ES2007S: Final Reflection on Learning

In the blink of an eye, 13 weeks have passed. I have learnt many practical lessons from this course, and the area that I feel that I have benefitted the most from will definitely be that of resume/cover letter writing.

As a final year undergrad, I'm the most interested in this area because I will need to find a job soon, and these skills have proven to be very useful. Even those who are not in their final year yet would find it useful to clinch their dream internship! In this course, our resume and cover letter have been read and edited by both our peers and tutor. Although NUS career centre has career advisors in each department to help us to look through our resumes as well, I feel that what we get in ES2007S is much more detailed.

One important takeaway is that resumes should be concise and succinct. The Human Resource (HR) department receives many resumes and may take only a few seconds viewing each resume. Hence, we should bring our main points across quickly. It is also important to remember that each company looks for different values and we should tailor our resumes to suit the needs of the company. Additionally, I've always thought that cover letters are redundant as all the information that we want to convey to the companies have already been written in the resumes. However, I have learnt that cover letters is another avenue for us to sell ourselves to the companies and also supplement them with more details for the information that we have written in the resume. Cover letters should also be tailored to address the needs of each company.

All in all, it has been a very fun 13 weeks taking this module and I have certainly learnt more than I thought I would. To quote my friend, "I've never heard you saying that a lesson is fun." I'm glad to have taken this very useful module in my final semester! (:

ES2007S: Reflection on Oral Presentation

Oral presentation (OP) ended on Tuesday for me, and it was a load off my shoulders. The preparation towards OP has certainly allowed me to learn several lessons.

As a preparation for the final OP, we had a mock OP that allowed us to present in front of another group. I'm usually bad at finding words at the last minute, so I prepared a script for OP and memorized it before presenting. At the end of the mock OP, the comment I got was that I was a bit fidgety during my presentation. We gave comments to our group members and members of the other group as well. The most common problems were the excessive usage of fillers and to keep referring to scripts, all of which are issues that can be eliminated with more practice.

Then came Friday, where two groups had their final OP. I remember Brad saying that during OP, the audience's attention should be on the speaker, not on the slides. Hence, it is important to engage the audience via body language and eye contact, and it would be even better if the speaker can just speak to the audience without referring to the slides. We also talked about whether it would be better to present with or without writing and memorizing a script beforehand. (I think only 1 of the presenters that day did not come up with a script before presenting.) The advantage of memorizing a script before presenting is that you'll probably be very fluent when you speak. However, the down side is that you may be caught in a situation when your mind goes blank and you forget your speech and hence, be caught in a situation where there is an awkward silence while you are trying to recall the things to say. This would not happen if we only remembered only the main points of the presentation and made up our speech as we present.

Finally, it was my group's turn to present. After what we learnt last Friday, I decided to take a risk and present without memorizing the script even though I had one written. There were times when I couldn't find the words to say and hence, repeated what was written in the slides. There were also times when my group mates observed that I broke eye contact with the audience when I was trying to recall my points. Also, I thought I used a fair bit of fillers (but no comments were made on that), and I actually felt nervous and thought I spoke quite fast. To my surprise, the comment I got from the class was that it was good that I helped to slow down the pace of my group's presentation.

So, having completed OP, I think that most of the problems that we face during presentation, such as the usage of fillers and our body language, can be changed with more practice. With more practice and confidence, I also think that we will learn to present without having to write scripts beforehand!

ES2007S: Fostering Intercultural Communication

Two years back, I went on a Student Exchange Programme (SEP) to Linköping, Sweden, and had the opportunity to meet many local, exchange, and even Master's students, from around the globe. One thing always brought us together outside school - FOOD!

A couple of us had the honor of having dinner with our friend's buddy, a Swede, and his flat mates. The Singaporeans brought along curry, while the Swedes prepared moose stew.

Swedish-Singaporean dinner gathering!

We, the Singaporean students who were on exchange at the same university, were also pretty close to the Taiwanese, Korean and Japanese students there.  

We had a couple of country themed dinner sessions together, whereby students from that particular country will prepare dishes unique to their country. The Taiwanese prepared dishes such as braised meat, glutinous rice balls and bubble milk tea. The Koreans made popular Korean dishes such as dukbokki (rice cakes), kimbap (korean sushi) and ramyeon (ramen). Last but not least, the Japanese students prepared miso soup for the Japanese dinner, and even taught us how to make sushi! In turn, we returned their kindness by cooking food that we felt that were representative of Singapore, such as Hainanese chicken rice and bak kut teh.

