Final Reflection on Learning

The Thursday of Week 13, marked the end of the very last lesson of ES2007S. ES2007S is definitely one of the most beneficial and enjoyable modules that I have ever taken in my five semesters in NUS. It is pretty amusing to look in hindsight and remembered how I almost dropped this module during the Cors Bidding Round 1, fearing that the workload would be too much for me to bear. Thirteen weeks later, I am glad that I trusted my instincts and went on with this module anyway! J

If I were to identify the biggest takeaway from this module, it would have been the working experience from the group project. The group project tasked upon us was in fact my virgin academic-related group project in NUS! Having to work closely with two people of vastly different working styles and perspectives on certain things, taught me the importance of compromising in order to produce the best possible outcome. I still remember that when we first started out, I suggested that we work on evaluating the NUS Students’ Union’s effectiveness in promoting vibrancy in NUS, something which I feel strongly for. However, I realized that that may not be the best topic choice as my fellow project mates, Qi and Angelia did not really seem to have that keen interest on the topic. It was then I realized how important it was to meet people halfway, especially people whom you would be working directly with. This lesson serves as a vivid reminder as I venture into the corporate world in future, to constantly see things from people’s perspectives and not merely fighting for my own ideals.

The group project also imparted me with important organizational skills as we were responsible for coming up with our own timeline and pace ourselves towards the completion of the project. In addition, during the proposal presentation sessions, I internalized the importance of listening intently and picking up verbal cues while my peers were presenting, as it not only helped me understand their topics better, but it also enabled me to learn from them in terms of presentation skills, be it their strengths or areas in which they fell short.

Finally, I have also seen improvements in my presentation skills. Being a natural fast speaker, talking at a slower pace has always been an issue for me, especially so when I get excited about the topic of conversation! I did not really know how to deal with this until Dr Jaidev shared that I could actually make use of pauses, to consciously slow myself down. From the feedback on my final oral presentation, I was quite glad to have heard from my peers that my pace was slower than it first started out in the semester. However, I still need to work on it to ensure that the “bullet train” talking speed goes away for good! J

All in all, ES2007S has been a wonderful experience, it taught me lessons I could not have learnt from books, and it in fact motivated me to keep improving myself, to be a better communicator and hopefully, a sought-after fresh graduate when I leave NUS! :) Thank you Dr Jaidev, for sharing your inspiring stories and interesting perspectives on the corporate world, and thank you ES2007s classmates, for I have truly learnt something from each and everyone of you! Special thanks goes out to Angelia and Qi, for the completion of the group project would not have been possible without you two!

Have a productive Reading Week everyone!

And I embarked my journey on towards being an effective communicator by taking the first step: taking this module :)

In Retrospect: Oral Presentation

On the Thursday of Week 11, we presented our proposal to rest of the class of ES2007s. Looking back, my group mates and I have really dedicated a great deal of time and effort into refining the proposal to the best of our abilities, and the same applied for the preparation of our presentation!

Week 11 was a week when all three of us were swamped with endless schoolwork but as we wanted to do justice to our proposal through our presentation, we made time for it nonetheless and started preparing as early as possible. As we did not have time for much face-to-face meeting to prepare the slides together, we divided the workload according to the parts which we would be presenting. The good thing was we saved time (we got a lot of things covered in the shortest amount of time possible) but that may have caused the slides to lack seamlessness, an area which, in hindsight, I thought we could really improve on. Although I believed that our slides sufficiently aided us in bringing our ideas across, it could have been better if it had a more professional finish. Charles pointed out that we did not maximize the functions which Prezi (a presentation software which we utilized to in lieu of Microsoft Powerpoint) offer, that sparked a thought in my head: should we have stuck with Powerpoint instead of trying to use something new and fancy when we knew that we did not have much time to experiment new softwares?

On a positive note, preparation was done more thoroughly for the oral delivery itself, we ensured that there a good flow from Qi’s presentation to mine and finally to Angelia’s. I was pleased that we knew one another’s parts really well as that would definitely lead to a smooth group presentation.

In terms of personal delivery, I had to admit that was one of those times when I actually felt nervous presenting in front of others. I could literally feel my heart pounding against my ribcage as my team mate, Qi, was delivering his part. I tried hard to not let my nerves get the better of me, but I honestly felt that I did not perform to the best of my ability that day. I knew the proposal like the back of my hand yet I was not as fluent as I envisioned myself to be. Upon reflection, I believe the nerves may have stemmed from the lack of practice – I knew what I wanted to say, but I did not remember things word for word. So yes, my complacence contributed to the nerves and I guess that affected my performance that day. L On a brighter note, I believe I was energetic and enthusiastic while presenting my part, partially because I believed very strongly in our proposal and was set to convince the rest of the class of the viability of our proposal as well! Keeping up the level of energy was important in capturing the attention of the audience, so that was the strength of my presentation that day.

Having said all that, I took back one important lesson from this five-minutes-but-worth-twenty-percent-of-the-final-grade presentation, I must first convince myself that I am prepared to persuade others of my ideas, before I set out to do so. J

As they always say, MIND OVER MATTER! :)

Evaluating Intercultural Behaviour

Hailing from a multiracial country, communicating with people of different race and culture happens on a daily basis for me. Thus, I have always considered myself to be competent in intercultural communication. However, leaving Malaysia for the very first time in my life and embarking on a new phase of life in Singapore has brought my understanding of effective intercultural communication to a whole new level.

The geographical proximity between Singapore and Malaysia may make one ponder as to how culturally different these two countries can be. In this context, culture is not confined to our ethnicities and beliefs, it can be something as microscopic as the food we eat. As I come from Penang, a state which boasts of our delicious array of local delicacies, food was one aspect which I took awhile to get accustomed to in Singapore. In fact, Penangites have been “accused” of regarding our delicacies so highly that we may undermine that of other cultures. I admit that I initially possessed some form of stubbornness for refusing to eat certain food in Singapore, as I have this mindset of “why-settle-for-something-inferior-when-I-have-tasted-the-best”. For example, I refuse to eat the Singaporean version of fried “koay teow” which is slightly sweet as I grew up devouring the savoury and spicy Penang fried “koay teow”. For some time, I was quite puzzled over why Singaporean hawkers did not think of using the conventional light soy sauce which gives Penang fried “koay teow” its savoury goodness. It took me one long conversation with my Singaporean friend to finally understand the cultural reason behind the difference in taste. He explained to me that while Malaysians prefer food which is stronger in flavor, Singaporeans have a penchant for sweeter and milder flavours.

The constant exposure to the delicious local specialties in Singapore and frequent long talks about the cultural differences between Singapore and Penang with my Singaporean friends taught me to embrace the differences and to a certain extent made me feel fortunate that I had the privilege of experiencing the best of both worlds. One dish best encapsulates that privilege of mine: laksa, a spicy noodle soup. The Penang version is a sour fish soup base while the Singaporean one is laden with flavours of coconut milk and dried shrimps but I love both just the same. That to me, is the importance of intercultural communication-the ability to recognize a cultural difference and if we cannot accept that difference, the least that we could do is respect it. J

Penang Fried "Koay Teow": Savoury Goodness

Singaporean Fried "Koay Teow": Too sweet for my liking, but at least I understand why the difference in taste now ;)

Singaporean Laksa: Fun fact: This dish is similar to a Penang dish called "curry mee"!

Penang Curry Mee

Penang "Assam Laksa": The reason why Penangites beam with pride :)