b y

Terence King

the passion in You!

IdentifyUnleash

DeDication

This book is dedicated to my mother, Ms Sylvia Catherine De Silvia who has been my pillar and support in my many difficulties that I had faced in this journey of my life to identify and unleash my real passion, which is to educate and train the next generation to think ahead for their future and also to realise their full potential.

Ms Sylvia Catherine De Silvia

( M y M oT h e r )

CerTIfICaTe of faShIon DeSIgnIng

http://www.fashiondesign.co.nz/

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every one of us has something that we are uniquely good at. Sadly, many today have not taken time to identify and utilise this gift of theirs, to reach their full potential to gain real satisfaction and enjoyment.

as Confucius once said, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” Therefore, the key is to identify and unleash ones’ passion in oneself to obtain the real dream job that makes one satisfied.

There are many cases around us that people are providing services and working in careers or jobs that they have no passion in. Thus, short changing the public, employers, and even themselves. This is because, if one does work that one is passionate about, one will tend not only to do the task set before oneself, but would think one step more or outside the box to give the WoW! experiences to the people one is serving. In addition to that, one will keep growing oneself in skills and knowledge in the chosen field.

By doing this, we will unleash our passion and we will gain positive results and in turn spill over to everyone else who we know or come into contact with us.

This book is about my own experiences of what I went through to eventually identify and unleash my passion in the education Industry. It is the hope of this book that I would inspire you to also identify and unleash your passion to reach your full potential to be the best you can be and gain real satisfaction in your pursuit to gain a good quality of life.

terenCe King Programme Manager (School Divison) MBa, nZDip of Bus., mMBa cert. & ITTT TeSoL Cert. 1st of april 2013

introDuction

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I was born in a mixed culture family, where my father is a Chinese born Singaporean and my mother is a Singhalese born Singaporean. from an early age, I had experienced racial discrimination in Singapore.

In school, I was enrolled in learning mandarin as my second language. I distinctly remember that when I was in primary school, my Chinese language teacher would poke fun at me asking me whether I

was in the right class and in front of the vast majority of students would make fun of the other cultures and their hygiene habits. although, I was half Chinese, but because my skin complexion is darker, I knew my teacher was singling me out of the rest of the class.

however, I did my very best to blend in and make sense of my schooling days, even though I was not really made aware of what my skills, knowledge and learning style were. Looking back, I realised I was one who love in engaging conversation and getting involve in social occasion to network to meet new people. That would explain why in secondary school, I naturally joined clubs and activities that required me to speak out loud.

Though all these were present in me, I was not aware of these gifts I actually had.

My chilDhooD BackgrounD

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My educational progression could be said to be done in a very haphazard way without any real focus on my strengths, abilities and personal interest. It is only in my late thirties that I took stock of what I wanted to do with my life and then started to channel my focus and strategy to achieve where I needed to be in my desired and dream career.

from my Kindergarten to Secondary schooling, they were all done in Singapore. although, I had completed my general Cambridge ordinary level, the results were very average. I did not really appreciate education qualification until later when I started getting into the working industries to see the value of how it could be used to be competitively ahead.

I began my realisation of this when I was living in auckland, new Zealand when my entire family migrated there. I needed to get ahead in my employment then and so while working I enrolled in the local new Zealand Diploma of Business studies. I enrolled in 2002 but only managed to finish the 12 modules in 2008. It took me 6 years to complete as I enrolled every semester with 1 to 2 modules. In a year, there were 3 semesters. however, you can understand the satisfaction of finally completing the diploma course, while balancing my full time employment over there in auckland, new Zealand.

In September 2011, I enrolled online for the ITTT TeSoL Certification in Teaching Skills- International TefL Teacher Training programme as one of my friends’ recommended me and in that way, I finally had a Teaching qualification to teach english to Speakers of other languages. The milestone later came, when I returned back to Singapore and managed to come across the erC Institute, Singapore. This institution put me in contact with The University of Wolverhampton of the United Kingdom of which I did my Master of Business administration degree. I did the programme on a part time basis for 1 year, which was on the weekends only.

