Sunday, April 18, 2010

Final reflections

This school term has come to an end and so has ES2007S.When i reflect on what i had taken away from this module, i think the decision to take up this module was a good one and i would recommend others to take up in future. I have not spoken so much, probably in my entire university education, of course except for idle talk with friends during lectures. I think this module has adequately created an awareness of aspects of communication like active listening, non-verbals,intercultural and even writing of email or letter correspondences. i have become more aware of all these factors and this would be something for me to take note of and work on in having effective communications with others. The only pity was that the different aspects of effective communication could only be touched on briefly, with the heavy workload that has to be incorporated within a semester of work because the various topics have definitely left me hungry for more in dwelling into them as the art of communication is always so interesting.

This module has also offered many interactions within the class, like the peer teaching and the oral presenation. Through it i get to collaborate with different people and these practices were wonderful as throughout these projects, unknowingly maybe, we got to practice several communication skills like negotiating with members, being assertive when there's a need to,active listening, empathizing and many..

Assignments like application and resume letter writing was useful especially when we shared and saw other letters to gain more perspectives and skills to take note of when writing such formal documents. i thought blogging was a good and interactive way to get people to communicate and share their ideas and we also definitely had to have good time management to take note of the tight timeline with regards to that.

I liked how this module was conducted seminar style and i think i have really seen, heard and learn alot from this class. By observing and taking note of how some really natural and good speakers do in class and on the other hand, taking in positively how some flaws could be corrected, i think i have gained alot from 2 avenues. Also, reflecting back on the very first lesson, where there was perhaps a little of reservation and awkwardness, i thought i had opened up more and tried to become more expressive at the end of this all, with the constant engagement required of us during class. I think its always hard to speak up, the concern if your comments sound right or necessary just makes it easier to just keep quiet and not say anything, and i think this is what draws the line between a confident speaker and an adequate one. I think it is this self-consciousness that eats up into a person's confidence and rather to say that people often make judgements of others, in this aspect, we often first make a judgement on how people will judge us and this is what preventing us from having the courage to speak up.

To end, i want to thank Brad and every classmates for having made this learning experience a wonderful one.
To all those who are graduating: All the best in your career
To all those whom are not: All the best in future exams and hang on!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

reflections on oral presentations

First,a sidenote to my group: we survived it! and i think overall, we did fine.
Divya: I think you make a good presenter as you were so natural and assertive. You displayed confidence and fluency throughout your whole part, and the most amazing part was you did it without any scripts!

Xian Rui: your voice projection was great and i feel that you have shown marked improvement in terms of presentation.

Shiting: i think you did well because you presented more fluently than during our numerous practices, and this was great!

Cheers to all. Thanks for all the hard work.

Personally, i think my voice projection was overall loud and clear. However, i stumbled over quite a few words during the presentation and that made my presentation less fluent.I guess nervousness played a part in that and this is something i should take note of and improve on. Also, i think having to rely on the scripts was also something i could work on. Having said so, when i think back on the peer teaching and compare it to the oral presentation done, to see if i have improved, i thought the feeling of nervousness this time was lesser and eye contact with the audience was also more frequent, though i think i could have better engagement with the audience. Also, i feel that dressing really does play a part, with a more formal dressing, i maintain a more formal posture which affects the confidence that i display.

last, i think this oral presentation was a great experience in allowing me to practice my oral presentations and i would definitely need more learning experiences so as to be a better presenter in future.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Proposal draft 1- Abstract/Introduction

Executive Summary / Abstract

The focus of this research project is on a perceived lack of communication skills in particular interpersonal skills amongst Science fresh graduate teachers. More research will be done to look into the exact communication problems that teachers encounter in their teaching career. To address this problem further, interviews and surveys will be done to find out what has been done for communication skills in their undertakings as students, in this way, we hope to come up with improvements to supplement any lack of communication skills. In addition, we aim to get further insights from professional or senior educators to provide us with a better understanding of this problem.

Introduction

NUSEU had requested students to undertake a project, aiming to research on the needs and the lack thereof communications skills in various industries. We have accepted their mandate and undertaken this project so as to contribute to the ongoing efforts to make NUS one of the world’s leading universities. This proposal outlines the main problem identified, our research findings thus far that support the existence of this problem, the possible benefits of further research in our industry of interest, MOE as well as a detailed methodology of our primary research.
We chose MOE because as Faculty of Science students, the education sector is something that is close to our hearts as we will be prospective employees in that industry. Besides that, through our very own NUS undergraduate experiences, we realized that communication skills are not integrated in most if not all science modules. We thus foresee the probable lack of communication skills among NUS Science undergraduates.
Furthermore, news reports and press releases on the complaints filed against school teachers have enlightened us on the importance of communication in the teaching profession as well as the undeniable issue that more needs to be done. Great interest is expressed in exploring this area of lack of communications amongst teachers and through this research we hope to propose something at the NUS level that will serve as the first step towards raising awareness about this problem and resolving it.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

