Reflections on Learning!

One of the best modules I have ever taken is ES2007S since my two years studying in NUS. From this module, I have really grown alot and become more confident! I am also very happy to know and make friends with most of the classmates in group 4. What I have truly gained in this module is the life skills, writing skills and presentation skills.

The life skills that ES2007s introduced, served as a reminder to me of how to deal with difficult people and to control my emotions. This module has provided an opportunity to test whether I can effectively apply the lifeskills to good use. I have learnt how to understand people with different personalities and try to empathsise with them. Moreover, I have learnt to be a good listener to find out what problems my group members faced when doing the project. From there, I will try to provide advice and see if I can help them on my part. My group members also listen to my problems and we help each other whenever we can. We get to know each other better as we shared our own personal experience together. From there, I have gained insights of how to deal with problems with different sets of methods.

One of the challenges faced by me is getting the international schools' interviews. Having no connections with anyone from the foreign schools make it even harder for my group to get an interview response as compared to the local schools. Furthermore, this is my first time contacting several private organisations to request for an interview. This was the time where I really have to make use of the interview skills which I have gone through during the peer teaching to good use. As I am not very good at English, I have to read through the emails several times before clicking the send button. Nonetheless, this has led me to be more careful whenever I send emails to anyone. Moreover, I learnt to be more confident of myself when I spoke to the management staff of the international schools, making sure that I do not stumble when explaining myself and convince them to accept the interview. All these are really invaluable experience that I have gained throughout this course. There were also times that I felt frustrated as the intended interviewees did not respond to my emails or phonecalls. But surprisingly, my group have secured two schools' interviews on the same day after spamming many emails. That really makes my day and make me realised that as long there is a will, there sure to be a way out!

I think my group has succeeded in presenting our project is because all of us are open-minded and willing to listen to everyone's ideas and opinions. It is impossible to have a perfect group where everyone is perfect. What we can do is to work with whatever resources we have and gather everyone's strengths together, making the imperfections into perfections. I will say that I am very lucky to have cooperative and responsible team members (Yu Tian, Paula and Isaac) in my group. I really enjoyed working with them.

I hope that even after ES2007S, I will continue to apply what I have learnt to good use. I know it is inevitable that I may meet monsters in the future. But I will remind myself of EQ! No matter what kind of monsters I meet, I can still deal with them and not let them affect me in anyway. At the same time, I do not believe that I will be so unlucky to meet monsters all the time, I am sure to meet some good people. With communication skills I have learnt, I hope to establish good relationship with everyone.

12 weeks have come to an end really fast, just like a flash... But I am sure that I will miss the class discussions I have together with my classmates and Brad's funny stories. Here, I want to wish everyone all the best in their exams and future endeavours! By the way, after the end of ES2007S, I still do not know how to add the blogging list. Can anyone teach me how to add the blogging list to my blog? I always have to go to jac's or benjamin's blog to view other classmates blog. Thank you.

Reflections on OP!

Yes!!! OP is finally OVER! :) I am pleased with my performance today! I can confidently say that I have improved from the mock oral presentation and this makes my day! Thanks to the mock OP and my group members who stayed back with me for the rehersal on last thursday. The mock OP really helped me in identifying my weaknesses.

Before the mock OP, I thought I am already prepared to present in front of my audience. However, I just lost my confidence as the audience looked bored and the surrounding was quite noisy. As I become more worried, my mind became blank, err... ermx... hmm... plus many broken sentences. But I try to get over with it and tell myself to move on and see how I can improve from there. So before the actual OP, I tried practicing at home and recorded myself. From the video, I looked like a "ninja turtle" (hunchback posture) and kept swaying with my hands. So I have to constantly remind myself in my head "NO NINJA TURTLE!!!" It is really stressful before OP because I need to remember so many things at the same time; No ninja turtle, no swaying hands, the points to say during the OP, eye contact, showing passion and SMILE! Initially when Paula passed the clicker to me, my heart raced so fast. But I try to overcome this nervousness by smiling and speak at a slower pace and it is effective! I think my weakness is that I did have eye contact with all my audience. I will work harder to engage everyone if I have a presentation in the future!

