the people at cool tan arts with the advertisement for the workshops. Furthermore I produced some posters which I will take into my portfolio so that I can use them for future applications.
The poem workshop made me realize that I am fascinated about poems and I wrote some on my own.

What were the challenges and how did you manage them?

At first there were some difficulties with the graphic programs but I managed it to learn how to use them properly. Now I am more experienced in this field.
During the poem workshop I realized that I need to learn some vocabulary but it worked out.

What are your plans for the rest of the placement to get most out of it?

There is also a photography workshop here at cool tan arts and I would like to attend it in order to shoot some nice pictures for my portfolio. Moreover I will keep on producing posters and at the moment I am creating an Edcard.

How is your cooperation with the colleagues and management in your placement?

I like the atmosphere at cool tan arts and I enjoy working here. The colleagues are very nice and take my point of view into consideration. I do have a great freedom of action and they give me the opportunity to attend some of the workshops.

How do you experience to speak another language at work?

In my opinion it is a good way to practice your English and to learn some new vocabulary.

Thank you Christina!

Visiting Alex at his workplace

Hi Alex! What is your role in the organisation you are attending your placement at the moment?

I work with the staff of Embrace closely together on several projects. I am a project administration assistant at Embrace.

When do you have to go to work and what are your daily tasks there?

My work starts at 9:00 am and ends at 5:00 pm. During my day I support Embrace with internet research and looking for new placements for students arriving in the future. Furthermore I am responsible for all the students who are working here at the moment.

What are your achievements so far and what were the challenges in your first weeks? How did you manage them? Are there still some of them left?

When I arrived it was difficult to talk in english to people who are able to understand me in German – so I had to practice very hard. Now I have improved my English and feel more confident when I am talking to someone. As a consequence of my work with young adults I know now how to handle problems very well and I enjoy this experience.

How is your cooperation with colleagues in your placement organisation and what are your plans for the rest of the placement to get the most out of it?

I have been already to London and worked with Embrace together some weeks ago so I know the team members. I love Embrace because the colleagues are great and we are working good together.

For the rest of my time here I will try to improve my English and I will finish my tasks so that they will be proud of me.

What have you learnt so far during your placement and your time in London?

I realised that I like to live abroad and to speak a different language. Moreover I got to know so many new people and I hope to keep contact with them.

Thank you Alex.

Pictures of Jasmin's workplace

Visiting Jasmin at her workplace

Hi Jasmin! What is your role in the organisation your are working at the moment?

I am attending a placement as a chef in Schmidts Café.

When do you have to go to work and what are your daily tasks there?

I have to work from Thursday to Sunday and it starts at 9:00 am and I finish at 6:00 pm.

When I arrive at the Café I start to prepare the food in the kitchen. We are mainly focussed on breakfast and lunch but we also have sandwiches.

What are your achievements so far?

For the first time of my life I have prepared the traditional English breakfast. Moreover I got to know some new cooking skills and the right “kitchenvocabulary”. However cooking seems to be some kind of universal.

What were the challenges and how did you manage them?

First of all it is so hard to communicate with other people when you do not know enough vocabulary. I was afraid that I will not understand what my tasks are and that I can not talk to my colleagues but in the end everything was all right. You have to communicate with hands and feet and than it works out.

So how do you experience to speak another language at work?

It is the best way to learn a language because you need it for your daily survival (-;

How is your cooperation with colleagues in your placement organisation and what are your plans for the rest of the placement to get the most out of it?

I have a good relationship with my colleagues and I like the atmosphere in the Café.

In my opinion I need to find the right timing for the preparation of the food and still I need to learn my vocabulary.

What have you learnt so far during your placement and your time in London?

I realised how important it is to be very open minded and you should never be afraid of asking someone for help.

Thank you Jasmin

Pictures of Katharina's workplace

Visiting Katharina at her workplace

Hello Katharina! What is exactly your role in the company where you attend your placement?

I work at a company called Lasa. It is a charity which does training consultants for other companies. For my daily routine I work a lot with the PC. I sort the incoming letters by name, by date and by other criteria; I probably do secretary work. As far as I am concerned they trust in me and give me a lot of responsibility. I work with their database and their courseware which have to be treated as confidential.

Sounds great, I am impressed! What are your achievements so far and what were the challenges in your first weeks? How did you manage them? Are there still some of them left?

My biggest achievements so far are the facts that I can speak a lot of English every day and that I got to know a lot of new people at my workplace who became friends of mine. I can get a whiff of what it is like to work in a charity company and I really have to admit that I like the work of Lasa. At the very beginning it was hard to speak another language than my mother tongue (I speak German and Russian). Nevertheless my colleagues are so nice and supporting, they always help me with words I do not understand at all and translate them into easier ones. So I communicate a lot. I cannot think about a challenge that is left yet.

So is it right that I took the view that your cooperation with your colleagues and management is amazing?

Yes, in deed! I have to say that my boss is extremely pleased with my work. I am very proud of myself!

What are your plans for the rest of the placement to get the most out of it?

I am attending voluntarily an English course for two hours after my work every day. I want to improve my English skills as best as I can in these eight weeks. In the future, I definitely would like to return to London and work here as an au-pair for probably a year. One day, I can maybe work for Lasa again. I fell in love with London and my life dream would be to live and work here. In my opinion this imagination is manageable; you only have to work hard enough!

Pictures of Stella's workplace

Visiting Stella at her workplace

Stella, what is your role in the company where you attend your placement?

I am a project manager since I am responsible for my own garden-project.

What are your daily tasks and how do your routine of the day look like?

When I arrive at Greenhouse I get into my working outfit because I work outside. I work with plants and soil; that is why you get dirty very fast. Afterwards there is a group meeting where we discuss what is on that day. Everyday I work from 9 am to 5 pm. At Greenhouse we all depend on daylight. If it is gone we have to return home and start all over again in the next morning.
I am in charge of my own project which is creating a place in Greenhouse where one can relax and calm down. You can call my project a kind of little oasis.

What were the challenges at your workplace and how did you manage them?
What are your plans for the rest of the placement to get the most out of it?

In the very beginning I had some problems because of the barrier of language. I really had to communicate with my hands, feet and with that little bit of English knowledge. However my English skills get better and better every week and I feel a lot more comfortable than before.
Furthermore the responsibility for my own project was big; I had to rethink over and over again about my ideas. A huge problem was the financial difficulties. There is not that much money left for projects like mine.
I definitely would like to have my project completed when I drive back to Germany. On account of this I hope everything will be as I imagined it and my chill place can be used very soon by the staff of Greenhouse and by all of its visitors. On the weekends we have a lot of visitors at Greenhouse. In my opinion they would really love that place.

How is the cooperation with colleagues and management in your placement organization?

First of all I have to say that everyone is very kind and friendly. The work at Greenhouse is voluntary and the whole company is based on donations. None is the boss at all; everyone is equal. We all have lunch together. I think that the concept of Greenhouse is a good one. There is no stress at all and as far as I experienced it the motivation of the staff is unusual high. Work is fun at Greenhouse which is great!

What have you learned so far?

I do really love plants but in my opinion one can loose the beauty of nature soon since you deal with it every single day. I got to know that I want to work outside; I need space and fresh air to breathe. But I do not want to be a gardener.