Introduction

Hi! My name is Daniel Lim Jhao Jian. Here is where I share my experience, knowledge and ideas. You are welcome to leave comments and follow my blog. You are free to copy anything from this blog. Please recommend this blog to your friends.


Sunday 11 October 2020

My journey to becoming a NUMed Teaching Fellow

NUMed offers several Teaching Fellow posts for newly qualified NUMed MBBS graduates each year. Teaching Fellows contribute to the development, coordination and delivery of the teaching for the NUMed MBBS course. I first heard of the Teaching Fellow post in 2018, and I have been quite interested in it since then. As I have always liked to share my knowledge and experiences with others, I am sure that I would enjoy it a lot. However, I knew that it surely wouldn't be easy to get the post.

In April 2019 when I was in Stage 5 of MBBS, NUMed opened the application for the Teaching Fellow post. I definitely thought of applying for it. However, the application involved writing a personal statement and curriculum vitae, which I felt was a daunting task. Just a few weeks before that, I had a huge crisis with my group mates. The crisis made me lose my self-confidence to some extent. On one occasion, one of my group mates mentioned that he would be applying for the Teaching Fellow post. I then said that I was interested in applying as well, but he ignored me and didn't continue to talk about it. In the end, I chose not to apply for the post. 

After the Stage 5 final exams in June 2019, I spent some time at the NUMed library every day, since I thought I would be leaving NUMed very soon. On 10 June 2019, it was the interview for the Teaching Fellow post application. At the library, I met a few students who were attending the interview. One of them was quite surprised that I didn't apply for the Teaching Fellow post, as she felt I would be a good fit for the job. That made me feel a bit regret about not applying for the post, but it seemed to be already too late. My group mate who applied for the post wasn't successful in his application.

On 13 June 2019, the Stage 5 final results was released, and it turned out that I failed the final exams. Consequently, I couldn't graduate in 2019 and I had to repeat the entire Stage 5. Later, I realised that I would have another opportunity to apply for the Teaching Fellow post in the following year, and I told myself that I mustn't miss out on it again. My family members were very supportive of my decision to apply for the post. Throughout my repeat year of Stage 5, I often took the initiative to assist my friends who needed help in certain subject areas, using the knowledge I gained from my previous year.

In April 2020, one of my friend who was a NUMed Teaching Fellow created a WhatsApp group for all those who were thinking of applying for the post. I joined the group and found out that many of my close friends were also interested in applying. That made the Teaching Fellow post even more attractive for me. However, due to the disruptions caused by Covid-19, there was no news about the Teaching Fellow post application for a long time. I was a bit worried that there might be no Teaching Fellow recruitment in 2020, but a few lecturers told me that NUMed was still planning to go ahead with the recruitment, just that they were waiting for the approval from Newcastle University UK.

On 6 August 2020, I passed my repeat year of Stage 5 and graduated from the NUMed MBBS course successfully. On 10 September 2020, the application for the Teaching Fellow post was finally open. To apply, I had to write a personal statement and curriculum vitae. The submission deadline was 18 September 2020. There were two options, a 3-month post or a 9-month post. I definitely chose the 9-month post. I knew that if I apply for the 3-month post, I would regret it when the 3 months is up, just like how I regretted my decision to not do my Elective 1 in UK during Stage 4 of MBBS. I put a lot of efforts in writing a good personal statement and curriculum vitae.

Eventually, I was really satisfied with my personal statement and curriculum vitae and I submitted them to NUMed on 16 September 2020. I was very confident of being shortlisted for interview. The shortlist was supposed to be out on 21 September 2020, but I didn't hear anything from NUMed on that day. On 22 September 2020, much to my disappointment, NUMed informed me that my application for the Teaching Fellow post was unsuccessful, without giving any reason. I really couldn't understand why I wasn't shortlisted for interview. I definitely wrote the personal statement and curriculum vitae very well. I also fulfilled nearly all of the essential and desirable criteria stated in the Person specification. The only exception was that I didn't have a Master of Medical Education, which no other applicant had anyway.

After giving it some thoughts, I decided to make an appeal as I didn't want to give up so easily. I sent NUMed an email where I emphasised my fulfilment of the essential and desirable criteria and urged them to give me the opportunity to attend an interview. Several of my close friends gave me words of encouragement for that and I really appreciated it. The shortlisted applicants had their interviews on 23 September 2020. On that evening, I received an email from NUMed. It turned out that NUMed decided to invite me for an interview! I didn't really expect that my appeal would be successful and I was so happy about that.

Nevertheless, I was aware that the interview wouldn't be easy. In some ways, the interview is like the MOSLER exam, which had always been my weak point throughout my MBBS course. I decided that I would just do my best in the interview, and if I am still not successful, I would just accept the outcome gracefully. To prepare for the interview, I looked up the internet for common interview questions for lecturer jobs. I also did some revision for my medical knowledge, just in case I get tested on them during the interview.