intercultural observation

It is very interesting to learn about different cultures and be exposed to them. Sometimes I ponder if Singapore does have a strong cultural trait. Just what could we be remembered as? Kiasu? Personally, I think that’s just something that is blown up and made use to want to create that Singaporean identity. Maybe Singlish? It’s something that Singaporeans exclusively speak and I understand that many foreigners when first exposed to singlish do feel intrigued by it. Speaking singlish has become such an integrated part of us that it’s rather difficult to find a Singaporean who does not speak it. While to some it is interesting, others perceive it as a broken-form of English. While some criticisms of singlish hold, it is undeniable that it is unique to Singapore. A friend who had gone on an exchange to Canada shared an interesting experience at a cafeteria. A large group of Nus students were chatting happily at the cafeteria where beside them seated a few Canadians. After some time, the Canadians actually found their conversation so interesting that they approached the students to strike a friendly conversation and to find out where were they from. Then, they learnt that they were actually Singaporeans and what they had heard was singlish. They were pretty amused by it and spontaneously learnt to use it as well.

I would like to share this experience in Japan. I remembered this particular day we were looking for somewhere to have our lunch. We gave the packed restaurants a miss and finally came to a restaurant that was fairly quiet. We made orders and chatted happily. The next moment, a group of about 8 men walked into the restaurant. As we were sitting on those long tables, they also shared the table with us and were seated with us. We then became surrounded by them, both besides and opposites. When their food came, they started slurping their noodles real loud. Frankly, I didn’t quite feel comfortable with that. Imagine the whole group slurping away, though I do know this culture of theirs, it still wasn’t something pleasant to face to. They had their meals in a very hearty manner and finished up real fast. Also, they all ordered beer to drink. They became even more noisy and chatted very loudly. It came to a point that it was so difficult for the person opposite me to hear what I was saying. I became quite displeased for the fact that our conversations became impossible because of the noise they were making and I think my family felt quite uncomfortable in that situation so we also finished up fast and went off.

While I respect and understand the slurping culture, but when I experienced it myself and furthermore with such a big group of people, that experience wasn’t something very pleasant because it has been a habit that when we dine, minimal sounds are made especially so when we drink soups, for drinking too loudly is perceived as being rude and unsightly. So this slurping culture of the Japanese though was amusing to me, it also wasn’t an exactly enjoyable one.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Application letter (1st draft)

Pang Shimin Germaine
Blk 367 Yishun Ring Road
#04-1532 S (760367)
96341770(HP)
pang_germaine@hotmail.com

February 7, 2010

Ms. Kylie
391A Orchard Road #21-08
Ngee Ann City Tower A
S(238873)

Dear Ms. Kylie:

I am an NUS graduate from the faculty of Science and I came across your online advertisement looking for a HR consultant while browsing through jobstreet It really drew great interest in me and I would like to meet with you to discuss this opportunity further. Being voted as the No 1 recruitment company in year 2007 and 2008, Recruit express had again emerged as the No 1 Recruitment company of the year 2009. Without doubt, a team of highly-committed and top-notch service-oriented people was a key in your success. It’s clear that you are looking to maintain your reign as a top leading recruitment company in Asia and I believe my skills can help to do so.

Your advertisement on the healthcare sector states that a science degree would be preferable. As a 3rd year undergraduate in chemistry, I believe my knowledge in the area of Science can help in driving the recruitment process by actively sourcing for talents in the healthcare division. I believe my background closely matches the suitability outlined for the job.

As this job requires human resource activities, being able to display good team spirit and responsibility is important. During my junior college days, I was an active member of the interact club and was part of the committee for a school initiated project. In it, I had to work with others to plan and carry out activities. Through these experiences, I recognized myself to be a good team player and possessed the ability to handle responsibilities well. Also, work experience at IRAS had equipped me with the skills to communicate effectively to people and this would value add in my ability to provide advice to clients in this job. Thus, I do possess the interpersonal skills required when dealing with clients. In addition, I had experiences at doing sales which are in line with your expectations of someone being open to sales and results-oriented organizations. Through my sales experience, I had been exposed to the stress and need for productivity of sales thus with additional on-job training that your company will be providing, it would definitely be easier for me to manage and perform in that area.

Lastly, you state that you are looking for someone energetic and with a strong CCA record in sports. While I did not join any sports in schools, I am active in marathons where I had taken part in he Women’s Great Eastern Run for 2 consecutive years and I frequent the gym as well. Thus, I would consider myself as being very involved in vigorous activities.
Recruit Express is an expanding recruitment company with the potential to excel further in the Asian region and I would appreciate to speak to you further on how my experience can help you deliver excellent service. Please contact me at 96341770 or email at pang_germaine@hotmail.com if any clarifications are needed. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Yours sincerely,
Germaine Pang

solutions to interpersonal conflict

As this is an ongoing problem, i guess i will still gather A and B for events and facilitate some interaction between them. I will also find a suitable time to talk to A one day regarding this and hopefully smooth certain things out.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

sandwiched

Edited*

2 good friends of mine had gone on an exchange to Norway. During that time, they went on al short tour with a few other friends. Prior to this, friend A was already quite displeased over how disorganized and unprepared the other friends were. For friend A is someone who is a very target-focused person who has to draw up clear plans.

