student

OU Languages graduate beats the dole queue and excels at work thanks to her new language skills. A brilliant piece of planning - or a fairy tale?

Donna James has progressed in her career thanks to her languages degree from the OU and now works with international clients. People with mixed background may take multilingualism for granted, but for Donna it is a dream come true. It also helped her to beat the dole queue.

A couple of years ago Donna James was stuck in a job at the back office of a bakery chain and missing something. Until then she had been mainly temping, with odd clerical or admin tasks.  It was a few years back that she realised she needed to invest in herself to move on to things, which would give her more joy and a sense of self-fulfilment. 

Donna always wanted to learn foreign languages and use them at work. She chose to study Spanish and French, and at first she enrolled at a ‘traditional’ university, but found it wasn’t the best option for her. Instead, she went for The Open University. She says: “The OU seemed like the ideal alternative – I could study from home and stay in a job at the same time to support myself, and not worry about debt at the end of it.”

During her studies, Donna’s life changes in many ways. In the middle of  her course came a joyful, but challenging task of organising her own wedding. At work she moved from the Transport Department to Finance, and then on to Customer Services. “My job gave me valuable experience, but there was no opportunity for using my language skills.” At this point things got rather complicated. Donna was made redundant just as she was concentrating on the final year of her course.

Taking the bull by the horns

Impressively, Donna turned a crisis into an opportunity. She applied for a job with IPU Group, a manufacturing company based in Oldbury, in West Midlands, and exporting its products worldwide. Not only did she get a post of a Sales Order Processor, partly thanks to her nearly completed degree at the OU, but the company encouraged and supported her in her learning journey.

In 2012 Donna gained a BA (Hons) in Modern Foreign Languages (French and Spanish), passing with First-Class Honours on her 25th birthday. “I practically screamed the house down when my result came through! I’d sacrificed so much of my time and cried so many tears of stress and frustration over the six years of studying, that to get that result was just fantastic” she says.

In her job Donna is able and expected to use her French and Spanish on almost daily basis. “The company I work for has customers and distributors all over the world, so I’ve been able to use my languages, whether it’s following up enquiries or helping to translate quotations and other documents, either from French or Spanish into English, or vice versa” she adds.

Following her graduation Donna was sent on a technical language course, paid by her employer, and after its completion she is expected to take on more responsibilities in dealing with foreign clients directly as well as to act more independently. It may still look like nine-to-five job to you. It feels like a fairy tale to Donna. 
 

Happy New Year everyone! I certainly hope you all had a good one and that you’re all refreshed and ready for the year ahead, because I can feel already that it’s going to be a belter!

Friday 6th January is Epiphany. In the Christian faith this is celebrated as the day which saw the revelation of Jesus Christ as the son of God. This revelation is now a common word used to describe anything which becomes suddenly clear to you or a sudden comprehension of something. I had my very own epiphany over the Christmas holidays and it has just given me so much hope and faith in my future and my ‘career’ as a student.

But it’s so stupid and obvious. In fact I’d hasten to guess that when most of you read what my epiphany was you’ll tut and roll your eyes and say ‘oh god, is that it?’. My epiphany came as the result of my need to dedicate more time to my studies and since I’d decided that one of my New Year’s Resolutions was to do so I racked my brains to think of ways to make sure this happened.

'My epiphany came when I realised that the problem isn’t my lack of motivation to study, it’s the setting in which I’m trying to do it'

In the past I’ve always tried to make Saturday my ‘study day’. Gordon is usually at work on Saturdays so it gives me the whole day to get stuck into my books, but it rarely works. I end up doing the washing or finishing off the odd jobs we haven’t managed to get done through the week so I’m lucky if I get a couple of hours done. So that clearly doesn’t work.

My epiphany came when I realised that the problem isn’t my lack of motivation to study, it’s the setting in which I’m trying to do it. If home wasn’t so filled with distractions I’d probably be able to do more but since I can’t take the distractions out of my home, I’ll have to take my home out of the study equation.

So I decided to try something completely different for me. I dropped Gordon off at work at 9.30am on Wednesday 28th December, hopped on the Metro into the city centre armed with my books and made my first ever visit to the City Library. I found myself a nice empty desk on the sixth floor and plonked down intending to spend the entire day there. I was hoping that if I was sat in a nice quiet library without a computer I’d be able to concentrate better and maybe manage to get through a full chapter before the end of the day.

Something incredible happened. I got through THREE chapters. In fact, I had to leave the library early because I got so much work done I finished the book and had nothing else with me to study! I absolutely couldn’t believe it! On the Friday I tried a different version and rather than traipsing through to the City Library I went to the library which is a mere two minute walk from Gordon’s work and this worked just as well.

'For the first time in a long while I actually feel really positive about my forthcoming studies'

The benefits of going to this smaller library are excellent; for starters it saves me a £2.10 return Metro fare to town. It also means that I can call into Gordon’s work to have my lunch with him which saves me the £5 or so I’d have to spend in town to get something and it takes me away from the lure of the city centre shops (they’re not that much of a lure but there’s a well know CD and DVD shop just around the corner and that’s my Achilles’ heel). The only downside is that it closes at 5pm on Saturday and Gordon doesn’t finish until 6pm but there’s also a supermarket right next to it so I’m thinking in that hour I could go and do my weekly shop so it kills a couple of birds with one stone.

I know what you’re all thinking; what’s so interesting about going to the library to study? I know, I know, but I’d just never thought of doing it before and it REALLY WORKED! It’s just the perfect plan, Gordon’s at work every Saturday so this means I get a full day of real studying done each week without having to steal from the rare time off we do get together.

For the first time in a long while I actually feel really positive about my forthcoming studies. Such a simple solution, practiced by no doubt thousands of other students already, but this is not only going to help me keep up to date it’s also going to save me money by keeping me entertained/engrossed for what can otherwise turn into a wasted day. So I have to do my washing through the week instead, no big deal. So I have to work those odd jobs around making the tea on a weeknight, no big deal. So I have to do my food shopping in a quick hour once a week only, no big deal, in fact, brilliant because it’ll help me keep track of my spending a bit better.

Epiphanies eh. What a revelation.
 

OUSA in Scotland has a number of informal student groups that organise social get togethers for students.The following events and activities are taking place during late November / December

16^th November       Edinburgh Social Group pub night at Milne’s Bar, Rose St from 6pm onwards. Contact Kitty kittyjohnstone@yahoo.com.

26^th November       Scottish Islands Student Group meet up on Skye. Contact Jane js23992@my.open.ac.uk for details of time and venue.

3^rd December         Scottish Islands Student Group meet up at the Woodlands Cafe, Stornoway from 3pm. Contact Jane js23992@my.open.ac.uk.

3^rd December         South West Scotland Student Group informal meet up at L&M’s Lounge Bar, Bath Place, Ayr from 2pm – 4:30pm. Contact George sws@ousa-in-scotland.org.uk

6^th December         Edinburgh Social Group pub night at Milne’s Bar, Rose St from 6pm onwards. Contact Kitty kittyjohnstone@yahoo.com.

14^th December       Edinburgh Social Group evening visit (6pm) to Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons. Contact Kitty kittyjohnstone@yahoo.com.

 

Please see the OUSA in Scotland group http://www8.open.ac.uk/platform/group/open-university-students-association-in-scotland for more information on these events.