Final Reflection on Learning

I always dread getting out of bed for 10am lessons, but not when it comes to attending ES2007S lessons. This is one of the most interesting and beneficial modules I’ve ever taken in NUS. This module exposes us to job interviews, presentations and peer teaching, which prepares us well for the workplace. After numerous self-practice and dry runs, I have sort of overcome my nervousness and have become more conscious of both my verbal and non-verbal cues when speaking in front of a group of audience. I have also learnt to be more outspoken as we were given opportunities to share our thoughts freely during lessons and I must say that I really enjoyed listening to the different perspectives brought up by my peers, especially on the topic of fostering intercultural behavior. I’m really lucky to be in this class as I have peers from different cultural backgrounds and I am able to hear first hand experiences from them.

Throughout this course, I was also given the opportunity to work with different groups of people. I experienced different working styles and managed to adapt well to them. I have made friends who jitter just like me when giving a presentation and it was really commendable to see how each one of us have improved from the very first dry run up till the last oral presentation. I must say that the most valuable takeaway from this course are the feedbacks I have received from my peers. Sometimes when we are too nervous, we tend to be unaware of the little actions we do or the fillers we add into our presentation. I’m glad that my peers pinpointed out my flaws, so that I can be more aware in future and not make the same mistakes again. However, my biggest fear is that I may not be able to adjust myself to speak well when it comes to speaking in front of a different group of audience.

For all the speeches and presentations I have done for the past few years, one of the greatest challenges I faced was the delivery of contents. Usually, I will make the effort to memorize the script so that I can maintain eye contact with the audience and look more professional. However, I tend to forget my lines when it comes to the actual presentation. I am still trying to overcome this problem by rehearsing in front of the mirror, or by asking my friends to be my audience. This method has aided me in remembering my lines, and at the same time, to speak more confidently. Sometimes, I do record my voice so that I know if I am speaking monotonously or too fast. I hope these are some useful tips for all of you as well.

Last but not the least, I would like to thank Dr. Radhika for her guidance through this course, and for making lessons engaging and enjoyable.

Reflection on Team-based Research Project Proposal

In a short span of nine weeks, our team has worked together on the issue of improving the recycling culture in Singapore. Recollecting what we had went through as a team, I must admit that it wasn’t an easy one, but the experience was rather fulfilling.

At the beginning, I was quite hyped up for this project as many interesting topics were brought up. Moreover, I’m working with friends whom I’m not familiar with, and I thought that this would be a great opportunity to for me to experience different working styles and thought processes.

I felt that meeting on Google docs was rather effective as we all shared our viewpoints and disagreements openly. As such, we were able to manipulate our ideas immediately and made better progress. However, typing out our ideas has its limitations, as we were unable to express what exactly we want to say. A way to overcome this problem would be to clarify our ideas through phone calls or to talk face-to-face after lessons. 

On the other hand, meeting up face-to-face was less productive as the three of us are rather soft-spoken people. Personally, I tend to keep opinions to myself for the fear of offending other’s ideas. However, because of our quiet personality, I felt a need to break out of my comfort zone. I started to voice out my opinions and took the initiative to instruct our next course of action. Initially, I felt rather uneasy doing so as I was afraid that my teammates might see me as a bossy person. (I hope that my group mates understand where I’m coming from.) As time goes by, we became more vocal and contributed our ideas openly.

Writing of proposal was the most challenging part of this project. Due to our different schedules, we were unable to find suitable timeslot whereby we can meet and clarify our doubts on the parts which we were assigned to do. Thankfully, before splitting the work, we did a rough outline on what information should go into which sections and we were able to refer to this outline whenever needed. We also utilized the time given to us during lessons to discuss on how we can make improvements to our proposed solutions and to ensure that all of us are aware of the changes made in our proposal.

We decided to split our work based on our strengths. For instance, as Jacob has a strong command for English, he worked on the conclusion, which was one of the most important sections of the report, as it has to sound impactful and convincing. Also, since Vivian was well informed about the current affairs in Singapore and other parts of the World, she took up the challenge to write the background of our proposal. After each of our sections are done, we read through the whole proposal together to ensure that our report has met the 7Cs in writing - Complete, clear, concrete, correct, concise, courteous and coherent.

Overall, working as a team has taught me both soft skills and hard skills that will prepare me for the workplace. It is important that we voice our opinions and be receptive to feedbacks because, we will be working with people who are more experienced when we step out into the working world. Their feedbacks will definitely help us improve our performance at work as well as the quality of work we produce.

