Chua Gim Sen
Blk 190B Rivervale Drive
#04-968
Singapore 542190
Telephone: (65)92969450
4th September 2009
Mr Winston James Hodge
Director,Teaching and Development
Ministry of Education, Singapore
1 North Buona Vista Drive
Singapore 138675
Dear Mr Hodge,
I am writing to express my interest in securing a teaching position with the Ministry of Education (MOE) in response to your advertisement from the MOE website. I am currently an undergraduate at the National University of Singapore (NUS), majoring in Applied Mathematics.
I come to you with a solid understanding of the different career tracks and programs that MOE offers. Through the in-service courses, such as the Advanced Post Graudate Diploma, I am sure one would be equipped with professional knowledge and skills required to prepare them for a teaching career.
To be an educator has been my life-long aspiration since my secondary school days. As a highlight of my experience, I have been a student leader throughout my whole academic life, ranging from Peer-Support Leader to Vice-President of Junior Common Room Committee (JCRC) of Kent Ridge Hall. Through these extra-curriculum activities, I get to interact with different people from various streams and faculties. This helps me to gain a better insight of the needs of students and the challenges that students face in our holistic education program. It also gives me great joy and satisfaction whenever I manage to help my peers to discover their strengths and to groom my juniors into future student leaders.
I have done relief teaching in various neighbourhood schools teaching mathematics and sciences before my undergraduate studies. This exposure allows me to better understand what are the roles, responsibilities and commitments that a teacher need and the challenges of teaching in different streams. I have also gone for a cross-cultural exchange program at the University of Waterloo, Canada. The exchange program has given me an opportunity to compare on and evaluate the different learning and teaching styles and approaches between Singapore’s education system and the more Westernised one. Hence, I ask for the opportunity to translate my passion and desire to teach into reality.
In that regard, I would appreciate the opportunity for a meeting session to discuss my qualifications and the possibility of joining MOE. Please find my enclosed resume for your review. I look forward to hearing from you and talking to the panel in person.
Yours sincerely,
Chua Gim Sen
Reflections on Module
15 years ago
Hi Alan,
ReplyDeleteYour credentials are indeed an object of envy! I like the way you’ve arranged them into two neat paragraphs, and they project the image of a very sociable applicant – a very important trait required of teachers.
Here are some of my opinions:
1) The term high school has little relevance to the local mainstream education system. Since you’re applying to the Ministry of Education, it might be more appropriate to write in their terms.
2) You also mentioned that the exchange programme gave you the ‘opportunity to compare on and evaluate the different learning and teaching styles and approaches between Singapore’s education system and the more Westernised one’. Perhaps you could point out a few strengths of the Canadian system and briefly mention how they may be incorporated into ours.
However, I must say that you have written in a very confident tone, and this reflects very well on you!
Bing Fu
hey alan,
ReplyDeleteyou look like you have positioned yourself in a way that suits the job really well! good job.
however, you might wanna consider touching up on the following areas:
-stating when you are expected to graduate
-stating when you would contact them again to follow-up.
otherwise it is really well written.
cheers,
jiajie
Bingfu, thanks for your suggestion and your compliments. I will certainly evaluate the application letter again.
ReplyDeleteJiajie, thanks for pointing out some of the formating issues regarding my application letter.
Cheers