Exam or wed's blue?

Hi friends,

Studying hard for your exam now! All the best. J

Here’s one for you to read and get off your text books, lecture notes and etc for awhile:

A little pencil was just about to be sent to a shop for sale. Afraid of the big world outside, the pencil asked his maker for some advice. His maker smiled at him and said, 'Remember this:

First, whatever you do, try and leave a mark!

Second, you have the ability to always correct the mistakes you make.

Third, what is important is inside you, not outside you.

Fourth, from time to time, you will undergo a painful sharpening. Do not resist it for it will make you better.

Lastly, be the best you can be, and allow yourself to be held and guided by the hand that holds you.

Cheers

Kent

Blog Post #5: My Onboard ES2007S Learning Journey

Albert Einstein once said, “Never regard study as a duty but as an enviable opportunity to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the community to which your later works belong”.  As I sail on the ES2007S ship, I see new landscapes and learn new skills along the way.  I dare to say that I have improved in the way I communicate with people as the course has definitely provided me the knowledge to enhance my communication confidence in specific skills such as team work, oral interaction, oral presentation as well as writing.

Despite having the prior awareness in using voice and language effectively to deliver one’s message, this is inadequate to having a good oral presentation. Through the course and tutor’s feedback, I have learnt the importance of analyzing and engaging my audience. This is something which I have often overlooked in the past with the mistaken belief that presentation is just another form of presenting information verbally. However, this should not be the case when the message is to be delivered across effectively as the audience might be busy people with not much time to spare. Another valuable lesson is the gain of self-confidence in presenting without the need to rely on memorizing scripts word for word which I used to. Thus, this enables me to demonstrate appropriate body language, gestures and eye contact as well as variation of tone naturally so as to display confidence and capture the audience attention.

Having said so, there are still rooms for improvements. One of them is the effective handling of Q&A such that every member has equal opportunity to answer questions. With reference to my team presentation, I think that all of them have applied the principles and skills learnt in delivering their contents except during the team Q&A where Zhang Jiao seems to be left out by the team. Instead, I should have taken the initiative to direct related-questions to him so as to strengthen our team dynamics because team performance plays an important role towards a good presentation. Another is to focus on building up my limited vocabulary as words do matter a great deal. They can either make or break communication when the right/wrong word is used.

As for my learning, one of the greatest learning achievements is to resolve conflict amicably through building interpersonal communication, interpreting non-verbal communication cues and fostering intercultural communication which can also be applied in workplace. In the past, being impulsive, I am fearful to be involved in conflicts as I face difficulty resolving which often leads to poor working relationship and team performance. Another is identifying the importance of the 7Cs of powerful writing and applying to writing tasks. This aids in amplification of a good organization and fine language.

After all, having been through the training, I would like to focus on developing my oral interaction skills which is still lacking in me. For instance, during peer feedback, I give good constructive comments with the aim of improving myself and others. But that is not enough; instead I should offer practical and workable suggestions that I have read from articles or my own experience for the individual or team to improve.  This allows me to think critically and communicate effective that are transferrable to my future workplace.

As the course comes to an end, I hope my peers and friends have enjoyed the nice scenery and happy sailing as much as I have. Thank you Ms Happy Goh for making this possible.
(599 words) 

To end off, here's a sharing by engineer and producer Trina Shoemaker on why communication skills are a critical part of an engineers or producers toolbox.

The importance of communication

My unforgettable day - 14th April 2011

Today is one of my happiest day in school. First, I am happy that the research proposal presentation went smoothly than what I had expected. It has been great working with another group of teammates, Ho Zong, Jerina and Zhang Jiao. Each of them have their strengths such as designing, video and presentation editing. Next, I felt so touched when Ms Goh surprised me with a chocolate birthday cake. Also, thanks Ho Zong and Kar Liang for the present. Finally, this is the first class photo that I have taken in NUS. Hope all of you have enjoyed and gained from this module as much as I do.

Blog Post #4: Fostering Intercultural Communication

An interaction that I had with someone in a place that is "foreign" to me

In 2002, I embarked on an interdisciplinary study trip to Beijing & Xi’an and encountered an intercultural situation.

On Day 8, our first itinerary was a visit to Jinghua School in Beijing where we attended a Chinese language lesson. The atmosphere was tense as the place was foreign to us. When the teacher finished teaching her lesson, she began posing questions to the class.

“When I ask a question, I want all the local students to raise your hands immediately and answer me. We are from The People’s Republic of China and we want to show the foreigners that we can all do it. Is that clear?” said the teacher aggressively before she began.

Subsequently, all the China students responded enthusiastically as instructed by their teacher.

At that instant, I was speechless after hearing the teacher’s words. I could not understand why the teacher had to say that in front of us. This is definitely not practiced in Singapore. In light of my understanding of cultural values and beliefs, I would interpret that the people from China have a strong sense of belonging and loyalty to their country as well as take pride and strive towards excellence in whatever they do so as to do their country proud and fly their country’s flag high. Such characteristics are prevalent in the academic and sports areas. For example, China athletes trained hard and won 51 gold medals in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games which resulted in China clinching the world first position.

Three common resume mistakes

I came across this article about "3 Resume Mistakes You Don't Know You're Making" which I thought it was quite useful to share with all.

Blog Post#3: Application Letter

Job Posting

 

Application Letter

Teo Zhi Jian Kent

Blk 634 Hougang Avenue 8

#04-55

Singapore 530634

Mobile: 91918526

E-mail: kent_teo@yahoo.com.sg

8^th February 2011

Aspire Hub Education Pte Ltd

Blk 122 Bukit Merah Lane 1

#01-54/56/58 Alexandra Village

Singapore 150122

Application for Assistant Teacher and Curriculum Developer Intern

Dear Human Resources Officer,

   I am currently a Year 3 Electrical Engineering student from National University of Singapore, and am expected to graduate in May 2012. I am particularly interested in the position of Assistant Teacher and Curriculum Developer that is listed on the Faculty of Engineering Vacation Internship website, as I would like to offer my experiences and skills as assets to Aspire Hub Education.

