young professionals

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Catherine Steele is a pronunciation coach, accent reduction specialist, and owner of English Pronunciation of Success. We discussed the importance of clear communication in professional and academic environments. For students whose first language is not English, clear communication can be a barrier to getting those great ideas across.

Catherine Steele 300 dpi Communication for Second Language Learners: Interview with Catherine Steele

Catherine Steele has a Bachelor’s of Education and TESOL certificate specializing in Languages, Literature and Linguistics. She has travelled extensively, won speaking and training awards, and provided language support to Canada Immigration Settlement, the University of British Columbia, and over 7000 clients around the world.

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Why do you think proper pronunciation is so important?

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It has an immediate impact. It doesn’t matter how strong a person’s speaking ability is, their grammar, their vocabulary choices, their education, if the listener doesn’t understand, or even worse if the listener fears I’m going to be giving a presentation for nursing. One of the biggest fears in nursing engineering, accounting, science, is numbers. If I don’t understand the way you express your numbers, I will doubt safety. In English, any change in tone is important. Any change in tone means something’s wrong and is understood as the person being angry and not liking the person that speaking, or the person that was listening. So you have to be very aware of tone.

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What are some words that people often mispronounce?

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Yeah, there are a lot. Focus is dangerous and we use it a lot, it ends up sounding like fuck us and it’s because of our O’s. We have eight different O’s and most languages have maybe one or two. So the letter O in spelling can get you into big trouble. That’s something I would encourage people to look into if they can. L and R and D and TH so most languages don’t have TH. Most people are making an R that sounds to us like a D and that gets in the way hugely.

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How can they practice, for vowel sounds specifically?

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Three affirmations that relate to the 8 different O sounds are:

“I’ve already proven myself.” One O sound.

“I’m good at this.” Another O sound.

“I’m going to be the top person in the world in my field.” Four other O sounds.

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Catherine’s Book Recommendations

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Pronunciation Pairs by Ann Baker and Sharon Goldstein

Clear Speech by Judy B. Gilbert

Phrase by Phrase by Marsha Chan

The 5 Love Languages is by Dr. Gary Chapman

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Thank you, Catherine, for sharing the excellent advice with us and our readers!

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Missed the podcast? Listen here:

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For more advice about professional development and writing, check out our weekly podcast or subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

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To get more help with your assignments, book a 20 minute discovery session with us and start your journey to reaching your full potential on the page, and in life.

Both the written, visual, audio and audiovisual content of this post has been created by and is the intellectual property of Lisa Pfau and PFAU Academic Writing. Please do not replicate any of the above content without our consent. However, please do feel free to share this post and its authorship widely.

Communication for Second Language Learners: Podcast Episode Live!

By Pfau2018

August 1, 2020

616 Views

Podcast

We interview Catherine Steele, a pronunciation coach, accent reduction specialist, and owner of English Pronunciation of Success.

HIGHLIGHTS

Importance of proper pronunciation

Commonly mispronounced words

Client success stories

Advice for international students

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To get more help with professional development and writing, book a 20 minute discovery call with us and start your journey to reaching your full potential on the page, and in life.

Both the written, visual, audio, and audiovisual content of this post has been created by and is the intellectual property of Lisa Pfau and PFAU Academic Writing. Please do not replicate any of the above content without our consent. However, please do feel free to share this post and its authorship widely.

Finding Your Dream Career: Interview With Luki Danukarjanto

By Pfau2018

July 22, 2020

660 Views

Blog

Luki Danukarjanto is the CEO of FOCUS.inspired, a unique business that focuses on helping individuals to find their professional passion. A number of our readers are likely graduating and headed into the workforce during a very tricky time. It can be hard to not get discouraged about your professional future during COVID, but if you know what you are passionate about it, it can help you to stay on track.

LukiBW 1 1080 683x1024 Finding Your Dream Career: Interview With Luki Danukarjanto

Luki refers to himself as a career catalyst and “DJ” for professional development. Luki was a management consultant for 12 years before transitioning into career counselling in 2015. Since then, he has published a book, the SWIKE web series, and spoken at many schools about his passion for career development.

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What do you think is the greatest challenge for young adults as they develop their careers?

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So my perspective is that there’s a lot of these kind of generalisations when people talk about young adults. Students and young adults go through school, they’re supposed to graduate they’re supposed to get a job they’re supposed to get married and have kids and moved to a house in the suburbs and and all that sort of stuff and then retire and have a good life. But that kind of supposed to and and that typical life trajectory is often not not true anymore. A lot of people who when they’re going through life, they actually have multiple career paths.

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You developed the acronym SWIKE to inspire a lot of your work. What does that mean and where did that idea come from?

