Hi all! I guess the title pretty much says it all. But nevertheless, I still have much to say and much to share with you guys. For this last blog post, I shall share about my personal reflections of this ES2007S module.
In a blink of an eye, 13 weeks have hurriedly come to past. Much has been taught and learned throughout this period. Looking back at my first blog post, I have written about why I have chosen to take this module, as well as the things I hope to learn. Yes, this module has let me brought home a lot of things through many different enriching activities.
Firstly, the peer teaching class. It has taught me that coming out with a lesson plan is not easy. It must be detailed enough such that if another person were to take over the lesson, he or she must be able to deliver all the items. Also at the same time, the lesson plan must not be superfluous. Moreover, being the first formal presentation which I have to make in class, I was too nervous. Making a presentation is certainly not an easy task!
Secondly, resume and application letter writing. This task really put me in a tough spot as my writing skills are not fantastic. Yet, we must learn how to utilize the 7Cs of writing in order to market ourselves effectively in our resume and application letter. This has made me realise that there are actually lots of details we need to take note of - not as simple as we think!
Thirdly, the interview session. This session let me get a taste of how an interview is like, including the kinds of questions that can be asked, how to conduct ourselves during an interview and what kind of responses we should give. There is lots of knowledge in this.
Fourth, proposal writing and presentation. As proposal writing is new to me and my team mates, it was actually a difficult task. Much can be learned from this activity, especially how to utilize the 7Cs of writing. Ultimately, after hitting the wall and getting stuck at times, our group has managed to come out with a fairly decent proposal. Following this was the oral presentation which turned out to be quite alright, all thanks to our frequent rehearsals. Kudos to Team BryAn! - it actually means (Bry)an + (An)dy and (An)drew. Thanks to each of our efforts which let everything run so smoothly =)!
Through all these activities, I must say we have really come a long way, learning many new things which we never knew before we have taken this module! I am sure we can apply all these transferable skills in future. Although things have come to an end, however this marks many new beginnings as well. New friendships, new knowledge which we can utilize, new presentations and interviews which we have to embark on in future and so on... Well, good things have to come to an end, right?
Lastly, I want to thank all my classmates for making the class so lively and different from the ever-so-boring classes in NUS. Also, thank you Ms. Lim for coming out with many interesting activities such as the personality test and role stripping game. I believe everyone enjoyed the activities as well!
KUDOS to everyone and ES2007S =D!!!
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Reflection on Oral Presentation
Yes! The second and last oral presentation for ES2007S is finally over! It was certainly not easy. But it was really a valuable experience for me. Now, let me share with you about my experience of this oral presentation.
The first oral presentation I had was the one for peer tutoring. Recalling about that experience, I was really nervous and stammered a lot. For the second and final oral presentation which I had last week, I basically tried not to repeat the mistakes I made for the first one.
When the presentation began, I told myself that the show is on and prayed that everything would go on smoothly. As Bryan was smoothly breezing through his part of the presentation, I started to get more and more nervous after each slide that passed. Soon, when he passed the time over to me, I told myself that I can do it and tried to calm myself down a bit. For the first couple of minutes, I believe I was a little nervous and began to stammer but as soon as I began to feel at ease, I could think and speak better.
Gestures, eye contact, voice projection, pronunciation, speaking coherently - all these things were constantly in my head as I told myself to monitor all these while I tried to look more natural and calm. It was certainly not easy but luckily I had quite a few rehearsals, so things were not as bad as I thought it would turn out to be. Certainly, practice makes perfect. Certain gestures, pauses and phrases came out naturally as rehearsals etched these subconsciously into my mind so that I could connect each sentence and speak more smoothly. Moments later, I had finished my part of the presentation and quickly passed on to Andy as I heaved a sigh of relief.
Our presentation took about 15 minutes. It was really quick as Andy thanked the audience and we proceeded on to the Q&A session. Questions kept pouring in and I felt a bit lost at first. I took a while to ponder on some of the questions and tried my best to come out with some appropriate answers. However, some of the questions were knew-you-would-ask kind of questions as our group had pondered on some of the questions that might be asked earlier on. And luckily for that, we could come out with some appropriate answers quite effortlessly. Not long later, the Q&A session was brought to an end as Alex signaled to stop. We quickly finished off to answer the last question and ended the entire presentation.
This oral presentation was really tougher than the first peer tutoring presentation. This is partly due to the greater amount of contents presented, as well as a more intense Q&A session. I am glad that all these are over. I have certainly learned a great deal from this oral presentation experience.
The first oral presentation I had was the one for peer tutoring. Recalling about that experience, I was really nervous and stammered a lot. For the second and final oral presentation which I had last week, I basically tried not to repeat the mistakes I made for the first one.
When the presentation began, I told myself that the show is on and prayed that everything would go on smoothly. As Bryan was smoothly breezing through his part of the presentation, I started to get more and more nervous after each slide that passed. Soon, when he passed the time over to me, I told myself that I can do it and tried to calm myself down a bit. For the first couple of minutes, I believe I was a little nervous and began to stammer but as soon as I began to feel at ease, I could think and speak better.