My interview was held online through Zoom at 1:45PM on 25 September 2020. Coincidentally, I got interviewed by the same lecturer who interviewed me when I was applying to study MBBS at NUMed back in June 2014. The interview wasn't too difficult and most of the questions were those that I had expected. It lasted for about 20 minutes. I felt that I performed reasonably well in the interview, but I wasn't sure if it was sufficient for me to get the Teaching Fellow post. I estimated that my chances of success was about 50%. 

At 5PM on that day, NUMed sent me an email to inform that they had offered me the 9-month Teaching Fellow post. I was overjoyed. Getting the Teaching Fellow post had been my dream for quite some time, and now it has finally come true! This is another great life event for me after I successfully completed the MBBS course in the previous month. However, the imperfection is that a few of my close friends who applied for the Teaching Fellow post weren't successful in the interview. In my opinion, they are definitely qualified for the Teaching Fellow job and NUMed really should have offered them the post.

As the Teaching Fellow job would begin in just a week time, I had to arrange for my accommodation urgently. Unlike students, Teaching Fellows are unable to apply for the NUMed managed accommodation. After considering a few places for the accommodation, I chose EcoNest as it's cheaper and I really like the place after having stayed there for the past 2 years. I travelled to Johor Bahru and moved into EcoNest on 29 September 2020. My new unit is really nice, and it's located at Tower A of EcoNest. Interestingly, I stayed at Tower C during my first year of Stage 5 and at Tower B during my repeat year of Stage 5, thus enabling me to experience all three towers of EcoNest.

On 30 September 2020, I and the other Teaching Fellows met one of the lecturers at NUMed for the Year 3 teaching induction. On 1 October 2020, I started the NUMed Teaching Fellow job officially. The first week just consisted of some induction sessions. On 2 October 2020, I went to Hospital Sultan Ismail to help coordinate the first hospital visit of the Year 3 students, but I wasn't involved in any teaching. My teaching began on the week starting from 5 October 2020. On that week, I delivered teaching for spirometry as well as spine and knee orthopaedics. My students are quite satisfied with my teaching.

Now, I can say that I enjoy my Teaching Fellow job a lot. I definitely made the right decision to apply for it, and I am so grateful that I succeeded in the application. I look forward to all the fun and challenges that lies ahead.

You can read about my experience working as a Teaching Fellow here:
https://daniellimjj.blogspot.com/2021/08/my-teaching-fellowship-at-numed.html

Friday 2 October 2020

My 2020 summer break

In 2020, I have 9 weeks of summer break between 30 July 2020 and 1 October 2020, after the end of Stage 5 (2019/2020) of my MBBS course at NUMed. Many interesting events happened during the summer break. Here, I am going to write about those events.

My summer break is shorter this year compared to the previous year. This is also the last long break in my life.


30 July 2020 (Thursday):
- Completed the Stage 5 (2019/2020) HBP Professionalism Assessment
- Took photographs with my friends
- Had lunch with my friends at Tang Ren, EcoBotanic

1 August 2020 (Saturday):
- Had lunch at Restoran Hua Mui, EcoBotanic

3 August 2020 (Monday):
- Watched Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw online

4 August 2020 (Tuesday):
- Went swimming in the swimming pool at EcoNest
- Had dinner with my friends at K Fry, Johor Bahru

6 August 2020 (Thursday):
- Passed Stage 5 (2019/2020) MBBS successfully
- Scored 90.8% in the WriSkE and 75.5% in the SBA
- Scored 14/18, 11/18, 12/18, 11/18 and 13/18 for the 5 domains in the End of Stage MOSLER

7 August 2020 (Friday):
- Had dinner with my friend at Chatri Signature Thai Restaurant

10 August 2020 (Monday):
- Received my NUMed MBBS transcript

11 August 2020 (Tuesday):
- Went to NUMed to print some documents and take photographs
- Had dinner at Spiced Mala Hotpot, Bukit Indah

12 August 2020 (Wednesday):
- Moved out of EcoNest
- Went back to Subang Jaya
- Had dinner at Thai Moment

13 August 2020 (Thursday):
- Had dinner at Bliss 33 Café

14 August 2020 (Friday):
- Had dinner at Pangkor Curry Fish Head Restaurant

15 August 2020 (Saturday):
- Had lunch at Bao Xiang Bak Kut Teh, Main Place Mall
- Had dinner at Logenhaus Restaurant

16 August 2020 (Sunday):
- Had dinner at Gangwan Restaurant

17 August 2020 (Monday):
- Had lunch at Uncle Don's

18 August 2020 (Tuesday):
- Received my Dean's Statement and Dean's letter from NUMed
- Had dinner at Chili's, Sunway Pyramid