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So I guess the start of writing the book was I had a colleague , who I used to work with who actually wrote a book. I’m like, oh, wow, that’s that’s amazing. I would have conversations over coffees with a lot of folks and it ended up being that a lot of the conversations were the same, right? So I figured, well, instead of me having to say all that stuff over and over again, why not just write a book. It was like 500 pages. And, I don’t know what this is. It’s like a reference manual. So, a friend in publishing helped me get in touch with with an editor. The whole concept of SWIKE came about where originally it was that the stuff you didn’t know you needed to know. So then SWIKE developed into the stuff I wish I knew earlier. It references my interest in mentorship.

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How you advise students to be able to shift from the learning to pass the test mentality to one of mastery?

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Yeah, I would say for them, it’s getting over that fear of failure, right? There’s a lot of judgement involved. And it goes back to kind of that conveyor belt of life. That you should be doing this. Oftentimes, others are not as critical as people think. Most people are afraid of people judging them and things like that. And I just had a conversation with someone with the perspective that fear is made up. It’s something that doesn’t really exist. One of the things is a lot of people misunderstand fear versus danger, right? Danger is real. But in terms of fear, like getting up in front of someone and doing a speech or presentation, well, that’s not going to kill you. Then once you’re past that, then you can just start learning and try to follow your your passions.

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Luki’s Book Recommendations

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Stuff I Wish I Knew Earlier: How to Unlock Your Career Potential by Luki Danukarjanto

Mindset by Carol Dweck

How to Be Everything by Emilie Wapnick

The Straight-A Conspiracy by Hunter Maats and Katie O’Brien

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Thank you, Luki, for sharing the excellent advice with us and our readers!

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Missed the podcast? Listen here:

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For more advice about professional development and writing, check out our weekly podcast or subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

_

To get more help with your assignments, book a 30 minute discovery session with us and start your journey to reaching your full potential on the page, and in life.

Both the written, visual, audio, and audiovisual content of this post has been created by and is the intellectual property of Lisa Pfau and PFAU Academic Writing. Please do not replicate any of the above content without our consent. However, please do feel free to share this post and its authorship widely.

Succeeding Professionally as an Introvert: Podcast Episode Live!

By Pfau2018

July 10, 2020

528 Views

Podcast

We interviewed Faris Khalifeh, a Quiet Confidence Coach on leveraging strengths as an introvert to better succeed professionally.

HIGHLIGHTS

Strengths unique to introverts

Using written communication as an introvert

How personality types influence professional development

How COVID-19 has impacted introverts and small businesses

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To get more help with your assignments, book a 30 minute discovery session with us and start your journey to reaching your full potential on the page, and in life.

Both the written, visual, audio and audiovisual content of this post has been created by and is the intellectual property of Lisa Pfau and PFAU Academic Writing. Please do not replicate any of the above content without our consent. However, please do feel free to share this post and its authorship widely.

Webinar Review: Quiet Leadership for Introverts

By Pfau2018

July 2, 2020

555 Views

Blog

Last week we attended Faris Khalifeh’s webinar, “Quiet Leadership”, hosted by Alumni UBC

QLeader Webinar Review: Quiet Leadership for Introverts

The webinar focused on how introverts can embrace who they are and leverage their natural strengths.

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Differences Between Introverts and Extroverts

Introverts tend to need more time to think about a problem and arrive at a solution later, while extroverts are able to think and talk at the same time. In order to make communication between personality types more clear, it is important to take into account different needs. Introverts prefer to be given more information prior to a meeting and benefit from more frequent check-ins, compared to their extroverted counterparts who are more likely to reach out and ask questions.

Extroverts feel more comfortable with impromptu and verbal communication. On the other hand, introverts excel at written communication and require more time to “recharge” between interaction, making back-to-back meetings less viable. One of the most important take-aways was that introversion is related to energy management and not shyness, which is a common misconception. If you are an introvert or are managing introverts, this is something to keep in mind since approximately half the population is introverted.

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Book Recommendations

Good to Great by Jim Collins

Start With Why by Simon Sinek

Quiet by Susan Cain

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Stay tuned for an upcoming podcast episode with Faris on Saturday!

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For more advice about student life and career development, check out our weekly podcast or subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Both the written, visual, audio, and audiovisual content of this post has been created by and is the intellectual property of Lisa Pfau and PFAU Academic Writing. Please do not replicate any of the above content without our consent. However, please do feel free to share this post and its authorship widely.

Midday Meditation

By Pfau2018

May 15, 2019

667 Views

Blog

Join us for a weekly stress break to get re-grounded. Each session will consist of body movement, breath, and thought work.

meditation5 1024x1024 Midday Meditation — Celine and Pfau-pfau practicing some stretches.

Our teacher is Celine Cheung. She has been practising meditation for over three years, and is passionate about sharing what she’s learned with others in order to reduce their stress and become more in tune with their bodies and minds.

