Testimonial Archives - Page 2 of 2 -

January 27, 2017

Ribblette’s Final Hop!

My favourite picture while I was working here! 🙂

Ribbit ribbit! Ribblette speaking! This is my last week of internship and it has been a wonderful 4½ months here as an intern!

Personally, I really love frogs at a young age and I was excited when I got accepted by Jurong Frog Farm as an intern.

During the first week of internship, I was assigned with many different tasks such as retail operations, managing of social media, packing of stocks and even conducting tours! At first, it was really challenging for me because of a number of different tasks I am given. However, as time passes, I was able to adapt to the working environment and was able to handle the tasks with confidence!

Of course, there are still times where I did not perform well during work but my supervisor, Zheng Xun, and my manager, Jackson, was there to lend me a helping hand! They were friendly and patient with me throughout the internship.

In this internship, I learnt many valuable skills and one of the most important things I learnt is to not make any assumptions. There were times when I made assumptions at work and it caused a few miscommunications and affected the workflow. Thus, instead of assuming, I decided to ask my supervisor and manager whenever I am unsure about certain issues or questions.

I also had lots of memories from my experience at Jurong Frog Farm such as the opportunity to meet many different celebrities from Mediacorp, participating in JFF’s 35th Anniversary, selling our products at events, celebrating Christmas and gift exchange with JFF, counting down to 2017 with JFF and so much more!

The experiences I have experienced here is really one of a kind and nothing will be able to replace these memories and experiences.

Last but not least, I am really thankful for Chelsea, Zheng Xun, Jackson, the Bangladeshi workers, the housekeepers and also Uncle and Auntie (Mr. and Mrs. Wan) for all their help with work and food during my internship!

Hopping off,

Ribblette AKA Kayleen

September 25, 2016September 25, 2016

Riblette hops into JFF!

Hello! My name is Kayleen aka Ribblette The reason why I chose this nickname is because frogs go “ribbit, ribbit” so, I decided to add in “lette” to feminize it! This is my 2nd week in JFF as an intern. I chose this internship because I am not afraid of frogs and I like how I get to have lots of social interaction with not only frogs but also the tour participants. I am an extrovert and I love to soak in the energy mingling with people! Besides the above, I hope too that my time here as an intern in JFF would help me to discover more about myself and apply what I would learn here for all my future endeavors.

I look forward to the opportunity to be hosting you around the farm!

July 29, 2016July 29, 2016

Frosch Huge Leap

Hey! Frosch here! Let me croak some thoughts on the last week of internship here!

It has been 4 ½ months here as an intern and it is a really good exposure to all the work and the tasks given to me here. I was accepted to a humbling (and busy) small family business in this amazing company, Jurong Frog Farm, has given me so many opportunities and responsibilities for a SME with a small amount of workforce compared to those big ones.

At first I didn’t know about there was a frog farm in the first place but all I know there are other farms like the Goat Farm and many aquaculture farms which amazed me that all of them are located at the same place, Kranji countryside. I also didn’t know that farms have actual land lease and they are ‘expiring’ this 2019 (2017 initially) to create urban and also military development on this land. It is sad that this land full of heritage and history that can be used as a real life exposure to educate the public on how farming and hardworks taken away.

I still remember the first day working here, I was completely overwhelmed with the job scopes given to me and the things needed to be done like Housekeeping, packing, design collaterals, customer inquiries, event planning, logistics management and Retail Management. I felt scared and easily nervous if things didn’t go the right way during the job. Also, when Jackson first introduced me to the frogs to test my fear, I just carried the frogs like how Jackson showed it to me. This is to show that I’m not scared of the frogs in this farm.

From there, there were dry runs for tours, which I am not very comfortable with it at first and my sentence structure when I speak was not very good at all. But over time the few dry runs and more exposure to many real tours made me confident to speak to a larger group and also improve what I am going to say in the tour. Not only that but, learning about crowd control by giving them mini activity like saying “give me one froggy clap!” would get their attention by clapping and say ribbit in return. Of all the tours I have done, Gabbe’s Adventure is my favourite because I love kids and most of the pre-schoolers in my past tours are nice and very kind too!

After experiencing and observing many tours, I felt more confident and responsible in taking my actions in the tours which these values can be used in real life too. I felt that I also have changed outside work, becoming a more useful by paying more attention to details especially the emotions and the actions of my friends and family.

Throughout the whole internship, I have learned about the work ethics in and office and also outside by being in the presence and also having sense of urgency by knowing the work should be done the right way. There are quite a number of challenges I faced, like dealing with mistakes with e-mail ( I had to call the customer right away to rectify), dealing with stock shortage (I have to recommend other product), language barriers and dealing with the assignments when I am supposed to finished.

Lastly, I would like to thank Jackson, Chelsea and Zheng Xun for guiding and being patient with me throughout the 4 ½ months, the other workers who help me out with the frogs, the house helpers for the food and last but not least, Mr and Mrs Frog also helping me out when I had trouble in the shop and deep fryer station that suddenly spoiled during the Farmer’s Market, I panicked during that time.