19 August 2020 (Wednesday):
- Had lunch at Auntie Lora Kopitiam
- Had dinner at Nihonkai Japanese Restaurant

20 August 2020 (Thursday):
- Went back to Kulim
- Had lunch at Khoon Wah Curry Mee, Jawi

21 August 2020 (Friday):
- Went to Minat Supermarket

23 August 2020 (Sunday):
- Had lunch with my friend at Kuan Nan Food Court
- Went shopping with my friend at Sunway Carnival Mall

24 August 2020 (Monday):
- Received my NUMed MBBS degree

27 August 2020 (Thursday):
- Submitted UKFP Eligibility application on Oriel

28 August 2020 (Friday):
- My 2nd Clash of Clans account upgraded to TH12

30 August 2020 (Sunday):
- Went to my secondary school to have my MBBS degree, MBBS transcript and other documents certified
- Submitted application for MMC Provisional Registration Eligibility Letter on MeRITS

1 September 2020 (Tuesday):
- Went to AEON Mall, Bukit Mertajam

2 September 2020 (Wednesday):
- My 1st Clash of Clans account upgraded to TH13
- Had lunch with my friend at 无辣不欢

4 September 2020 (Friday):
- Had dinner at Legend Restaurant

5 September 2020 (Saturday):
- Returned to Subang Jaya

7 September 2020 (Monday):
- Had lunch at Nyonya Cendol Café

8 September 2020 (Tuesday):
- Had dinner at K Fry, Sunway Pyramid

9 September 2020 (Wednesday):
- Upgraded my Pixel 2 phone to Android 11
- Had dinner at The Ship with my family

10 September 2020 (Thursday):
- Had lunch at Ookii Ki
- NUMed opened the application for the teaching fellow position
- Had dinner at Texas Chicken, Sunway Pyramid
- Watched Tenet at TGV Cinema, Sunway Pyramid

11 September 2020 (Friday):
- Began writing my personal statement and curriculum vitae for the NUMed teaching fellow position

12 September 2020 (Saturday):
- Had dinner at Restoran Yuk Ming
- Visited SS2 Selera Malam and had coconut water
- 100% of my Taylor's College group successfully graduated from university

14 September 2020 (Monday):
- Had dinner at Kim Gary, Sunway Pyramid

15 September 2020 (Tuesday):
- Ordered lunch from Santan ASEAN
- Watched the launch of iPad Air 4, iPad 8, Apple Watch 6 and Apple Watch SE online

16 September 2020 (Wednesday):
- Had dinner at Esquire Kitchen, Subang Parade with my family
- Submitted my personal statement and curriculum vitae for the NUMed teaching fellow position

17 September 2020 (Thursday):
- Upgraded my iPad Air 3 to iPadOS 14
- Had dinner at Restoran Sun Hin Loong

18 September 2020 (Friday):
- Had dinner at Peppercorn Café

19 September 2020 (Saturday):
- Had lunch at Wild Basil, AEON BiG
- Had dinner at Restoran Weng Soon Jaya

20 September 2020 (Sunday):
- Ordered lunch from Cor Blimey

21 September 2020 (Monday):
- Received my Provisional Registration Eligibility Letter from MMC
- My UKFP Eligibility application was approved

22 September 2020 (Tuesday):
- Submitted application for a house officer post on SPA8i
- Had Ben and Jerry's ice-cream at Sunway Pyramid

23 September 2020 (Wednesday):
- Got shortlisted for interview for the NUMed teaching fellow position
- Had dinner at Restoran Waneeda Tomyam
- Bought mooncakes at Sunway Giza Mall

24 September 2020 (Thursday):
- Spent a night at my house in Kota Kemuning

25 September 2020 (Friday):
- Attended online interview for the NUMed teaching fellow position
- Got offered the NUMed teaching fellow position successfully

26 September 2020 (Saturday):
- Had lunch at Taiping Thiam Kee Noodle House
- Went back to Kulim for one night
- Had pancakes at Insadunia Food Court

27 September 2020 (Sunday):
- Returned to Subang Jaya
- Had dinner at Fatty Crab Restaurant

28 September 2020 (Monday):
- Had breakfast at Restoran Jin Xuan, USJ Taipan
- Registered as a voter on MySPR Daftar
- Confirmed accommodation at EcoNest for 2020/2021
- Had dinner at Manhattan Fish Market, Subang Parade

29 September 2020 (Tuesday):
- Returned to Johor Bahru
- Moved into EcoNest

30 September 2020 (Wednesday):
- Had lunch at Restoran Hua Mui, EcoBotanic
- Met one of my lecturers
- Had dinner at Spiced Mala Hotpot, Bukit Indah

1 October 2020 (Thursday):
- Began working as a teaching fellow at NUMed


If you find this story interesting, you may want to read this too:
https://daniellimjj.blogspot.com/2019/08/my-2019-summer-break.html