Gestures, eye contact, voice projection, pronunciation, speaking coherently - all these things were constantly in my head as I told myself to monitor all these while I tried to look more natural and calm. It was certainly not easy but luckily I had quite a few rehearsals, so things were not as bad as I thought it would turn out to be. Certainly, practice makes perfect. Certain gestures, pauses and phrases came out naturally as rehearsals etched these subconsciously into my mind so that I could connect each sentence and speak more smoothly. Moments later, I had finished my part of the presentation and quickly passed on to Andy as I heaved a sigh of relief.
Our presentation took about 15 minutes. It was really quick as Andy thanked the audience and we proceeded on to the Q&A session. Questions kept pouring in and I felt a bit lost at first. I took a while to ponder on some of the questions and tried my best to come out with some appropriate answers. However, some of the questions were knew-you-would-ask kind of questions as our group had pondered on some of the questions that might be asked earlier on. And luckily for that, we could come out with some appropriate answers quite effortlessly. Not long later, the Q&A session was brought to an end as Alex signaled to stop. We quickly finished off to answer the last question and ended the entire presentation.
This oral presentation was really tougher than the first peer tutoring presentation. This is partly due to the greater amount of contents presented, as well as a more intense Q&A session. I am glad that all these are over. I have certainly learned a great deal from this oral presentation experience.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Intercultural Conflict
Personally, I have not encountered or experience any intercultural conflict. Perhaps there was an incident during my junior college days, which might have came close to it.
A was an Indian-Chinese who understands and speaks fluent Mandarin. One day in the LT, A was sitting on the row in front of me and clique. One of my friends said in Mandarin that A was big size and that Indians are usually so big size. And he went on laughing and joking about it with my other friends, unknowing that A could understand every word of it. Thereafter, A turned around, stood up and scolded my friend in Mandarin. My friend’s face turned pale as he was shocked that A could understand and speak Mandarin. Knowing that this argument would lead to nowhere, I immediately appeased both of them before anything bad happens. I remembered this incident happened quite early during my first year in JC.
Strangely, A eventually became ostracized by the class. I had a clique in class, composing of several Chinese and Malays. We were close friends and always sat together in class, away from A. The class was small, comprising only about 13 people. There were a few cliques in my class while A belonged to none. The cliques naturally sat together, thus leaving A sitting alone most of the time.
Apparently that incident made my clique felt uneasy being around A. While other classmates told me that they were just uncomfortable being around an Indian-Chinese. So I felt bad for A but there was nothing much I could do. At least no one in class did anything bad to her. That was the only relief I felt for A.
Personally, I had nothing against A but I would rather sit together with my clique. Coincidentally A was in the same CCA as me and I would talk to A sometimes. There were even instances that my clique asked why I was talking to her. I felt the class was being too unfair to A.
Being caught between my clique and A, what could I do? The best I could do was to do nothing. This tension between the class and A then lasted till the end of my JC days.
A was an Indian-Chinese who understands and speaks fluent Mandarin. One day in the LT, A was sitting on the row in front of me and clique. One of my friends said in Mandarin that A was big size and that Indians are usually so big size. And he went on laughing and joking about it with my other friends, unknowing that A could understand every word of it. Thereafter, A turned around, stood up and scolded my friend in Mandarin. My friend’s face turned pale as he was shocked that A could understand and speak Mandarin. Knowing that this argument would lead to nowhere, I immediately appeased both of them before anything bad happens. I remembered this incident happened quite early during my first year in JC.
Strangely, A eventually became ostracized by the class. I had a clique in class, composing of several Chinese and Malays. We were close friends and always sat together in class, away from A. The class was small, comprising only about 13 people. There were a few cliques in my class while A belonged to none. The cliques naturally sat together, thus leaving A sitting alone most of the time.
Apparently that incident made my clique felt uneasy being around A. While other classmates told me that they were just uncomfortable being around an Indian-Chinese. So I felt bad for A but there was nothing much I could do. At least no one in class did anything bad to her. That was the only relief I felt for A.
Personally, I had nothing against A but I would rather sit together with my clique. Coincidentally A was in the same CCA as me and I would talk to A sometimes. There were even instances that my clique asked why I was talking to her. I felt the class was being too unfair to A.
Being caught between my clique and A, what could I do? The best I could do was to do nothing. This tension between the class and A then lasted till the end of my JC days.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Application Letter Critique
Sim Hon Meng
Block XXX
Hougang Ave. X
#0X-XXXX
Singapore 5XXXXX
03 February 2010
Mr. Charles Tan
Human Resource Manager
Achema Pte Ltd
#03-03 45 Jalan Pemimpin
Foo Wah Ind Bldg
Singapore 577197
Dear Mr. Tan,
I am a fresh graduate from the National University of Singapore. I am writing to apply for the Product Specialist position in your company. Based on my research of Achema Pte Ltd, the company specializes in aliasing with various research and educational institutes, as well as pharmaceutical and chemical industries. The company distributes many research equipment and other materials to these customers. I believe I possess the qualities that will help expand the company’s operation in Asia.