This company taught me so much and gave many opportunities for me, it is really an honour working with every one of you and I promise, these skills and work ethics will be one of the best takeaways for me so I can apply to another real working environment.

Signing off,

Muhammad Azrul B Akashah a.k.a Frosch

Photo credits: Mr Andy Tan & Son from St. James Kindergarten (featured), Kids from Discovery Camp (below)

Gabbe's Adventure was fun! — Gabbe’s Adventure was fun!

July 15, 2015

Sgt.Frog is Hopping off the Farm!

Hi everyone,

Sgt.Frog here!
So this will be my last blog post here in the farm.

I have been on the farm for my internship for four months and now it’s time to share my experiences here.
The first time I heard my teacher said that I was posted to a frog farm, all my friends already starting joking that I’ll be eating frog porridge everyday!

So in my head when realized being posted to a frog farm, sweating under the hot sun and being surrounded by hundreds of frogs.

So what did i learnt from this internship?
Learning to communicate way better than I ever did. Before the internship, I was shy and only open up to friends that i know well.
But now I’m able to talk to visitors and customers confidently on the spot and assisting them!
Also I’ve learned to react to unexpected situations calmly and appropriately. I have to say I have messed up at times during the internship but fortunately Chelsea was a forgiving person.

The first few weeks of my tours were supervised by Chelsea in case I froze during the tour.
She was friendly and patient with me throughout the internship, helping me with my flaws and teaching me the correct ways to conduct a tour and my other job scopes. It includes admin work and taking care of the shop during weekends.
I was a slow learner, so it took me a longer time before Chelsea felt that I was able to manage the tour by myself.
But before the internship started I never would have thought I’ll be able to lead a guided tour around the farm by myself!

Having my internship here at the farm was definitely one of the best experiences I ever had.
I have definitely learned many new things and improved my skills that can be applied during my future working life.

(Picture by Indonesian based wildlife photographer Hendy Mp)

And with that, this is Sgt.Frog saying farewell.

March 18, 2015April 16, 2015

New member here, Sgt.Frog!

Greetings everyone, this is Sgt.Frog reporting in!

So why Sgt.Frog? This is due to me liking the anime Sgt.Frog! Another name for it is Keroro Gunsou, so try watching a few episodes of it!

Anyways, I’m a student from Republic Polytechnic that has been posted to Jurong Frog Farm for training!

So I’ve been starting my training on 10th March before the commencement of the actual internship, and just so happen on that day there were already two schools visiting the farm! So my first duty was to be familiar with the content of the tour!

So for the first tour I was to be an observer. I shadowed Charlane, another employee here that has been conducting tours for a long while so she was experienced in it. Watching the person leading the tour was easy. Leading the tour on the other hand was much more harder.

The first time I tried conducting part of the tour which was explaining the history of the frog farm was… well let’s just say I was rattling too fast and getting nervous. Luckily Chelsea the lady boss saved me and the children on the first day of my internship were more attentive and listening to my presentation after that. They gladly followed me about to the different parts of the farm to see the frogs.

Towards the late the evening, another group entered into the farm, except this time they were celebrities from Hong Kong performing in a TV series called “Travel with Mom” where the celebrities will travel to different countries with their moms to find fun and interesting places. The celebrities were Sidney 雪梨 (Mom), Edward 徐偉棟 (Son) and Erica 徐頴堃 (Daughter)! After their filming with the frogs, they were treated with some home cooked gong bao frog legs, deep fried frog legs and the dessert Hashima!

Then over the next three days more children from schools came over to visit and join the tour, which I was give the task to help conduct them! So I started out with getting familiarised with the history of the farm, not easy especially when you are explaining history to kids! So with the advice and pointers from Chelsea and Charlane, I learnt a few tricks like getting them hyped up so they’ll be more attentive, and showing some firmness to actually get them to pay attention to me instead of talking about!

In just four days I’ve already helped lead tour groups that total up to 632 children! Some first week in the training programme huh?

And during the weekends I met a local celebrity Ben Yeo! Couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take a pic with him! Also,
I learnt to cooked deep fried frog meat and crocodile meat as well! So do come and visit during the weekends, I can let you try my cooking skills!

So if you wanna know more about my experiences during my training in the next time (or about my challenges) stay tuned for more updates!

July 8, 2014

ANNA’s ‘Metamorphosis’

Hi peeps,

I have officially concluded my internship with JFF. Looking back, 4 months have passed by in a flash but the memories I have made in this time will stay with me forever.

I still vividly remember the first 2 weeks of internship – challenging would be the word I would use to describe.

Firstly i had to adapt to the company’s work culture and learn the basics of a frog’s life.

Secondly, I thought I had to meet up to the expectations immediately but Chelsea gave me time to learn without putting too much pressure on me because she knew my strengths and assigned the work to me based on this.