Taiwan dinner, prepared by the Taiwanese!

Learning how to make Sushi from a Japanese!

Other than just enjoying all the good food during the dinner sessions, we also managed to learn a lot about each others' culture.

Here are some of the cultures/traditions that I've learnt from these dinner sessions:

1. Stew is a common fare during winter for the Swedes, and what I find the most interesting is that some families actually hunt for their own meat! Although the Älg (moose) that I had from the stew was bought from the supermarket, but C, the Swede chef of the stew, told us that his family has already hunted for their game. (It was around October/November that we had the cultural exchange dinner with C and his flatmates.)                                                                                 More about moose hunting: http://www.nordicway.com/search/Sweden/Sweden_Moose%20Hunting.htm
2. Glutinous rice balls (also known as tang yuan) represent family union (probably because it sounds like family union in chinese: tuan yuan). It is usually served during the Chinese Winter Soltice Festival and other occasions of family reunion. In fact, eating glutinous rice balls is not a tradition that is unique to Taiwan, and is practiced by most chinese in Asia.
3. During birthdays, the chinese mothers will cook "long life noodles" (also known as mian xian) for the birthday child as it signifies longevity. On the other hand, in Korea, Korean mothers make seaweed soup during birthdays! The reason behind this tradition can be found here: http://blog.korea.net/?p=2320

Korean- Singaporean- Taiwanese gathering! Food brings people together! (:

Having interacted with people from so many countries and culture, I am thankful that globalization has equipped with most of us with a common language, English, which has allowed us to communicate with one another. However, we should also be mindful that not everyone has the same English standards, and that active listening and effective communication should still be practiced in order for our messages to get over correctly. This is especially important as conveying the message wrongly may cause the recipient to be offended.

To end off, I'd encourage those who are still in year 1 - 3 to apply for exchange! In my opinion, it is one of the highlights in my university life. Year 4s, keep calm and travel on. (:

ES2007S: Application Letter Critique

Samantha

92 Sunshine Walk S(123456)

Mobile: 91234567

Email: email@address.com

30 January 2013

Mr Jonathan Tan

Section Manager

Engineering Operations

XYZ Company

10 Fairfield Drive S(456782)

Dear Mr Tan,

Application for position of Process & Equipment Shift Engineer

XYZ Company is one of the world’s leading semiconductor companies and has recently been listed under Thomson Reuters Top 100 Most Innovative Organizations. I am keen to start my career in this global organization as a Process & Equipment Shift Engineer.

As a final year undergraduate from the Engineering Science Programme specializing in nanotechnology from National University of Singapore (NUS), I have undertaken modules, such as Semiconductor Technology, which I believe would maximize my potential in this position. For my final year project, I am working on titanium dioxide (TiO₂), where I am required to change its properties. This has helped me to gain a deeper understanding about the properties of semiconductors.

Furthermore, over my course of study, I have been involved in three design projects. These projects have honed by team building skills after working with different team mates for each individual project. I have also learnt to adapt to the different working styles of each member, to communicate and work together effectively to achieve our project objectives. I believe this skill is crucial as a process & equipment shift engineer, as I will be required to work closely with my team, and to be able to communicate effectively with the members on the subsequent shift.

In addition, I have been actively involved in several student organizations. I am currently the captain for the squash (female) team in X Hall, and has designed and led the team in weekly trainings, which eventually led us to securing a gold in the Inter-Hall Games 2013. I was also the chairperson of the X Hall Orientation Committee that organized a camp for 250 freshmen, where I planned, executed and oversaw the entire process of the event.

Thank you for your time to review my application. I enclosed my resume for your consideration. I look forward to a face-to-face interview with you to discuss my suitability for this position. I can be contacted at 91234567 or email@address.com at your convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Samantha 

ES2007S: Resolving Interpersonal Conflict

[Words in blue represent the feelings identified.]

January spells the beginning of another hectic semester, especially for students staying in halls as it is the start of the Inter-Hall Games (IHG) season. Being a resident of hall, I represented my hall in squash.  For each round (prelims, semi-finals and finals), each hall will have to send in 5 players. 3 players have to win their matches in order for the hall to win. We managed to enter finals and were aiming for the championship (since half the team are in our final year and we really wanted to win before we graduate).

