Course Reflections

Coming to the end of the course, my feelings are tinged with regret that it was over all too fast. 13 weeks is hardly enough to cover even half of what truly constitutes communications, even though we certainly did try. Still, I learned more about communications than I have ever did in my life, and this knowledge has already manifested itself in many of the daily interactions, leading to new insights on how people communicate with one another. The skills learned (resume writing, job interviews, presentations) were also the most useful and relevant things I have learned in NUS, in contrast to many theoretical lectures that hold no further value once out in the working world. I applaud those who came up with this course, for I am sure many students both before and after me will benefit deeply from these skill sets that are taught.

Perhaps more important than the knowledge I gained, are the friends I made in the class. Each of them kindred spirits, forging a bond between everyone of us that I am sure will not be broken even when the class ends. Through all the different things that we were made to do (OP, Job interviews etc), I got to see the many different quirks and habits that make all of us tick. For example, to be able to witness first hand Chaun Ting's 'pride' in her mannerisms, Vanessa's awesome tolerance level, makes me thankful of the course, for only through this would I have known such individuals so 'intimately', giving each and every one an individualism I would never have seen in any other modules in NUS.

Last but not least, kudos to our teacher, Brad Blackstone, who somehow manages to turn something that would seem to be boring lessons on writing into one which I eagerly turn up for, week in, week out, knowing that every lesson promises to have I can benefit from.

Cheers,
Jake

Oral Presentation Reflections

Hi people! Here goes my reflections on the oral presentation done on Friday 8th April.

Firstly I would like to apologise to my two lovely group members, for I thought that my part could have been much better, and I might have caused our marks to be lower than what we should be getting.

With regards to the presentation itself, I found that being the first person of the first group to present was quite nerve-wrecking, in spite of the multiple practices that I had done both individually and with the group. My non-verbal communications were particularly bad, with leg shifting and my eyes straying all over the place, which Jing Horng kindly pointed out to me. Strangely, I was not able to detect these movements while I was presenting, as these 'signs of nervousness' were actually just usual habits of mine, regardless of whether I feel nervous or not.

Also, there was a point where I fumbled for words, leading to observations that I had memorised from a script prior to the presentation. As much as its going to sound like me trying to be defensive about my mistakes, I can honestly say that this was not a result of trying to recite from a script. Rather, due to the many times that I had rehearsed for the presentation, the style and wordings of each slide had sort of been internalised. So, when I read that particular sentence out of whack, having put the word problem in front instead of at the back, no suitable substitution came to mind immediately, leading to the fumbling.

I can't really find any good points for my part of the presentation, but Hwee Teng and Stella were, in my opinion, excellent in all aspects of the presentation, being very in control of the content and exuding confidence that the proposal was in fact both viable and beneficial. I thank them for giving such an excellent presentation that the class were convinced of the benefits of our proposal, and of course, the very awesome teamwork we showed! =)

intercultural differences (tiger moms vs the liberal)

This argument about kids happened in suburban America, between Mrs Tan, a ‘tiger mum’, and Mrs Kail, a liberal American.

Mrs Tan’s son, Jim, had just returned from school, holding in his hands his school report, which he gave to his mother. Apparently unsatisfied with the results, she grew angry, the color of her face changing to red. She proceeded to shout and scream, scolding Jim mercilessly for not getting the results SHE knew he was capable of. The loud voices attracted the attention of Mrs Kail, who lived next doors. Thinking something was wrong, she looked into Mrs Tan’s house, and was alarmed to see Jim getting scolded in such a harsh manner. She immediately called out to Mrs Tan, and started trading words with her. Their argument escalated to such an extent that Mrs Kail actually threatened to call in the police, wanting to report the incident as a case of child abuse. Mrs Tan was understandably baffled and upset at what she thought was an intrusion into a private matter, and that Mrs Kail should mind her own business, given that she never interfered with how Mrs Kail taught her kids.

Looking at this conflict, we can see the obvious cultural difference between Mrs Tan and Mrs Kail. Mrs Tan is a ‘tiger mum’, a phrase coined by Ms Amy Chua to describe mothers who parent their kids using the ‘Chinese way’, which involves scolding and corporal punishments. The ‘moderate’ way of parenting however, tends to avoid these ‘hard’ punishments, preferring to use methods like grounding and withholding of privileges as punishments instead.

