Season Finale

Why must all good things come to an end? Without realizing, this is the last blogpost for ES2007s. Returning to my first post, I still agree with my understanding of the value of effective communication skills. However, my understanding for it has deepened as the class progressed.

My initial understanding of the value of effective communication was restricted to verbal conversations. However, I had an insight to the different forms of effective communication like verbal, non verbal, 7Cs of writing and in different cultures. Being able to appreciate the different cultures and background of people, it has trained me to look at things from different perspectives and in a bigger picture. Also, I realized that it is important for both parties to practice effective communication in order for it to take place, just like what Qi Ying mentioned in her first post, ‘Do not assume that the other party knows exactly what you are thinking, else, you will make an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me’. I’ll always remember that! It takes both hands to clap.

Throughout this module, I have learnt to build up my confidence in speaking (at least when seated) in front of the class, sharing with each other my views, opinions and experiences. I have also learnt skills that are essential when working in groups, respecting team members and compromising each other when our ideas do not agree. I think that such skills are essential in the working environment.

As Mathematics major, I do not practicing writing often. However, with blogging as part of our assessment, I was ‘forced’ to write almost weekly, where I am assigned to a particular topic to comment on. I had no choice but to make do with my limited vocabulary and expression problem. Yet, after completing 7 blogpost, I agree with the statement that ‘Practice makes perfect.” though I am still far from perfection. I was more confident in expressing myself with all the practice and through posting and exchanging conversations, I got to understand my fellow classmates better, which promotes effective communication!

Despite the heavy workload, I really enjoyed myself in class. ES has equipped me with skills that are practical and essential in the working life, skills that other modules will never be able to enlighten me with. Now, it is time for me to turn these skills into assets and apply these valuable skills when I set foot into the working society in just a matter of a few months.

Looking back, ES was not the module that I intended to take. However, given the skills that I have learnt, if given another chance, I will definitely choose to read ES2007s again and with no regrets! In fact, I am glad that I made the decision to take ES instead. I hope everyone shares the same sentiments as me and I would like to say a great big thanks to Brad and all my fellow classmates who have made ES a wonderful and memorable experience.

Wishing everyone the best in your future endeavors! Cheers!

My Oral Presentation

Living in a society that requires professional communication skills, presentation skills becomes an essential tool in the working life.

This oral presentation is a good learning experience for me as I have clearly identified my weaknesses in this area and I have learnt good presentation skills from my fellow classmates.

Despite drafting and practicing my speech the day before, I did not perform as well as expected. When I was standing in front of the audience, the only word that came to my mind was ‘NERVOUS!’, and my mind went blank instantaneously! In order to carry on with my presentation, I had to rely on my notes, but it was a fatal move. I had completely forgotten all the little details that I had planned for the presentation. I became over reliant on the notes and my actions were distracting the audiences as I repeatedly refer to the notes. From this experience, I have learnt that it is not wise to memorize the presentation speech. Also, if one were to bring along notes for reference, it should be written in point form instead of an essayed speech as point form notes will prevent the presenter from reading off the essayed speech.

During the presentation, I tried my best to maintain eye contact with the audiences and to speak with appropriate volume and speed. Also, I attempted to engage with the audience, asking them for their views whenever possible. As the presentation went on, I began to cool down as the audiences acknowledge my speech with a nod or a smile, especially the ladies in the front row! Thanks! However, I felt that I could have done better as I had planned for more questions and to ask for different views.

Despite the blunders, I am glad that I had made these mistakes here in class and not in my future working place. This presentation has given me the opportunity to improve on my presentation skills and I will treasure this valuable experience.

My Biodata!

My name is Michelle Lee. I am currently studying at the National University of Singapore (NUS), in my 3rd year, last semester and I will be graduating this July. I am from the Faculty of Science, majoring in Applied Mathematics, with concentration in Operations Research, and minoring in Economics.

Prior to my university education, I was from Tampines Junior College (TPJC), where I studied Economics, Mathematics and Physics. My strong interest in Mathematics has led me to continue to pursue my interest in it in the university. Although Mathematics in the university is very much different and more difficult compared to the mathematics in JC, the mathematical training that I receive in NUS fosters logical and critical thinking and analytical skills when solving problems. This is an essential skill in everyday life.

In order to strike a good balance between my work and studies, I was very active in the TPJC Choir, where I took up leadership roles, being in the Music Committee as a Sectional leader. I was responsible for training choir members in my section during sectional practices. It was a challenging role as singing and music is not something that can be explicitly spelt with a word or phrase. Therefore, I had to exhaust all my verbal and nonverbal communication skills to guide them to sing well. I think that through this experience, I have developed interacting, liaising and public speaking skills, which is vital in the workforce.