   Mathematics has always been my forte and interest. Besides being equipped with both analytical and problem-solving capabilities as an engineering student, I also actively participated in elective modules related to Mathematical Studies. With this essential knowledge, I am able to assist in the teaching of Mathematics to Secondary and JC students. Teaching is my passion and this interest has been fostered by several years of being both a private Mathematics tutor and relief teacher in various government schools. In addition, I have relevant practice in developing a Primary Mathematics curriculum in accordance to the Ministry of Education (MOE) syllabus.

   Desiring to contribute back to society, I involve myself in social work activities where I hold key leadership appointments both in my grassroots organization and JC alumni association. During my tour of service, I have initiated the mentoring and tutoring programmes for the needy students as well as the academically weaker JC2 students respectively with the objective of facilitating students to gain confidence and fulfill their potential. Moreover, I establish excellent people skills and am able to establish close rapport with my pupils and colleagues during relief teaching.   

   I may lack a background in developing Mathematics curriculum for Secondary and JC levels, but I believe I have the right attitude, qualities and enthusiasm to strive hard in any responsibility given to me. I have a strong interest in this position, and I eagerly welcome the opportunity to learn and contribute in Aspire Hub Education.

   I look forward to an interview with you. Thank you for your time and kind consideration.

Yours faithfully,

Teo Zhi Jian Kent

Enclosed: Resume

Peer Teaching Team 3

Glad that the peer teaching presentation went smooth today. It has been a pleasure working with both my teammates, Halim and Cangming. Also, special thanks to Sam for his insightful knowlegde sharing on googledocs. Last but not lest, the class deserves a big Thank You for the kind attention.

Blog Post#2: Resolving Interpersonal conflict

The most unforgettable experience in my army days 

During my national service, I was appointed as an acting assistant chief clerk in the manpower branch whose role was to assist my chief clerk in overseeing the administrative work.

A month before the annual human resource audit, my admin support assistants and I would stay late to check the leave record cards, interview booklets and update personal particulars for all the servicemen in our battalion. As the serviceman’s latest leave record card and personal particulars were to be printed from the army intranet and I had limited rights (i.e. to apply leave for myself only), my chief clerk simply granted me the additional access rights for his convenience which were not supposed to. During that month, my chief clerk also recommended me for rank promotion in view of my excellent performance where my commanding officer (CO) had to approve.

The problem arose during the audit check when one of the external auditors found that I had additional access rights which I was not supposed to. This affected our audit result as the auditors deemed this as a serious matter. My CO knew about it and questioned me. As my working relationship with my chief clerk was good, I did not want to get him involved as it would affect his performance bonus due to his negligence. So, I admitted my fault.

Few weeks later, I was told that my CO rejected my promotion. He also did not talk to me unlike in the past he would.

What should I do?

(250 words)

Blog Post#1: Why effective communication skills are important for you?

Courteousy of http://www.personal-development-secrets.net/effective-communication.html

So, why are effective communication skills important for me? This is because by communicating effectively, message signals can be brought across to the receiver by the sender without any loss during the transmission or even in the case of signal lost during the transmission, a negative feedback system is introduced. This will result in the message being sent clearly without causing or minimizing any unnecessary confusion which can lead to undesirable outcomes.

By equipping with effective communication skills, I will be able to become a good communicator and enjoy the fruits of labour. Firstly, I will be able to seek for jobs without much difficulty. This is because employers nowadays are not just employing for employees who have strong knowledge and/or technical skill in that particular industry but also the X factor, i.e. Is the employee a good communicator? This is also evident in the Sunday Times news article, which reports “Employers are demanding more… looking for good communication skills in a candidate”. This is so especially in the field of engineering where there are many team projects, thus team members have to grasp effective communication skills in order to build teamwork and succeed.

Another is that I can resolve problems more effectively and place myself in the person's position whom I am talking to, through the use of appropriate choice of channel (for instance, email is a richer media while instant messaging is a leaner media), appropriate analysis of content (for example, when I am writing an email to a lecturer, the email should not just be in perfect grammar but also follow the social context between the student and teacher) and more. One incident that I encountered was when I feedback to my Town Council about the fault lighting at my block by email, the Town Council replied that they have rectified the problem the next following day. However, the fault lighting still exists. Thus, I telephoned the Town Council to clarify the problem and realized that they replaced another coincident faulty lighting instead of the one that I reported. So if I have called them directly instead, the problem would have been fast resolved.

Lastly, it is the essentials of public speaking skills which will aid in widening my network through making new friends and building and/or establishing strong ties with existing friends. In short, the saying goes "If you just communicate you can get by. But if you skillfully communicate, you can work miracles." – Jim Rohn

Why ES2007S?

Before I start writing my first blog post assignment, I have analysis some of my strengths and weaknesses when communicating after reflecting on my daily communication. Some of my strengths include: most people understand what I am saying when I am talking to them and when I talk to someone, I will usually place myself in that person’s position; while some of my weaknesses include: I will try to divert or end the conversations that do not arouse my interests and when I get so engrossed in what I have to say, often I am unaware of my listeners.

Therefore, one of the key reasons why I choose this module is not because that this module does not have a final examination but instead it provides me with the ample opportunity to learn more about the principles and practice of professional communication which comprises of effective communication skills so that I can improve on my weakness and eventually become a good communicator.