Personally, I think that there is no ‘correct’ way of parenting, as can be seen from the deluge of parenting books out in the market, all recommending different styles of parenting. We should be more tolerant of others and open-minded too, because for all we know, we could learn from things that seem ‘unorthodox’ or ‘wrong’ to us at first!

Application letter (2nd draft, with amendments)

ABC Drive Blk 109, #13-123

S’pore 812131

10^th Feb 2011

Mr Samuel

Manager, Human Resource Office

National Environment Agency 40 Scotts Road, #13 - 00

Singapore 228231

Environment Building

Dear Mr. Samuel,

This letter is in response to the advertisement for the post of Environmental Health Executive which appeared on the National Environment Agency’s official website on the 1^st February 2011. I have always wanted to make a contribution to our environment, and sincerely believe that working as an Environmental Health Executive will enable me to help Singapore in sustainable development and providing a quality living environment for present and future generations.

I have just graduated from the National University of Singapore with a merit Degree in Chemistry and minor in Environmental Chemistry. I have a proven track of being a strong leader, a good speaker, and a competent event organizer. Leadership roles I took up include being the Captain for my faculty’s sports team, an Assistant Orientation Group Leader and Head of Publicity for the student’s body, of which details can be seen from the enclosed resume. During my stint as Head of Publicity, I was involved in the organizing of events such as camps, night cycling and the Inter Faculty games for 2009-2011.

In my years of NS, I was a trained medical personnel and instructor in Underwater Medicine, and was tasked with the training of new recruits in it. This allowed me to be able to speak in front of a large group of people, and also to respond quickly and effectively to any queries that were posed to me. The leadership and presentation skills which I possess will put me in good stead in undertaking the responsibilities of an Environmental Health Executive under the National Environmental Agency.

For further details, please refer to the enclosed resume. I hope to hear from you soon to schedule my interview and thank you for your time and kind consideration.

Sincerely,

Jake Gan Hui Wei

Changes made from 1st draft:

1) Address was combined

2) Address under company name is the company’s

3) Advocate for conservation -> I have always wanted to make a contribution to our environment)

4) Job title was highlighted within the letter

5) Grammatical mistakes (are -> were). Possess was not changed to possessed as I currently still have these skills.

6) Inappropriate text were changed. (I will be calling you…. -> I hope to hear from you…)

7) Name changed from just First name to Full name.

Cheers, and waiting for your comments =),

Jake

Application letter (first draft)

ABC Drive Blk 109 #13-123 S’pore 812131
10^th Feb 2011

Mr.Samuel
Manager, Human Resource Office

National Environment Agency 40 Scotts Road, #13 - 00
Environment Building
Singapore 228231

Dear Mr. Samuel,

This letter is in response to the advertisement for the post of Environmental Health Executive which appeared on the National Environment Agency’s official website on the 1^st February 2011. I am an advocate for conservation, and sincerely believe that working as an Environmental Health Executive will enable me to help Singapore in sustainable development and providing a quality living environment for present and future generations.

I have just graduated from the National University of Singapore with a merit Degree in Chemistry and minor in Environmental Chemistry. I have a proven track of being a strong leader, a good speaker, and a competent event organizer. Leadership roles I have taken up include being the Captain for my faculty’s sports team, an Assistant Orientation Group Leader, and Head of Publicity for the student’s body, of which details can be seen from the enclosed resume. During my stint as Head of Publicity, I was involved in the organizing of events such as camps, night cycling and the Inter Faculty games for 2009-2011.

In my years of NS, I was a trained medical personnel and instructor in Underwater Medicine, and was tasked with the training of new recruits in it. This has enabled me to be able to speak in front of a large group of people, and also to respond quickly and effectively to any queries that are posed to me. The leadership and presentation skills which I possess will put me in good stead in undertaking the responsibilities of an Environmental Health Executive under the National Environmental Agency.

For further details, please refer to the enclosed resume. I will be calling you in a week's time just in case you have any further questions and also to schedule an interview so that my application can be further discussed. Thank you for your time and kind consideration.

Sincerely,

Jake