Throughout the preparation process for OP, the most important thing I have learnt is to have confidence in myself! I also want to thank my group members for encouraging me whenever I feel inconfident of myself. I really enjoyed this learning process as I am able to receive valuable feedback from my peers on my performance. From there I can know my strengths and weakness and make improvements. With the OP, I have gained insights on how to design and prepare interesting powerpoint slides to engage audience. After ES2007S, I hope to learn more skills like photoshop and apply the effective communication skills in my everyday life! http://youtu.be/zRVjmeGg1Oo http://youtu.be/VWXKcYHw8YY http://youtu.be/RFV8XFhqsQI

Intercultural Conflict! (Post #4)

Stereotypes... I used to stereotype others when I was much younger. Especially when I was young and naive, I was easily influenced by the older generation in my family with their negative perceptions of the other races. When I was a child and would misbehave like other children such as running about, the adults would frighten me by telling me, "Later the Ah nei (Indians) will catch you and cook curry!" With a young and impressional mind, I was easily deceived and particularly afraid of the group of people whom they called "Ah nei" for fear that they would really capture me and add me as an ingredient to cook curry. I have tried to figure out what my family members said was really true while struggling with my logic that wouldn't the police apprehend the "ah neis" if they would capture children to cook curry?

Even being a Chinese, there were also sterotypes among the different Chinese dialect groups. Very often, I will see people sing praises for their own dialect group and criticise the other dialect groups. My grandmother was a judgemental person as she did not received any formal education and she tends to stereotype people easily. Her daughter-in-law is from China. Both of them have different habits, personalities and dialect groups that they did not get along well with each other. Based on her own experience with her daughter-in-law, she holds a belief that woman from China are materialistic and stingy, thus she will generalise the Chinese nationals behaving similarly as her daugher-in-law. Initially, I believed my grandmother wholeheartedly that I believed whatever she said was true and gradually have the perception that Chinese nationals are stingy and selfish.

However, from my interaction with my aunt, I find her a caring woman who has the family's welfare at heart by being thrifty. She cooks simple fare (her hometown cusinie) so that the family will have a healthier lifestyle, yet my grandmother will interpret her as being mercenary, I believe that my grandmother would have hurt her feelings by complaining her to the other relatives and often criticize her hometown food. Since then, I have tried to remove preperceptions about people whenever I interact with them. This has helped me in removing the barriers of communication and allows me to truly understand people from another cultural group naturally.

Based on my experiences interacting with people, I realised that people tend to be judgemental against negative behaviours and jump into conclusions very quickly in concluding whether a particular group of people is good or bad. Even for myself, I may sometimes be critical about a certain cultural group based on a negative experience with one person from that group. There was an Indian student who cut my quene and pushed me while I was trying to board the shuttle bus. Immediately, something came into my mind that I could not even control its entry to my mind, it is the perception that Indian guys are non-gentlemen. In face of such similar situations, I will try to let my rationality to sink into my mind and not let prejudices and biasness overtake it.

I believe that as long as people are willing to accept the fact that regardless of one's ethnicity or race, humans are not perfect beings and will make mistakes. Hence, one should open up their hearts and minds in accepting one another despite their differences.

Application letter Draft #2

Blk XXX XXX Road
#XXXX
Singapore XXXXXX
+65xxxx xxxx
xxxxx@hotmail.com

10th February 2011

Madam Linda Ong
Deputy Director, Human Resource Division
Ministry of Education, Singapore
1 North Buona Vista Drive
Singapore 138675

Dear Madam Ong,

Application for Teaching internship

I am writing this letter to you to apply for the teaching internship during the summer vacation.

My major is pure chemistry and am well trained with the laboratory techniques such as spectroscopy techniques. Thus, I am able to demonstrate the use of systematic approaches in solving problems through the analysis and evaluation of alternatives to meet the challenges of the ever-changing education system. I have been a private tutor since graduation from junior college. From teaching, I have learnt how to be an effective communicator by listening to students' problems and giving them appropriate advices. This has given me an insight into the value of work with teenagers, and has underlined my determination to work with this age group.

