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I am writing to thank you for your great help to better prepare me for my oral presentation in BNL’s 2013 Annual Young Researcher Symposium back in November. The advice and suggestions you provided during the dry run were very helpful. During the actual presentation, I was able to utilize the skills you mentioned, which greatly helped me to convey my scientific contents more effectively and confidently.

As you may have seen on BNL’s news, I was one of the winners of the Best Oral Presentation Award during the event!! It was already exciting to just be selected to give an oral presentation, but then winning the award was just totally amazing!

I just would like to share this great news with you and thanks again for your kind help!

Best,
Karen

My name is Chien-Yi. I am a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Physics Department at BNL. Mr. Theodore Sampieri, is my ESOL English teacher. I contacted Ted at the end of January, since I needed to give a talk on Feb. 20th at Perimeter Institute in Canada. With Ted’s help, I have successfully received the job offer.

After knowing I had an interview opportunity, very quickly I contacted Ted and he started to teach me some very important techniques for delivering a Scientific Talk and executing proper interview skills. There are several very useful techniques I have learned from Ted, including:

• Body language
• Eye contact
• Using my voice effectively- implementing both rising & falling intonations
• Information that should be included in the PowerPoint slides, effective words, data slides, and visual aids
• Organizational skills
• Utilizing transitional words
• Submitting a strong conclusion & a memorable take home message

Also, Ted recommended many useful online videos, including one of his talks- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn2XDdFSAUs about how to give a good Scientific Talk, which I found extremely useful. He also gave me numerous useful suggestions about my slides, colors, and specific terminologies.

I  practiced my talk many times and Ted was very patient and listened to my talk very carefully. After each one of my rehearsals, he would kindly advise me of what I can improve, providing critical constructive criticism. He also pointed out that sometimes I didn’t pronounce final consonances clearly. We put strong emphasis on it in during my intensive ESOL public speaking training.

Furthermore, Ted helped me prepare for the interview. He helped me figure out how I should dress for the interview, a skill in which, I didn’t have much experience with. He also taught me numerous American customs, gestures, and vital non-verbal communication skills as well, which proved to be an invaluable. We practiced many interview skills, for example, the way I should shake hands with interviewers, maintaining eye-contact, utilizing gestures, and how to answer and ask questions in an intelligible manner. He also listed some of the frequently asked questions in many interviews and how to answer them appropriately. They were all very useful during my interview.

In summary, I am really glad to have Ted as my English instructor at BNL. He is the most enthusiastic teacher I have ever met. I am truly impressed by his patience towards his students and his ability to teach English effectively to ESOL students like me. I have learned a lot from him. He helped me improve my public speaking and interview skills. With his guidance and training, I have successfully obtained the job. Moreover, I found that I have become more confident when speaking in front of people, socializing, and delivering a Scientific Talk.

Ted has done a great job helping me prepare for my interview, which has led to my new job! I really appreciated it his help and the ESOL program at BNL. I believe that he will continue helping his students whenever they need him and play a significant role in increasing the overall strength of BNL, as a world leading research institute.

Sincerely,
Chien-Yi

• First of all, I am so lucky to have met the best teacher -Teddy.
• Thank you for so patiently teaching me English.
• Thank you for always using such professionalism and also humorous body language, which allows our students to better understand and remember English words.
• Thank you for teaching us about American English, customs, history, culture, American holidays, as well as traditions.. In your English class we can learn a lot, about everything!
• Thank you for spending three hours to modify my resume, to make my resume perfect.
• Thank you for being very kind and warm. You let me see that Americans are so nice and friendly to international ESOL students, like me.
• Thank you for ESOL at BNL! It changed my life for the better. I can now speak, read, write, and understand English thanks to ESOL at BNL!

Thank you,
Jianghua

Hi Ted,

I wanted to thank you for your help during my time at BNL. You coordinated multiple events that I went to and they were all really fun. You were extremely warm and trusting from the very beginning.

Your advice about my future and professional career have proved invaluable so far in my job search. Overall, you were a big part of what made BNL such a good learning experience and most importantly, so much fun!

Hope this email finds you well,
Aaron

I am very grateful for having benefited a lot from the ESOL classes designed by BNL, which have not only improved my English skills, but also broadened my mind.

At first, I could only understand about 60 percent of what all of the teachers said. I felt a little nervous when I spoke English. Gradually, by attending the class day after day, I am able to figure out almost 90 percent, and sometimes even 100 percent of what Native Americans are talking about. In addition, I have become more confident to express myself in a logical and clear way.

More importantly, I have learned a lot about the true America by discussing various kinds of topics in your classes, ranging from holiday traditions, constitutions & laws, transportation rules, educational circumstances, and social problems, etc. As new comers, it is vital for us to get a better idea of the new country we live in so as to adapt to it as quickly as possible. Luckily and thankfully, I could find the information I need in your class. I am honored to have the opportunity to come to America, which has a great reputation for its equality, freedom, and creativity. What I have learned from your class will guide me to do the right thing and to make a sensible choices. I can now present myself with clarity and confidence.

To conclude, the ESOL classes and its related activities in BNL offered me a great opportunity to enhance my language skills. Therefore, I would like to show my great gratitude for all of the ESOL teachers and organizers. I hope every international student can make great progress and have a nice time within the ESOL program at BNL!

Best regards and keep in touch!

Sincerely,
Linhui

Hey Ted,

Thank you so much for your email, but overall for all of your help and concern specially during the last two months. I won't forget ever all what I learned from you, for giving talks and presentations during these intense months.

I want you to know that not only did you teach me linguistic skills, but you also made me feel that I was not alone during this process. I do not know how I could thank you, as you went beyond your liabilities in order to do as much as possible for me to success. You gave me your extra-time, and your concern. You had confidence in me, and made me feel confidence within myself and that I could not fail. You made me feel again that everything is possible if you believe in it. You made me realize again, that through training, with effort, one can make the difference.

Thank you so much for all your lessons, advise, and for all of your time and concern for everything you have made for me so selflessly. You make the difference. Always enthusiastic, always confident, and at the same time humble, always smiling, always in the best mood....

I really believe whoever you are close with, is going to be lucky to have you, either in working or in a social environment. You are the kind of person that never is forgotten and keeps inspiring people, even far away, just from the reminder.

I hope to be worthy of the pride you express for me in your e-mail, and not to have made too many English mistakes in this e-mail.

I wish you the best of the best. But hey, this is not a goodbye, see you on Friday.

Best wishes,
Fran