On top of the school activities, I have been playing the piano for many years and I am currently preparing for my Grade 8 theory exam this May. My music study was a rough journey as I am a difficult student when I was young and many a times, I have thought of giving up. Having come thus far, it has thought me to be disciplined and persistent, not only in music, and the things and work that we encounter in our daily life. My passion for music has led me to aspire to be a piano teacher after I have earned my Diploma in Teaching certificate.

In addition to being bilingual, I hope to master the third language, Korean, which I am very interested in. 안녕하세요! 저는 미셸 입니다. 만나서 반갑워요! This sentence means, ‘Hello! I am Michelle. Nice to meet you!’ Apart from my interest, I think that learning an additional language is an added skill. Being in a society that has infinitely many opportunities to work with people of different cultures and backgrounds, such added skills will enable one to communicate more effectively.

I hope that with all the valuable skills that I have learnt thus far, it will bring me to greater heights in my work and personal well being.

Courtesy on the Train?

Effective communication is something that is very useful in every day life as it effectively conveys your intended message to the other party, be it verbal or non verbal.

I was traveling on the MRT on a Monday, on the way to ES2007s lesson. It was about 9am and the train was quite crowded, with all the working adults rushing to work and all the seats were taken up.

In view of the courtesy campaign going on, all the trains have designated seats near the door for people with special needs like the elderly, children, handicapped and pregnant ladies. When I reach a particular stop, there was this pregnant lady coming in. She caught my attention as she had a very big tummy. I continued to observe her for a little while. After squeezing through the crowd at the door, she immediately turned to the seat nearest at the door and tapped on a young lady’s shoulder who was sitting there and fast asleep. When this young lady woke up from her sleep, she had the blur looking face and was quite surprised to see a pregnant lady standing in front of her. Without hesitating, the pregnant lady pointed to the courtesy campaign poster pasted at the top of the seat, hinting to the young lady that ‘Hey, this seat is reserved for me!’ I was quite taken aback when I saw such a scene. But since this seat is really reserved for people like them, I cannot really comment much.

On the following Thursday, I was on the way to ES2007s lesson around the same time. Again, I saw this pregnant lady boarding the train and she did exactly the same thing, turning to the person that is seated nearest to the door and requesting for the seat to be given up to her.

No doubt I agree that this pregnant lady needs the seat more than the other commuters, I think that somehow or another, she is exploiting her rights to get a seat in the train. From my point of view, the seats near the door is reserved for those people with special needs, however, it should be based on one’s own willingness to give up the seat, instead of those people requesting for it. Some people may look perfectly fit on the outside but may not be suitable for standing too long a time due to leg problems. Thus, does it mean that these people without visible special needs are not suitable to take the reserved seat and have to give up their seats when these ‘special needs people’ request for the seat?

I think that this courtesy campaign has done a good job in promoting courtesy as I do see people giving up their seats. However, organizing a courtesy campaign is not to just paste posters around and not looking into the consequences and impacts of it. To me, I think that this is a form of bad communication on the organizer’s part. The poster that they have pasted is the cause of the problem. Being so briefly explained, it has led to the exploitation of rights by those special needs people. Such a problem can be solved when the organizers take a little effort to be more precise in drafting their posters and explain further what these posters really mean. Do these special needs people have the right to request for the seat or is it based on one’s own willingness to give up the seats to them? It is not right to assume that the readers of the posters understand the exact meaning of it. I am sure just a couple of lines of words will do the job!

Evaluating Intercultural Behaviors

Culture is a full range of learned human behavior patterns. It varies from country to country, and within the same country, it varies from place to place, which leads to what we call a subculture.

Last December, I was in Richmond, America, spending a white Christmas with
my American friends and family members. Christmas in America is surprisingly a very big occasion, as compared to Singapore, which is relatively quiet. Christmas over there is just like Singapore’s Chinese New Year where everyone will get together and celebrate this special day. With choir groups caroling and performances like tap-dance with Christmas songs, it’s hard not to sink into the warm atmosphere despite being so cold during winter.

In order to have a taste of Christmas over there, I stayed home with my friends and their family members. I was amazed by the number of people who turned up for the celebration. Including all the extended family members, there were a total of 30 over people under one roof, where each will bring some food over and share it with everyone. Something like pot-luck! With everyone exchanging warm greetings and engaging in conversations, I could sense the difference in the Christmas mood, something that I will not, or perhaps, never, be able to find back home.

Decorations are one of the highlights during the Christmas season. As you drive down the neighbourhood at night, you will see that every house has its own beautifully decorated yard, with decorations like a chubby snowman or a red nose reindeer! I was really thrilled when I saw those beautiful lightings. So, my friends decided to bring me on a Tacky Christmas Tour, where we go round scouting for houses with exaggerating Christmas decorations. From the picture, it is not difficult to tell that this household spends about USD$1000 per month on electricity bills! Isn’t that unbelievable?! Back in Singapore, if any household should decorate their houses like the American families, that house will sure stick out like a sore thumb and I am quite certain that their neighbours will be furious when that house is attracting so much attention from the rest.