On the day of finals, my team was eager to win, yet nervous (because the opponent hall has 2 really good players, of which 1 is in the school team). Despite our nerves, we knew we had to give our best shots and clinch the gold so as not to disappoint each other. Thankfully, we won the first 3 matches and  managed to bag the gold. We felt really really happy since we have been working hard towards this goal for the past 4 years and finally managed to attain it. Since we had already won, according to the rules of IHG, we were allowed to give up the last 2 matches so that it'd be a walkover to the opponents' hall. So since our last player has an Inter-Varsity Badminton match the next day, we requested to the opposing hall for a walkover for the last match, but gave them the option as to whether or not they wanted to play the fourth match. They agreed to play the fourth match, and to let the last match be a walkover.

After the last match was played and we were done with all the cheers with the supporters, the captain of the opposing team approached us. She must have been feeling disappointed and upset about her team's loss because based on the line-up (a line-up is the order in which the 5 players of each hall would be playing their games) of the matches, the bets were that their hall would win (even my team thought so!).  She told us that she was disappointed in us that we didn't want to play the last match, and that she felt that we didn't have sportsmanship. Hearing that, I was perplexed because when we made the request to give up on the last match earlier on, she did not raise any objections. But now that the dust has settled, she came over to raise her unhappiness, which I though was preposterous as she should have voiced out her opinions earlier. So I tried to reason with her that she should have told us earlier that they wanted the last match to be played, in which case we may continue on with the last match. Besides, it is stated in the rules that we were allowed to walkover the matches. To these, she retorted: "But you've already stated your reason for not wanting to play the match, how can we insist on playing? Anyway, no hard feelings, I'm just stating what I feel. I just think that you don't have sportsmanship." Urged by my friend to stop arguing with her since people don't normally speak rationally when they are emotional, I ended the conversation with: "Okay, you've stated your feelings and I've stated mine, so let's leave it."

Having reflected on this scenario many times, I know that I didn't feel anger towards her, just some confusion because I didn't expect her outburst, and maybe a little indignation towards her accusations. As for her, I'd expect her to feel sad because it has been a really long time since their hall performed this well for squash and I think that they had really expected themselves to win. I could also feel that she was emotional during our conversation, but it didn't feel like anger or sadness to me. 

So my question would be: What emotion do you think she was feeling during our conversation, and why?

ES2007S: Effective Communication Skills

Human beings are one of the many different types of social animals that exist in the world. Other species include wolf, dolphin, fishes, etc. The way to communicate between different species vary largely, from the loud chilling howl between a wolf pack to the inaudible ultrasonic wave by the dolphins to the communicative chemical secreted by ants and bees in the insect world. To remove the notion of communication is to render the breakdown of the function of group living. Among the human race, communication comes in many forms, verbal versus non-verbal communication or effective versus ineffective communication. In my opinion, the important aspect of communication is not about what information is being passed on but rather, how it is being passed on, and how it is received by the recipient. That is what we define as effective communication.

Communication is not just about verbally saying out information to another person. It involves body language, tones, eye contact and, most importantly, listening. Yes, you heard me right. Listening is an important aspect of effective communication as well. To communicate effectively is to impart information accurately and for that to happen, the first step is to listen and make sure that we receive the information correctly. We are living in a world where we are all connected in a large inter-connected web. Rarely are there new information being generated. Most of the time, information is passed from person to person, like how vibration occurs in a large web. Without listening, we will just be passing on inaccurate information every time we open out mouth, and if that is the case, are we not just wasting our and the recipient’s time?

Personally, effective communication is important in situations such as presentations. As a final year student, I am required to work on my final year project, and present my research and findings to my examiner at the end of the year. Hence, effective communication is extremely important for me to convey the vast amount of information in the short period of time given. Also, since I will be stepping into the corporate world soon, I will expect myself to have to bring across and sell ideas to my colleagues or clients often. Thus, good presentation skills, and hence effective communication, are also needed.

These are just 2 examples of situations where I find effective communication very important. I truly feel that communication is an important skill, which is why I’ve chosen to take this module! (:

(sorry for the late post guys!)

The First Hello.

Hi guys! This blog has been started because of a module I'm taking this semester - ES2007S. It's a requirement that we keep a blog and maintain it with several posts assigned over the course of the module (a.k.a ASSIGNMENTS). However, during class, I got to know this exchange student who has been keeping a travel blog and I thought it'd be cool that I started keeping track of the places I've been visiting (so I'd still be able to go through these fond memories when I'm old and my memory is failing), provided I'm hardworking enough. So yea, hopefully this would be maintained as a travel blog with occasional blog assignment posts popping out. Hopefully.