Drop-in: $12+HST
Punch card: $50+HST

Register here or email us directly for more information.

*No refunds. Can apply missed class to a future class though.

Creative Writing for Non-Writers Course

By Pfau2018

May 15, 2019

585 Views

Blog, Student Life

Creative Writing Class 1024x768 Creative Writing for Non Writers Course — Working on Found Poems

Join us for 8 classes of Creative Writing for Non-Writers starting on May 1st designed to help develop writing fundamentals, creative capacity, and confidence. Our ideal student is someone who needs a little extra push to put their self out there and write. It is an especially great course for those who are struggling with communication at work, learning English, or want a break from their usual routine.

creativewriting2 768x1024 Creative Writing for Non Writers Course — The importance of word choice…

The instructor, Lisa Pfau, is the founder and CEO of PFAU: Academic writing, editing, and coaching. She has over 10 years experience helping students to improve their writing skills in academic and professional settings, as well as editing/writing many academic, government, and professional documents and reports. Her real passion is injecting creativity into generally boring texts to make the reader laugh or engage. She also published a few creative works of her own, including a short story entitled “Cold War” in Horizon Magazine based on her experiences in China. She looks forward of getting out of her managerial role back into the creative side that drew to build her business in the first place – writing.

TENTATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE

Class 1: Description

Class 2: Story Arch

Class 3: Character Development

Class 4: Perspective

Class 5: Dialogue

Class 6: Know your Audience

Class 7: Editing/Revision

Class 8: Final Draft Presentation

Drop-in fee $25+HST/class. Speak to me to register for multiple classes and receive a discount.

For a video of the class, check out our YouTube channel.

Register here or email me directly.

Healthy Relationships Start with Healthy Communication by Lisa Pfau & Patricia Huang

By Pfau2018

February 13, 2019

724 Views

Blog, Student Life

Healthy and constructive communication skills are not innate. If we are fortunate, we grow up in an environment with confident parents and clear non-judgmental communication. Unfortunately, that is not the case for most of us. We usually end up learning we need to work on our communication and relationship skills later in life. So, what can you do to help yourself now?

HealthyRelationshipsComic 1024x205 Healthy Relationships Start with Healthy Communication by Lisa Pfau & Patricia Huang — Healthy relationships start with healthy communication.

Think before you react: It is common to want to spit back a reply or act out when we are feeling hurt, upset, or uncomfortable. However, it is in these moments of intense emotion that I find it is most useful for me to step back, take a breath, and think about what I need from the situation. Once I know what I need, it is easier for me to articulate what I want to say without blame and judgement. Count to 10! It’s not an emergency. The person will still be there to hear your response in most cases.

Learn to listen: We all love to talk, but listening takes work. It means that we need to quiet the thoughts in our mind for long enough to let someone else’s in. It also means that we need to step out of ourselves and focus on someone else. It takes time, effort, and patience to try to understand another person’s perspective, especially when it is in direct contrast to our own. But, you can’t really craft a constructive response to a situation, if you don’t understand it first. So, listen before you speak next time and see what happens.

Lead with “I” statements: The biggest issue in communication is blame, shame, and defensiveness. It is impossible to get anywhere in a conversation once you or the other person becomes defensive. Defensiveness is destructive, whilst openness is constructive. So, instead of focusing on being right and assigning blame, you could try focusing on what you are feeling, what do you need, what do you hope to get out of the conversation. Then, lead with “I” statements, instead of “you” statements. That is as simple as saying: “I really felt hurt and betrayed when you suddenly dropped out of the group assignments and didn’t do the work you’d previous agreed upon. I don’t feel comfortable letting you back into the group unless we can do things differently in the future.” That is much better than: “OMG! How dare you ask to rejoin our group! You’re so lazy and totally let us down last time. Forget it!!” Hmmm…which one do you think is going to escalate a situation?!

Be open to feedback? Personal growth is a process. There is no finish line in that process until you cross over to the other side (ie. death). Communication is a part of personal growth, so don’t beat yourself up when you make a mistake or could do better. Instead, stay open to how your communication style impacts others. Can you do something different in the future? Maybe? Maybe not? But, at least you opened your ears and took the feedback as constructive, instead of closing yourself off from some potentially valuable information.

Remember that communication is a skill, not a in-born trait. It takes practice and lots of blunders, so don’t get discouraged. And remember, if you need some advice on how to improve you communication skills at school or work, you can book a free 30 minute consultation with one of our coaches. You can also check out our upcoming talk with qualifying psychotherapist, Jill Gillbert, on Tuesday, February 26th at 6:00pm. Check out the blog post and EventBrite for more details.

All content in this post is created by Lisa Pfau & Patricia Huang. Please feel free to share widely, but also please do remember to give us credit. Thank you for respecting our intellectual property rights.