Through participation in various community services such as the lion dance troupe event and undertaking leadership roles, I have developed a strong sense of responsibility, organisation skills and team-spirit among my peers. Most of these activities require strong coordination among members of the Wushu team and constant training. I have been nominated by my CCA teachers for the EAGLES awards and have received recognition and achievement awards. From my previous employment with MOE’s Staff training Branch (STB), I have acquired useful skills such as using the TRANSI system and facilitated meetings for assistant directors and school principals. As a Course administrator, I have successfully assisted STB in keeping track of teachers’ attendance and changed the conventional platform for courses registration to online registration. With my experience with different roles in school and Information Technology (IT), I am confident of organising events at the school and community level and am able to engage my students well.

I am keen in committing my time to the MOE’s training courses for the intern teachers. I hope you will consider my application and have enclosed my resume for your reference. I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you for your time.

Yours Sincerely,

Sng Bi Lin Adeline

Application letter Draft #1

Sng Bi Lin Adeline
Blk xxx xxx Road
#xx-xx
Singapore xxxxxx

10th February 2011

Madam Linda Ong
Deputy Director
Human Resource Division
Ministry of Education, Singapore
1 North Buona Vista Drive

Singapore 138675

Dear Madam Ong,

Teaching internship from 27 June 2011 to 28 July 2011
I am writing this letter to you to apply for the teaching internship posted on 7th February 2011 on NUS Career Web.

I am a year 2, chemistry student from National University of Singapore (NUS). I will like to spend my vacations fruitfully by gaining more insights and experience in the teaching career. I have been a private tutor since I graduated from my junior college. I find it an enriching experience for me to guide my students and sharing my personal experience with them when I was in school. I would try out different teaching approaches to make my students understand the concepts well. Not only do my students gained from this learning experience, I have also learned how to engaged them and spur their interest towards learning. Seeing their good results in their tests and exams gives me a great sense of satisfaction. From teaching, I have learnt how to be an effective communicator. I would often listen to my students’ problems and give them appropriate advices. This has given me an insight into the value of work with teenagers, and has underlined my determination to work with this age group.

In college, I have volunteered my time in community services such as participating in the lion dance troupe to raise funds for the needy students. This has made me empathised with students who are facing family and financial problems. Often, these groups of students are pessimistic about themselves and the future. I hope I will be able to make a difference to their lives and will like to help them overcome their lives’ stumbling rocks. I believe that everyone should be given a chance to develop their individuality and talents. I believe that given my outgoing personality and young vigor, I will be able to engage well with my students. Though I may be inexperienced in teaching, I am willing to learn and never fail to seek solutions to problems. I am always prepared for any challenges that lie ahead of me.


I am keen in committing my time to the MOE’s training courses for the intern teachers. I believe that the preparatory courses will keep me equipped and prepared for the real classroom experience. I hope I will be given the opportunity to prove that I am a competent teacher by promising to do my best whenever I can. I hope you will consider my application and have enclosed my resume for your reference. I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you.

Yours Sincerely,

Sng Bi Lin Adeline

Interpersonal Conflicts!

Edited!

Going through 21 years of my life, I have experienced many emotional ups and downs situations that make me feel that encoutering interpersonal conflict with people is often a suffocating and tedious process. This is because I could not directly voice out my grievances or just let go of my anger.

When I was younger, I always thought that being straightforward was equivalent to being truthful. I often speak without going through the thinking process as I feel that I should speak my mind freely. When I was in secondary school, my friend had a crush whom she fancied alot. She asked for my opinion about that guy. Straightaway without much thought, I said she has bad taste. For these two words, bad taste, our friendship was terminated as quickly as the speed of my response. This was quite a painful lesson learnt as I began to lose my friends gradually as that friend began to influence the rest to "anti-Adeline". When I tried to speak to them, they would ignore me and moved away. They would whispher ear to ear whenever I was nearby so that I would not be involved in their conversation in any way. The feeling was hurtful as I did not think that the recupersions would be so serious. Even though I have apologised to that friend for being inconsiderate to her feelings, she continued to bad-mouth me in front of the others. Till today, I still have not reconcile with her. However, I have learnt to speak tactfully and consider others' feelings since then.

