Word to the Wise.

This final post serves as the final blog post I will be posting for ES2007S (2009/2010 Semester II). But it does not mark the end of our journey to becoming effective communicators. It is only the beginning. As we go our separate ways, I hope you all remember the lessons we have learnt and the wonderful bonds you have helped to create. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Don't be afraid to try. It is through these wrong decisions that we gain experience and we thus learn from it. I wish you all a wonderful learning experience ahead!!

But this might not mark the end of this blog. I do like the blog address (haha). I've been inspired to try to put in an effort to keep this blog going. I will try! Till next time, my fellow readers! :)

As Good As It Gets

Time flies. To me, it feels like I just came back from my exchange programme in London and I’m still struggling to get used to the pace of studying in NUS. And yet, 13 weeks have passed.

This module was one that I started out not really enjoying due to the amount of work that had to be done with each session. However, it turned out to be one of the modules that I grew to love and enjoy so very much. It was a pleasure working with Brad and the wonderful classmates in Group 8.

I’ll be honest here. I bided for this module for various reasons other than truly wanting to improve my communication skills. Firstly, I was told it was a really slack module by a friend (Well, to all those who thought the same, we were proven wrong, weren’t we?). Secondly, there was no final examination and I really do prefer modules that do not have a final exam so I can focus on studying for my other core modules. However, after taking this module, my perspectives have changed. I have gained so much from this module in this one semester.

I’ve gained much more confidence in myself when it comes to writing, be it for a semi-formal setting as in the blog posts, or for more formal settings such as writing business correspondences, job application letters and the resume. I do have a personal blog, but it is not as formal as this one. Initially I was really afraid of the comments I’d receive at the end of each blog post, I don’t know how my fellow classmates would react to my writings. But with time, this fear was transformed into excitement to find out what they have to say, and also how I can improve. It made the whole learning process all the more fun and enjoyable. I love to read blog posts and the comments that follow. I like to put myself in the other person’s shoes for a bit and to see the world through their eyes.

I’ve also picked up some pretty good presentation and sell-yourself techniques. Thanks to the feedback I’ve received from Brad and my fellow classmates, I now know what some of the flaws I have in my presentations and I will work to correct them. Through the mock interviews (though it was kind of staged), I feel I am aware of some of the things that the interviewer might look out for. With knowledge of these and resume and application writing skills, I might just be able to market myself to clinch my ideal job in the future, just maybe. The mock interviews were so much fun! Playing a role that is different from who you really are, like playing the bad guy (recalls Joshua’s evil persona); and knowing how your classmates feel about your performance. I remember Jie Ren telling Goh Chern (I think) that I was going to be a very strict interviewer and just recently, I learnt that Diana (1) found it hard to be mean to me. All in all, this made the mock interviews a really fun experience.

Indeed, the writing, interview and presentation skills were great takeaways from this course. But, the greatest takeaway for me is the wonderful friends that I have made. All these experiences wouldn’t have been as wonderful as they were if it wasn’t for wonderful classmates and an ever so supportive lecturer. They have provided me with encouragement and have made the sessions fun. Preparing for the various assignments might have felt like a chore, but attending class was one of the things I look forward to on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Thank you Brad for the patience and guidance you have showered us with. Thank you Clement, Diana, Emily, Glenn, Godwin, Goh Chern, Jasper, Jie Ren, Jolene, Joshua, Kian Leong, Kun Lin (pity you couldn’t join us for the last session), Pei Rong, Rohan, Weiying and Zhisheng for being such wonderful classmates. It has been a pleasure working with you all! :)

TGIF!

Thank goodness it’s finished!

Just thinking back to the Tuesday session of last week’s ES2007S class, our proposals were going through feedback of our proposals. Who would be presenting in next Tuesday’s session was to be decided. I honestly wasn’t too keen on being the first to present. Then again, who likes that? That unsure and slightly intimidating feeling is a rather unpleasant one. So it went round that some had a test that afternoon, a few had their thesis to submit. EXCUSES! My group remained silent as neither of us had a test that day nor did we have a thesis paper due. The opportunity to be the first was then presented to us. So be it!

Preparation

It did worry us that we had last than one week to prepare for our ‘debut’. But, we managed.Overall, I think the slides that we prepared looked really good. I must say, Godwin did a really great job with the template of the slides! I was totally wow-ed when I first saw the almost finalized version of the slides. He made a really good choice with the template. Clement did a fine job as the chairperson too! With his leaderships and ideas, it might have been difficult to tie up all the loose ends. It was quite unfortunate that, due to the lack of time, we barely had the chance to properly rehearse for the presentation.

I feel that if we had more time, we would feel much better about our whole presentation. I do not know about what the rest think, but that is how I felt. For me, I might have been lacking in confidence. Not quite having sufficient time to prepare, I perhaps wasn’t as confident as I had hoped to be.

Dun dun dun! – Showtime

It was time for us to share with others what we’ve done over the past few weeks. Of course I feel that we did a good job during the presentation. I like to think positively. 

However, upon reflection, I don’t really think I performed as well as I had hoped. Strangely, I was not too nervous about presenting at the start. But things changed as I progressed further and further. Towards to end of my presentation, I began to get a little flustered. A sudden mental block had pounced on me causes me to lose pace. Thank goodness for Clement who gave a little hint and I managed to finish up my part and pass the time over to Godwin. This could have definitely been avoided if I had more confidence.

As Brad had pointed out to me afterwards, it did indeed feel like I had some sort of script in my head. It was as if once I was up there, I subconsciously hit the ‘Play’ button and I just went on and on. This is something I need to work on.

Credits

We did our best during the presentation despite several hiccups along the way. There definitely is room for improvement. That aside, all of us put in a great deal of effort in drawing up the proposal and preparing for the final presentation.

Thank you for all the supportive nods and smiles from everyone during the oral presentation! Thank you all for appreciating that we were the first group to present!

I have been waiting so long to put this down on this post. At the very beginning when Brad allocated the groupings, I was seriously quite worried about working with Godwin and Clement. I do not know why. I just felt that way. But to my surprise, things worked out really well. I felt that the dynamics within this team really played out well. Thank you guys for making this such a wonderful learning experience!

Finally, thank you Brad for grouping us the way you did and for the guidance and feedback you have provided along the way!

I look forward to reading all your comments regarding my oral presentation.

Come Friday, it’s my turn to ask the questions. *evil smirk*