This programme made me aware of my strength and weakness. It helped me analyse organisations’ leadership and their struggles. It also brought to the fore my inner strength in presenting, organising, updating, and coaching with information that I had received to fellow classmates and potential students who were looking to enrol in the programme. I thoroughly enjoyed my studies, cause with this programme; it had assisted me to identify and unleash my true passion which is being involved in the educational sector to make others aware of their passion.

eDucational Progression

UK, UOW MBA Degree experience with my classmates and different local lecturers.

Marketing and strategic studies team photos for the UoW MBa Degree programme studies.

With the different lectures in the UoW MBa Degree programme.

Sharing my experiences of my studies of my University of Wolverhampton, Master of Business administration Degree from the United Kingdom with potential students.

My Graduation photos of my Kindergarten in Singapore and Master of Business Administration Degree from the United

Kingdom.

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Model Language Studio, Japan

In 1995, I moved to Japan and not knowing a single one of Japanese, I found myself working in a company called Model Language Studio (MLS), Japan, which was very interesting as this role required me to teach across the different studios around the Kanto region of Japan, conversational english to children and teenagers alike. Those were very fond memories for me as I not only got to travel around but also learnt skills like class management, students’ coaching and behaviour management. I was so good at the english instructor role that the company offered me an area Studio Manager role, when I told them that I was relocating to auckland, new Zealand in the year 2000.

career Progression

as for living in new Zealand, I continued teaching for 2 years in both a private language school and later a government primary school. Sadly, these teaching positions were not stable enough to make ends meet. Therefore, one thing led to another and I landed myself a banking consultant position with the anZ Bank new Zealand in 2002. This was totally a new career move, which I knew nothing about. Interestingly, even in a different country, I still experience discrimination with regards to my race and different look. The new Zealand herald, which is new Zealand’s national newspaper even, used my story to highlight the difficulty I had gone through in my employment in new Zealand. nevertheless, my employment in the bank enabled me to meet different people and networking with different organisations that I was really comfortable with. I picked up in knowledge of banking products and how it worked, to market them out to meet the publics’ banking needs. I worked diligently as I could and worked myself up to various positions in the bank, such as Banking Consultant, Personal Manager, online Business Manager, Branch Manager and finally Mobile Mortgage Manager.

With my Daughter, my Princess, Serene at her school camp.

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In addition, during my time in the bank, I had organised function and events for the bank in new Zealand and became a well known emcee among the group there. In fact, some had asked me to be their emcee for their wedding too.

My Emcee assignments in New Zealand and Singapore.

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In 2011, I returned back to Singapore due to my father being ill, and while in Singapore as mentioned before I enrolled in my one year study of the Master of Business administration Degree with the University of Wolverhampton. I continued to network and took short trips overseas to educate and expose myself to the overseas markets and employment conditions.

on 04/02/2013, I finally landed a full time role as a Programme Manager (School Division) with Moneytree, Singapore. This company assist students by teaching them financial literacy, innovation and entrepreneurship. This is finally a full circle of my life as I am now using my teaching skills and banking knowledge to educate the next generation in Singapore to start planning for their future now. Thus, my passion had taken me to a place that I never thought that I would ever get to be.

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teaching industryI taught Conversational english to pre-school all the way to adults while I was in Japan and new Zealand. The institutions where I taught were through government schools, Private language schools and Private tutoring classes.

My technical skills are to observe and identify how people learn and absorb information. from these, I would work to cater the materials to the specific style that the individual is able to relate to, thus gaining maximum benefits and clear understanding. as for Singapore, I am working as a fulltime Programme Manager of Innovation and entrepreneurship, where I overseer the materials and programme deliveries to Singapore government Primary, Secondary schools and Colleges. The main aim is to open the minds of the students to see the benefits of having ones’ own business and gain financial literacy about their savings and spending habits. Most important is to open up their passion for their chosen career and make it happen for them.