However, things only went really wrong during the trip itself. There was pretty much of a conflict in interests as to where to go and what to visit. Friend A complained on this particular day where they spent the whole day shopping. On this, Friend A was really annoyed and frustrated at how her friends totally lost control of themselves upon seeing all the retail shops and just continued to shop to the extent that she was told to look after their bags when she was taking a rest. Friend A displayed animosity after that.

Friend B, on the other hand, perhaps with a more amiable disposition, though was also not agreeable on what happened did not express any annoyance. From her perspective, she felt that it tolerance would have saved awkward outcomes.
Friend A felt that this whole experience together with them was atrocious so after this trip, Friend A distanced herself from the others and because Friend B remained with the others, this indirectly distanced Friend A and B.

Somewhere along the way, there was obviously a breakdown in communication which led to the outcome today. I found out that the other friends have no idea what Friend A was feeling so upset over. To them, she seemed to be just throwing tantrums. Regarding this, I felt that Friend A could have spoken to them to clear things in the open because her non-verbal expressions were not actually decoded and understood by them and this contributed to the sour relationship.
If Friend A was able to communicate what she was feeling in a better way, a compromise could be reached and things could have been salvaged.

So what could be a solution to this problem?




2 good friends of mine had gone on an exchange to Norway. During that time, they took the opportunity to travel to Germany for a short tour with a few other friends. Prior to this, friend A was already quite displeased over how disorganized and unprepared the other friends were. For friend A is someone who is a very target-focused person who has to draw up clear plans so she felt that it was just all talk and no action by the others as no concrete plans were being drawn up.

However, things only went really wrong during the trip itself. There was pretty much of a conflict in interests as to where to go and what to visit. Friend A complained on this particular day where they spent the whole day shopping, to the extent that the first meal they had was dinner. On this, Friend A was really annoyed and frustrated at how her friends totally lost control of themselves upon seeing all the retail shops and just continued to shop. In the afternoon, Friend A was already feeling tired so she stepped out of the shops to take a rest at a central area. Friend B soon joined her. Time passed and the others just continued to shop. They went out to check on them, only to leave all the shopping bags with them and asking them to take care of the bags while they continued on their spree. Without much of a choice, they sat there waiting. A few hours later, Friend A finally could not tolerate further, she went into the shops and told one of them that she was not going to wait further and that she wants to go and eat already. By then, her expressions were almost irritable and annoyed, and that finally struck her friends to stop shopping and have their meals.

Friend B, on the other hand, perhaps with a more amiable disposition, though was also really tired did not express any annoyance. From her perspective, she felt that it was not much of a big deal and that by not displaying animosity would save any awkward situations from arising.
Friend A felt that this whole experience together with them was atrocious so after this trip, Friend A distanced herself from the others and joined other groups for activities. The relationship between them turned awkward where even exchange of greetings were minimal. What was rather saddening that Friend A and B, once good friends, soon drifted apart partly because of this and Friend B remained with the earlier group of friends.

When they returned and we gathered, I noticed some awkwardness between them and had approached Friend B alone one day, wanting to hear her side of the story as well. Friend B soon broke down into tears and got really emotional on how things turned out this way as well. At that moment, I was shocked and kind of at a loss of what to do because Friend B all the long appeared to be a strong and happy-go-lucky person. We had never seen her cry (except when in secondary school when we poured mango juice which she really hated on her) so when she did, I was really overwhelmed by the rush of emotions (hurt, sadness and helplessness) running through her but all I could do was to give her a pat and continue listening to her.


Somewhere along the way, there was obviously a breakdown in communication which led to the outcome today. Friend B had tried to be a go-between between Friend A and the others but Friend A was not very cooperative on that because Friend A is a very opinionated person, sometimes to an extreme, who feels that there is no point in working on something she firmly believes would not work out, simply because they will not click. I also found out that the friends have no idea what Friend A was feeling so upset over. To them, she seemed to be just throwing tantrums. Regarding this, I felt that Friend A could have spoken to them to clear things in the open because her non-verbal expressions were not actually decoded and understood by them and this contributed to the sour relationship.

I think that if the other friends had displayed more sensitivity when shopping and exercising better social awareness of people around and also if Friend A was able to communicate what she was feeling in a better way, a compromise could be reached and things could have been salvaged. And so could I say that all these could be attributed to a problem of an inadequacy of EQ.

So, what can I do now? Just who is right or wrong? Can I even comment on that? What can I do to try mediate between Friend A and Friend B and clear any misunderstandings between them. It seems to now have a gathering with A and B would be nearly impossible without any awkward feelings? Will time heal things? If it’s a personality and EQ problem, is it even possible for me to change anything?