Scholarship / The representative of my colleagues - Chevening Leadership and Influence Essay [5]

I hope you can give me feedback on my essay.
Thanks in advance.

to become an outstanding leader

What defines the outstanding leader for me is the ability to communicate with his team, to build trust, and to approach unsolvable problems. I believe excellent leaders share knowledge with others, inspire their subordinates, and help them improve their skills.

At college, I was the representative of my colleagues. Negotiating with professors, solving my fellow's problems, and providing them with the lectures' materials were some of my responsibilities. One day, a professor asked us to choose whether to have an MCQ test or an essay one. A serious quarrel broke out between the college students. Some wanted the MCQ form, while others preferred writing essays. As a leader, I insisted on listening to their opinions first. I asked them to help me do what would be beneficial for us. So, we created a Google form to list the pros and cons of each choice. Then, on our Facebook group, we discussed everything together. We finally overcame this problem and had the MCQ examination with 443 votes in favor, and 52 against. This experience showed me that what makes a genuine leader is not being in a higher position and making individual decisions. Conversely, communicating with the team members, sharing ideas, and seeking solutions together is what defines leadership. Once a leader shows his group he respects and believes in them, they can achieve success.

Due to the spread of Coronavirus disease, we had to spend a lot more time at home. With the help of my friend, we thought of a way to keep us busy during the pandemic and to help others improve their English language. We organized free online sessions with some of our colleagues. I created a WhatsApp group and added those who showed an interest in the idea. In April 2020, we started our first virtual conversation club. Because I have been teaching for years, I found it better to delegate this task to my friend. My main aim was to give him the chance to be the instructor. After a few sessions, we convinced one of our colleagues to take part in the teaching process. Although sometimes our students were disappointed and afraid of not improving their language, we kept on motivating them to keep learning and not to give up. Now, after about four months of hard work, I am proud we started those sessions. This is because we see their improvement and happiness with the sessions. Going through such experience helped me adhere to my principle, which confirms that leaders help and influence people, support others, and share their knowledge with them.

Encountering such situations taught me that leadership does not emanate from a leader, but it is released by every individual in the team. I realized that higher positions do not make leaders because one can expand the influence he has in whatever position he holds. With its alumni networking, Chevening will give me the opportunity to expand my leadership and influence capacity and to engage with future leaders.

Scholarship / A new project in my village to help children learn English. Chevening Career plan [2]

Career plan essay

Living in a village, children are deprived of some of the opportunities their counterparts in the city enjoy. One of these opportunities is quality education specifically in learning English. Being a teacher in one of the English learning centres in the city, I realized that while children in urban communities are learning English effectively for using it as a second language in their daily life, those in the countryside just learn English to pass their exams. As the new global education goal (SDGs) is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, I thought about starting a new project in my village to help children learn English properly and the first step I took in that regard is that I created a Facebook group for the parents and started giving virtual English courses to infants.

In the short term, I will be continuing my work for the company I am currently in and hold the same post temporarily for two main reasons, namely applying the knowledge I acquired from my course, and gaining some managerial skills that will help me efficiently manage the centre I am going to set up. Additionally, I will participate in the National Teacher Training Programme established by the British Council in conjunction with the Ministry of Education in Egypt. It will be a great chance through which I can help other teachers and provide them with the knowledge I received from my MA. Further, I envision myself taking the second step in my project which is leading a team of teachers who will help me in the teaching process. This way, we will expand our services and include more students not only from the village, but also from many different places in and outside Egypt.

In the medium term, I will apply for a job as an assistant professor at the University of Tanta, Faculty of Education, using the MA obtained from the scholarship. In this role, I will get the chance to teach undergraduate students the effective ways of teaching English as a second language.

Four years post-return, I intend to pursue my doctoral degree at one of the UK universities. Afterwards, I will take a further step concerning my project which is having a place where we can offer face-to-face sessions along with the online ones.

With that said, winning the Chevening scholarship will be a fabulous opportunity for many reasons: first, I will obtain my MA from one of the greatest universities in the UK. Second, building strong connections with the Chevening scholars will help me when in need and allow me to interact with different mindsets in the same field and thus having a broader understanding of my area of expertise. Ultimately, this scholarship is a life-changing dream through which other greater dreams will come true.