My previous banking experiences in new Zealand have proven useful in my Programme Mananger role in Singapore.

Banking and Sales industryI did various roles with anZ bank, when I was working for the organisation. Positions such as, a Banking Consultant, Personal Manager, online Business Manager, Branch Manager, and finally Mobile Mortgage Manager.

My banking technical skills are planning and setting up safety financial nets to assist my clients to reach their financial objectives and aspiration for their families and themselves. furthermore, networking, business relationships and opportunities development for sales growth were other expertise gained along the way too. good at spotting opportunities and making appropriate

referrals and connection to grow the opportunities discovered.

in suMMary of My technical skills

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In order to assist one to identify and unleash ones’ true passion for life and career, personality tests now available in the market have proven to be very useful.

Personally, it has helped me to come to terms with my strengths and weaknesses, which has given me a direction to focus for self-improvements. for one to get an overall and unbiased testing done on one’s personality, I would recommend doing 3 to 5 different and independent style of testing. By doing this, one will get a consistent highlight of part and parcel of one’s personality and behaviour.

Below is one example of a test done on me to assist me to identify and unleash my true passion.

PerSonal DiSC theory

Personality test

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Identifying and unleashing one’s true passion will open doors that one can never imagine will happen. The positive attitude and energy displayed would be like a magnetic attraction to everyone around. one will feel and express oneself freely and creatively in a natural way through one’s conversations and actions. People will tend to be inspired or even follow the examples set by you when they see it for themselves through one’s life and that has certainly been the case for me. This can be you too!

at times, taking that leap might make one fearful, but deep inside one normally knows that it is the right thing to do. Unleashing one’s passion

of what one already have and possess is much easier than seeking or learning something that is totally unknown and

doesn’t make sense to one’s own passion and desire to achieve in life.

There are many out there today that do not find pleasure or delight in what they do. They just go through the motion or live their life with no plans for the future. They just get by on a daily basis. Sadly, in the long run it is themselves that will suffer and loose out.

Personally, I have seen all of such cases in my own family, relatives and friends in

Singapore. They always ask for change in their lives, but in the final matter of it, they do

not have the courage and motivation to take the leap of faith and change their mind set to

find out their passion in life and then unleash it to the world.

It is the hope that by sharing my personal experiences, all these will motivate the readers to go out and also identify and unleash his / her passion for life and career to achieve real joy

and satisfaction.

going back to quote of Confucius in the beginning which is, “Choose a job

you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life”.

recoMMenDation & conclusion

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after reading, please ask yourself the following questions:

1. What is your passion factor at the moment?

2. how can you unleash more passion in your life?

3. how will living with passion support your personal growth?

I grew up with all these cultures thinking:

The European and Eurasian thinking is that we are the masters of the land and so we need to take control to be ahead.

The Chinese thinking is that we need to slave for each other to get ahead.

The Indian thinking is that we need to take care of ourselves first to get ahead.

The Malay thinking is that we need to slow down the pace and take our time to get ahead.

Inspirational quote by 8 years old, Miss Vivienne Harr (08/08/2012):

“Mahatma Ghandi was one person,

Martin Luther King was one person,

Mother Teresa was one person,

Why can’t you be the one person who helps?”

fooD for thought-soMething to PonDer aBout

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Ministry of education of Singapore, (education System), http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/

new Zealand Diploma of Business- http://www.nzqa.govt.nz

international teFl teacher training- http://www.teflonline.net

University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom- http://www.wlv.ac.uk/

erC institute, Singapore- http://www.erci.edu.sg/

Model language Studio, Japan- http://www.mls-etd.co.jp/

anZ Bank, new Zealand- http://www.anz.co.nz

news report story of my challenge in new Zealand-http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_

id=1&objectid=10636001

Moneytree, Singapore- http://moneytree.asia/singapore/contact/

Miss vivienne harr- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-_niCa4RZk

More reading on inspirational stories on passion:http://www.agiftofinspiration.com.au/stories/inspirational/Passion.shtml

references

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