As I have worked in the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board as customer services officer, I have the experience and skills which make me proficient in customer relations and communication. Therefore, I am able to market the company’s products. Furthermore, I have attended classes and have taken modules in the University which has equipped me with excellent presentation skills. This then further improves my ability to market and sell the company’s products. Also, I have very good problem solving skills. This is evident as I helped many customers with their various problems during my time in the CPF Board. This is important as I can help solve any problem the customers will have on the company products. Lastly, I am an excellent team player too. During my secondary and junior college days, I was in choir, in which team work and cooperation are very important. Thus, I would be comfortable to work in teams and together we can bring the company’s operation to greater heights!
As you have seen, those are just a few of my qualities and abilities which I can bring to the company. I hope that the company will give me the chance to allow me to demonstrate my qualities fully. I will be contactable at 91803873 or email me at simhm25@yahoo.com. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Thank you very much for your time!
Yours sincerely,
Sim Hon Meng
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Interpersonal Conflict - The World is not a Utopia...
Utopia is an ideal world where everything is perfect, especially in its social, political, and moral aspects. Of course in this world, there is no conflict at all. But sadly in this world that we live in, there are all kinds of conflict, specifically 5 kinds - person versus person, self, environment, technology and society. However, I would like to discuss about person versus person - interpersonal conflict. In this scenario which I am sharing happened in one of our most familiar and favorite places - the lecture theater.
Professor A was giving a lecture in a rather soft tone. Ironically, seats were only occupied from the fourth row to the last. Halfway during the lecture, Student B yelled out from the last row, "Can you speak louder? I cannot hear what you are saying!". The professor was stunned for a brief moment and finally replied, "Since the first few rows are not occupied, come down to the first row now so you can hear me better.". Student B yelled back without any hesitation, "No thanks, I am comfortable where I am sitting now.". The professor warned the student not to be rude or he will chase him out of the class. The student then kept quiet and the professor continued the lecture from where he was interrupted.
I was sitting at the fifth row, luckily the professor was audible. However, I found that what happened then was rather amusing. Basically I thought that Student B has absolutely no idea how to be diplomatic and polite. Definitely one who has the lowest emotional intelligence I have ever seen! Pardon me for saying that if you found it ironic. If Student B wanted to get what he wants then he should be more polite and humble instead of being aggressive and rude. Or perhaps he could have just moved down to the first row.
As for Professor A, I felt that he has said and done the right thing. And I felt that he should deserve the students' respect and we should try to be polite when communicating with them.
Like what Albert Einstein said, "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.". If Professor A and Student B understand each other's intention, would this incident happen? What would you do if you were Professor A or Student B?
Professor A was giving a lecture in a rather soft tone. Ironically, seats were only occupied from the fourth row to the last. Halfway during the lecture, Student B yelled out from the last row, "Can you speak louder? I cannot hear what you are saying!". The professor was stunned for a brief moment and finally replied, "Since the first few rows are not occupied, come down to the first row now so you can hear me better.". Student B yelled back without any hesitation, "No thanks, I am comfortable where I am sitting now.". The professor warned the student not to be rude or he will chase him out of the class. The student then kept quiet and the professor continued the lecture from where he was interrupted.
I was sitting at the fifth row, luckily the professor was audible. However, I found that what happened then was rather amusing. Basically I thought that Student B has absolutely no idea how to be diplomatic and polite. Definitely one who has the lowest emotional intelligence I have ever seen! Pardon me for saying that if you found it ironic. If Student B wanted to get what he wants then he should be more polite and humble instead of being aggressive and rude. Or perhaps he could have just moved down to the first row.
As for Professor A, I felt that he has said and done the right thing. And I felt that he should deserve the students' respect and we should try to be polite when communicating with them.
Like what Albert Einstein said, "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.". If Professor A and Student B understand each other's intention, would this incident happen? What would you do if you were Professor A or Student B?
Friday, January 22, 2010
1st Blog Post - Why ES2007S
Hello everyone, since this is the first blog post, let me share with you why I have chosen to undertake this module and some feelings which I have towards this module thus far.
This module teaches us how to become a more effective communicator in various social settings, especially within the workplace. What I like about this module is that it takes a holistic approach. The whole package teaches us how to do presentations, effective job search skills like resume writing and interview skills, improving our listening and speaking skills and also our team work ability.
Having attended the first few lessons, it has occurred to me that communication is not as easy as I thought it would be and certainly does not come naturally to everyone. Some may be very adept in communication, while others are simply terrible at it. Well, I believe that I am in the middle of these two extremes. Moreover, why make mistakes in the future as an employee while I can afford to make some mistakes now as a student? Thus, I feel that I should learn from my mistakes now and improve my communication skills as it would certainly benefit me in the future.
Besides, employers today not only look at the qualifications and experience but also if one possesses those invaluable transferable or ‘soft’ skills. Communication skill is one of those transferable skills. The ability of presentations, written and spoken skills to drive messages across effectively and accurately. Only then, your audience will be able to interpret those messages correctly and act upon it accordingly. Hence, I would certainly want to increase my chances of getting employed.
The first few lessons were really fun and were able to effectively drive home certain messages. I have enjoyed the lessons and will continue to be. Let us all become an effective communicator at the end of this course!
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