Sometimes, the impact of a conflict would be so great that it can make me so upset that I would lose my focus. My thoughts were disrupted abruptly by that particular conflict and I would reflect countless times of how it began. Sometimes, I would even fall down and injure myself without feeling the physical pain. As I grew up, I came to understand that losing one's cool would only aggrevate the interpersonal conflict and make communication even more difficult. I have faced several unpleasant interpersonal conflicts, both at work and at school. There are many causes to those conflicts, mainly misunderstanding and people having preperceptions of me. I shall describe a constant conflict that has been going on between me and my father. My father has dibetes mellitus type II and recently had to undergo a toe amputation. He is very stubborn and refused to heed the doctor's advice to control his diet. On a fateful day, 29 November 2010, my dad fell down and injured his toe. However, he refused to heed advice and beliving he was able to heal himself. His leg was swollen and he was running a fever. Yet, he could use a needle to poke his swollen leg so as to reduce the swelling. I could not stand him hurting himself unknowingly and wanted him to go to hospital. My advice went deaf ears to him. He delayed treatment till the middle of the night that the pain was so excuriating that he finally decided to go to hospital. However, it was not the end of the problem. It was the time to choose the ward type he should stay in. He was so insistent in staying in a higher class ward such as B1 as he felt that lower class wards were for lower class people. But for my stand, I felt that he should be admitted to a cheaper ward so that he would be able to afford the medical expenses incurred. He was so unreasonable and shouted at me. Initially, I controlled myself and tried to convince him to accept my stand. But it did not work out and we ended up having an heated arguement over this issue at the hospital with many eyes on us. After that, I felt embarassed and hurt. To make me feel worse, he also blamed me for his plight that I did not put in much efforts in convincing him to go to hospital earlier. Even though he had his toe amputation, he continued with his old ways of living, eating chinese new year goodies (pineapple tarts, chocolates, seafood). Whenever I intervented to stop him, he would lose his temper at me and ask me to mind my own business, its his leg and health, not mine. But what really frustrates me is that, he does not appreciate my concern for him and he has been very temperamental to me. I realised that using the direct approach of convincing him is not effective at all. Hence, I have recently adopted reverse psychology hoping that it will make him change for the better.

Professional Communication: Effective Communication

Edited!

Why is effective communication important to me? It is because communication is part of my life! I am a person who enjoys sharing my thoughts and experiences with people and widening my social circle! In short, I am a friendly and talkative person. Hence, effective communication enables others to understand me without them misunderstanding me.

I find that it is important to let others understand well what I want to bring across to them. It may be an awkward scenario when others misinterpret my intentions. Not only that, miscommunication among people often brings about unpleasant feelings with each other and misunderstandings. Moreover, people are less willing to listen to what I want to say to them if I were to speak poorly.

For now, effective communication is important as I have to constantly work with people for projects and laboratory experiments. I need to convey my ideas and messages to my working partners so that we can work together effectively in getting our work done. Besides, effective communication is a powerful tool for me to convince people! Different people have different working styles and personalities. In the past, I have gained experiences from working with different people. I understand that effective communication is important in convincing others to work together and resolving their differences and conflicts.

Of course, I did encounter some experiences (pleasant and unpleasant ones) for poor communication. I shall relate a comical incident that happened due to miscommunication. It happened when I was in year 1 when I met a friend who asked me which elective modules I took. I replied to him that I took crime fiction and the first chapter studied was about Sherlock Holmes. My friend asked if Sherlock Holmes was 福尔摩斯 (chinese name for Sherlock Holmes). I kept insisting that Sherlock Holmes was not 福尔摩斯 because I found that the names sounded totally different. Instead I asked him who was 福尔摩斯? Is he a chinese crime detective? However, my other friend who had just come into the lecture threatre told me that both names were referring to the same character. ... Awkward, isn't it? Hence, I should have asked him to describe the characteristics of Sherlock Holmes before jumping into conclusions that the both of them were different characters.

In the future, effective communication will be as important to me as it is today! Though I may be afraid to speak to those whom I do not know well, I am still working hard to overcome this fear. I hope that with effective communication, I am able to interact well with others, whether it is for social or working purposes.