MAS Cabin Crew Spanish Language Graduation

The Fantastic 25

When you see Tina Azura, Reefa, Azila, Azlina, Roseni and Ravinthran in Caribbean carnival costumes at MAS Training Academy, and tune in to the song, Besame Mucho, presented by 25 cabin crew members, you would have thought you're at a carnival of dance and fiesta. It was hot when they took to the floor dancing away with Captain Mohamed Azharuddin Osman (Director of Operations) and Ms Kitty Lee (Head, KDU's School of Hospitality, Tourism & Culinary Arts)!

Roseni, Tina Azura, Reefa, Azila, Ravinthran

MAS Cabin Crew Members' German Language Graduation

Malaysia Airlines System, an official 5-star airline, and one that has won numerous awards for cabin staff service, never ceases to exceed her customers' expectations. Besides delighting customers with excellent service, the cabin crew has taken one step further - to communicate better in many other languages, which includes French, German and Spanish. KDU University College has provided this linguistic training to MAS, and as Ms Kitty Lee, the Head of KDU's School of Hospitality, Tourism & Culinary Arts, said, "KDU wants to ensure that MAS gives the best service too in her endeavour to train the cabin crew to be multi-lingual. We're proud to support them in this training."

Ms Kitty Lee presented the certificates to graduates

So, at the recent graduation held at the Malaysia Airlines Academy at Kelana Jaya, the 24 cabin crew members gave their native-speaking trainers a standing ovation as a gesture of their appreciation. Ms Janina Brill and Ms Raja Schupp were both thrilled and proud of their students, who took turns to recite a German poem.

Confidently reciting a few lines of a poem in German

(Above) Members of the cabin crew gave a standing ovation to trainers (below)
Ms Raja Schupp (left) and Ms Janina Brill

For a 120-hour course at elementary level, it was amazing to hear Andrew Nari and Norazima Othman deliver their speech of thanks, which was done very smoothly and confidently. They thanked their trainers who have been most patient with them. As Andrew said, "When we first started, we found learning numbers very confusing, but after learning about modifying verbs, we persisted, and we prevailed. Our goal was to better ourselves, not competing with each other."

A short speech by Andrew Nari (left) and Norazima Othman

Encik Md Hassan Adan, the CCLOPS Controller in his opening speech said, "There will be a lot of expectations, but remember that learning a language cannot be done over a short period of time. To master the language, you need to speak the language and communicate freely. Support will be given to you to advance to the next level, and feedback from inflight passengers will be shared with you."

Opening speech by CCLOPS Controller, Encik Md Hassan Adan

Ms Kitty Lee also encouraged them highly. She said, "Today's graduation is a testament of your drive and determination. We would love to hear the inflight cabin crew speak German during their flight from Zurich to Frankfurt and also , especially when KDU students and staff fly from KL to Frankfurt-Zurich, as we send our students twice a year to Switzerland, taking up 260 seats per year. Everyone can learn together as KDU students are also learning to speak German, besides French."

What's the advice from Ms Brill and Ms Schupp? "Motivation is the key to learning. It's very encouraging to know that you've progressed so well, and that you can now apply a wide range of vocabulary in your conversations. Continue to speak German, and we hope to see you at the intermediate level!"



Congratulations to the graduates (Deutsch - Sprachkurs, Jahrgang 01/2011):

IFS Ahmad Johari Mohd Noor
IFS Peter Chiang Boon Huat
IFS Mohamed Razi Mohamad Idrus
IFS Lee Siew Poh
IFS Nor Azizah Hashim
CS Md Jaffar Moksin
CS Andrew Nari
CSS Tamilselvi Letchumanan
CSS Ng Ai Li
CSS Salawati Sarikawi
LSS Irena Oung Phaik Keow
LSS Teoh Lee Peng
LS Bonaventure Jude Tai Yuk Tet
LS Shaharul Bahrin Naharuddin
LS Raymond Pasqual
FS Prabagaran Muthalu
FS Gabriel Karl Wing
FS Halim Hassan
FS Hazmil Nahar Mahat
FS Asril Hafiz Sabri
FSS Norazima Othma
FSS Chew Kay Leng
FSS Norhayati Baharom
FSS Fadhillah Zulkepley
FSS Yong Ciow Hon

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