Upon returning home from the trip, I had an insight of the cultural norms and values of the Americans during the Christmas season. Decorating their houses and gathering with their family members is a cultural norm to them. Judging from their practices, one can easily tell that the Americans value Christmas Day a lot. Just by spending Christmas with an American family, I have learnt so much about their values and cultural norms without having my friends to explicitly enlighten me on it, which is exactly the fundamentals of effective communication!

Therefore, we can see how miraculously cultural norms, values and effective communication are interrelated. A picture speaks a thousand words, and by understanding the cultural norms and values of a particular society, I believe it is not difficult to achieve effective communication across the borders and globally.

Letter Critique

Dear –,

The parking lot is sparsely used at 8 a.m.; likewise at 5 p.m. As managers – you either do not know what your EMPLOYERS are doing; or YOU do not CARE. … You have a problem and you will fix it or I will replace you. … What are you doing, as managers, with this company makes me SICK.

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Sorry that I am unable to find any email or letter from my relatives or friends to analyse on. Therefore, I went online to search for one.

This is an email from the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) from XXX Company to his senior managers. Maybe some of you might have seen it before. From the content of email, it is easy to tell that the CEO is extremely unhappy with the employees under the senior managers who are coming late for work and leaving early. Well, the email is pretty concise and clear judging from the length. Also, the reader is able to interpret what the CEO is trying to put across and the cause and effect of the problem. The email also has coherence but is without cohesion. However, the CEO is extremely not courteous in his writing and is disrespectful to his subordinates. He could have drafted his email in a more courteous way and avoid using capital letter words and the excessive use of … . Using a direct approach to deliver his harsh message, he could have ended his email in a more positive way, building goodwill with his colleagues. I think that this will definitely cushion the negative effect by quite a bit.

Email, which has become one of the most commonly used modes of communication, it is important to practice the 7Cs in writing and principles of business correspondence. Not practising them, we may unknowingly offend or make the reader feel uneasy with the way we draft our email, thus hurting the relationship.

Resloving Interpersonal Conflict Edited

Oh Gosh, my English is so horrible. After some editing, ta-dah! This is the edited version! Hope it is much better.

Interpersonal conflicts are very common in everyday lives. Personally, I classify conflicts into 2 categories, internal (within oneself) and external (between 2 or more parties). Some conflicts can really spoil your day while some, you'll just sleep on it and forget about it the next morning. Well, different people will handle it differently and it really all depends on how you handle the situation and perceive it.

I still remember the faithful day, 31st August 2008. It was the day when runners from all over the world joined together to participate in the Nike + Human Race 10K, clocking a total of 79,275 participants representing 142 countries. My friends and I decided to challenge the race and fortunately, we survived! However, it did not end on a good note.

The starting point of the race was near Esplanade, so all of us decided to pool our belongings together and keep in one of my friend, A’s locker in SMU (Singapore Management University) which was quite near Esplanade. The race proceeded and after the long and tiring run, we finally made it through the finishing line but we did not finish as a group due to different running pace. Hence, we made our way back to the locker in SMU separately. However, when my friends and I reached there, we were unable to find A to grant us access to the locker as only A holds the matriculation card to enter the campus. So poor me and my friends had to wait for A to come back then we could retrieve our belongings.

As the minutes and seconds crawled by, we begin to lose our patience when our wait leads to no avail. So we decided to borrow a phone from one of the shops nearby in attempt to call A and our own phones, no one picked up. After numerous attempts, A finally picked up the phone and A came down to bring us up. We were all puzzled by why we could not contact A and after exchanging a couple of words, we then realized that he actually went to bathe after the run and was with his girlfriend chatting happily upstairs. This made all of us really furious and A and some of my other friends actually got into a quarrel. “Here we are waiting anxiously for you to ‘save’ us and there you are bathing and chatting with your girlfriend!”

I think that A is really very irresponsible. Knowing that all of us are missing, A should at least take the initiative to wait for us to come back before going to bath. With all the rage stirring up, we exchanged some really impolite phrases and all of us departed on a sour note.

I’m sure no one felt good about this. I think that A must have been feeling wronged for having so many fingers pointed at him and the rest of us must have been feeling frustrated at A for being so irresponsible. All of us then had sour feelings and left. After cooling down, I’m sure many of us will regret for acting rashly as it will definitely leave a scar on our friendship. It’s not worth spoiling our friendship for something so trivial. However, at that spur of the moment, one will just be so blinded by anger and just blurt out whatever that is on one’s mind without thinking of the consequences.

In such a situation, I feel that it is more of a conflict of interest that has sparked off such problem. All of us just wanted to retrieve our belongings as soon as possible but A wanted to spend time with his girlfriend and thus cleanly forgotten about the whole group of us waiting for him. Well, I’m sure we did something that made all of us feel bad but it is impossible to turn back time. If you were in the same shoes as me, how would you react to the situation upon learning that A is being so irresponsible?