I believe few people actually know of the existence of farms in Singapore. Sure there may be a handful of curious and adventurous ones who would know, but that’s about it. Truth be told, farming is somewhat elusive knowledge to us city folk.
However,after working in the farm, I’ve changed my perspective on farming. Many of us think that it is a lowly job but I think that we should not look down on farmers; it takes tons of hard work and perseverance to manage the land and raise the livestock!

It was a good experience working in such an environment, away from the city.
Working on the farm, I didn’t just learn things about Frogs, Ive also learned to speak to the public. Conducting a tour of 5 is easy but not to a group of 50-70 people and there is definitely a lot more to look into besides just conveying the froggy message to the group.For me I think that having the group focus their attention on you is the most important thing to do. Once you lose their attention, they will start to wander on their own resulting in the need for crowd controlling and that, to me, is the most challenging part.

Other than tours, I also did administrative work, retail sales, taking orders from customers, replying to emails, selling frogs, and handling customers’ inquiries.
The most important thing I learnt from Chelsea is to NOT ASSUME ANYTHING when we are working in a company. Never ever assume because it can really cause a lot of miscommunication which will end up disrupting work flow. So I will never allow myself to have any sort of preconception get in the way of my work in the future.

I’ve had lovely memories from my experience here. Hitching a ride by the road, going into other people’s farm to pluck fruits (with permission of course!!), selling our products at the inaugural Farmers’ market, meeting nice people along the way, solemnization happening in the frog farm, applying qin chao oil on an injured duck’s leg, plucking mangoes with the Bangladeshi workers, going to a Pre-U Seminar in NUS with Chelsea to see JFF being showcased by a group of students etc… All sorts of funny and interesting things.

This experience was really special and I feel lucky to have been able to go through it.
Thank You Jurong Frog Farm for taking interns and allowing them to experience such a unique working environment.

December 17, 2013

Testimonial from our Frog Master!

By Muhammad Aizat Bin Selamat
BSc(Honours) in Business, University of London

Position: Marketing and Business Development Assistant

“If you love to interact with people from all walks of life, love nature and have fun while working, this is the internship to opt for! Never did I expect this stint to build my character development but also honed my skills and knowledge on social decorum!”

My internship experience at JFF is a challenging, thrilling and a rewarding one. Life at JFF is different everyday. The word ‘bored’ never came into existence.

You get to meet new people like customers, who will sometimes eventually become your friends OR and potential business partners. The working environment has encouraged me to come out of my comfort zone to unleash the potential of public speaking skill in me. With a predisposed introvert personality, the tour guiding responsibility is the most challenging aspect of the internship. I have learnt how to crowd-control different type of groups ranging from kids to adults. This is an experience and on-site learning opportunity that I can never get from reading a textbook.

One of the highlights of this internship is my involvement in the World Food Festival (WWF) 2013. I was involved in the logistics planning for the event. For example, I need to ensure that we have adequate collaterals to go around during the event as well as informing to the public for our involvment in WWF 2013 through social media like Facebook and WordPress. On top of that, I’ve learnt a few interesting Mandarin phrases to pitch sales during the event. For example, “lai ah lai ah, tian ji rou, sao sao de!”. In translation, come and get our freshly cooked frog meat!

Truth be told, there’s more to experience than to be said in words. It is an enriching experience to be able to work as an intern in Jurong Frog Farm. Where most of my peers would scorn at the prospect of working in a farm, I am glad that I have chosen to walk the beaten path. I have taken this rare opportunity to learn and experience first hand on managing a business and overcome obstacles in an organic and dynamic environment. Hey, you get to learn about frogs as well! Like JFF Director (Ms Chelsea Wan) always say, frog rocks!

I will definitely encourage my fellow schoolmates looking for internships to work with JFF Pte Ltd. Further more, you’ll be able to enjoy the rustic scenary which is definitely a breath of fresh air from the hustling and bustling concrete jungle of Singapore!

October 8, 2013

Speaking of Exotic Venue for Wedding shots!

Thank you for sharing your casual wedding shots with us! Glad you have found your Frog Prince in this farm where there are tens of thousands of other charming frogs!
We wish this couple a blissful marriage as they transit into another phase of life! ❤❤❤

Credits to Wenling and fiancé.

February 6, 2013

Winnie’s Testimonial

Winnie is an undergrad from Massey University. She has undergone a 2 weeks attachment with us in the last 2 weeks of January. Lets’ see what she has got to say of her experience here!

‘Having been attached to this farm for 2 weeks, I learnt a lot about the production of the frog farm. I was able to gain a lot and develop new skills throughout my time here. I did things that I did not imagine I would do! This includes taking primary school students for the fun tours and the herpetology workshops, even though I started off with having absolutely no experience in this field.

It has been a really cool and enriching experience for me in these 2 weeks, and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here. It was especially fun together with the company of Bobby and Puppy! I am very grateful for Chelsea who has taught me so much and also for her patience and kindness, as well as her family and Deon for being so welcoming and friendly. Once again, I would like to thank Chelsea for giving me the opportunity to work here at Jurong Frog Farm.’