Blog Post 6 - Reflection on Learning

When my department offered me ES2007S, I was in a dilemma whether to take this module that consists of 100% CA. I do know that I might make my life difficult if I do so. Judge from the description of the module info, I knew that this module's workload is quite heavy and hectic. However, at the end of 13 weeks after doing ES2007S, I did not regret to take this module, instead I felt that I had brought home a fruitful one, something that allow me to prepare for my future.

In this module, I have learned how to be an active listener as well as a good speaker. I have also learned how to communicate with a person depending on different situation, for instance, to deal with a message that can be same but was relayed in a different situation. In addition, I have learned to interpret verbal and nonverbal communication, like how to use gestures and gist to understand what a person is trying to say. Moving on to intercultural communication, I have learned to understand an individual's cultural background. Since my class consists of students from different countries, it gives me a chance to know more about a person's cultural behavior and background in his own country. Lastly, the adoption of the 7Cs in writing has taught me on how to write more effectively using the 7Cs method.

Besides the technical parts, I had also accomplished peer-teaching session, mock job interview and proposal oral presentation. In fact, I learned a lot from these presentations. The first presentation in NUS is quite an experience to me. I get to learn from mistakes during the peer-teaching feedback session and work towards a better one for the next presentation. Although mock job interview, by name, was not a real job interview, I learned to deal with the situation at some areas where I couldn't handle well, such as dealing with hard question, fluent and natural speaking, and tensed up feeling. Through this mock job interview, I get to know myself a lot more and better than usual and learn to improve myself at those areas. From the experience accumulated in peer-teaching feedback session, I tried to apply it during the oral presentation. Although the outcome is not as good as expected, I find that this is another chance for me to improve myself to be a better presenter, especially on presentation delivery and management of nervousness.

"If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way." With this quote, I hope that I can be a person capable of effective communication. The skills I learned in ES2007S will definitely be an advantage to me in future.

Blog Post 5 - Reflection on Oral Presentation

Oral Presentation on the previous Monday had allowed me to make a breakthrough in communication and presentation. Although it was not really going well as planned, I was quite glad that my fellow classmates showed enthusiasm and interest towards my team's topic by raising several interesting questions.

"Know that you are your greatest enemy, but also your greatest friend." This is a quote from Jeremy Taylor, and I find it best to suit my presentation. My greatest enemy would probably be my nervousness. I prepared my speech script well. Before the day of my presentation, I made sure that I rehearsed enough by presenting in front of a mirror. All seemed well, but when I was doing my presentation on the spot, I almost forgot my script. I did not talk about some of the important points, nor did I elaborate some notes that I made during the presentation. In addition, my legs was, for the first time, shaking quite violently when I was presenting. I was trying to calm myself down by making some pauses during the presentation. Also, I didn't make eye contacts engagement with my audiences when the nervousness drove up. 

On the other hand, by taking into account the feedback from the peer-teaching review session, I learned to redirect the audiences' attention to the screen. If I almost forgot the speech, I would try to redirect their attention by showing my hand to the screen, so that I could somehow refresh and got back to the track where I wanted to express. For the Q&A session, I felt that I didn't manage to answer fully to what my classmate raised.

In overall, I felt that I can do much better if I can overcome my greatest enemy. With this experience in delivering a presentation, I have a better understanding on what areas that I need to improve on. Hopefully after this fruitful experience and in future, I can be a more confident and less nervous presenter.