Evaluating Intercultural Behaviour

A year ago, I spent about 2 weeks in Xincun, a small village located in Hainan, for a community involvement project. My team and I ventured on a turtle caring and saving mission, which required us to travel out to the sea on a daily basis so as to arrive at the sea turtle hospital. It was my first time living in a village and I had a tough time adapting to the unfamiliar environment.

People spitting on the floor, motorist riding without a helmet, children playing firecrackers on the streets and people chewing on betel nuts, are some of the common sights in Xincun village. However, these acts are in fact illegal in Singapore. Their nightlife is also very different from what we experience here in Singapore. Instead of drinking and chilling with a group of friends at a pub, the villagers dance on the streets and everyone are welcomed to join in. Apart from all these differences in cultural behavior, I would like to share a particular incident that I had experienced.

My friends and I were invited to a fisherman’s home for dinner with his family as he wanted to express his gratitude to us for helping him paint his home. Dinner was served on the floor and I felt rather uncomfortable after sitting cross-legged for a prolonged period of time. I had to stand up and stretch whenever I felt pins and needles in my legs. Before the start of the meal, we had to do a toast with a cup of Chinese wine. The wine served was so strong that I did not want to take a second sip. I had to pretend to drink and make sure the cup is never left emptied so that the host does not have to refill it for me. In the Chinese culture (and in many European culture), the host would offer to refill your cup whenever it is empty. The same goes for food…

We were pleasantly surprised by the variety of food they had prepared for us. There were at least 4 different kinds of meat and 3 different types of vegetables served at the beginning. Halfway through the meal, the host went on to prepare more dishes to ensure that we had our fill. What’s more surprising was that instead of having dessert as our last course, we had RICE! By then, all of us were so full but it would not be nice to reject their offer.

The hardest part was bidding farewell to the host and his family. Their seemingly endless conversations with us implied a sense of reluctance in saying goodbye. We were put in a difficult situation, as we wanted to leave politely but did not want to offend them by interrupting their conversation. I guess this is an issue that many of us would face whenever we are invited for events.

I could feel the warmth and love within the family by just observing their behavior over the dining table. It is quite a pity that family dinner is becoming uncommon these days in Singapore due to our hectic lives. One thing I admired about the villagers in Xincun is that they understood the importance of spending quality time with their own family and thus would make it a point to have dinner together everyday. It is a practice that we all should appreciate.

Living in a village was a great opportunity for me to learn more about the Chinese culture and lifestyle. It is rather important that we have the basic knowledge of a country’s culture before visiting the place, especially when it comes to greeting as it is the first impression we give to the other party and we do not want to appear rude. We need to understand our cultural differences and behave appropriately so that people will not feel offended by our actions or words. There are also certain practices which we can learn from one another, such as making time for family dinner. In today’s fast-paced society, the importance of family bonding has been severely overlooked. Henceforth, it is good that we interact with people from various cultural backgrounds and learn from one another.

Resolving Interpersonal Conflict

Imagine not talking to someone who lives with you under one roof for a year!

Yes, that restricted feeling is exactly how I felt after a terrible conflict I had with my sister 8 years ago. Being the youngest child in my family, I often get bullied and ordered around by my elder siblings. Sometimes, I wish that I had a younger brother to vent my frustrations on.

One day, I received an urgent text message from my sister, asking me to bring her assignment to her school as it was due on the day itself. She sounded really worried in her text messages and I did not want her to be punished. So I decided to do her a favor. On my way there, I kept calling my sister as I needed to know where I could look for her. She did not answer all my calls and I was starting to get a little annoyed. When I arrived, she texted me and said that she is out with her friends and I do not have to pass her the assignment anymore. Apparently, her teacher extended the submission deadline and she did not inform me about it. I felt really furious as it took me an hour to travel to her school and I had to postpone my meet up with my friends. It turned out that I have made a wasted trip!

I shouted at her the moment she entered the house and did not bother listening to her explanations. I stomped back to my room and slammed the door so hard that I could feel a slight vibration of my room.

That action of mine, triggered off the cold war. Whenever we walk pass one another, we avoided eye contact. Whenever we have something to tell one another, our mum had to pass on the message for us. It was really tough living this way. Many a times I needed her help with my homework, but I refused to be the one who break the silence.

This cold war went on for about a year until one day, I decided to lower my pride. Being a sweet little sister, I folded a jar of paper stars and wrote her a letter of apology. After all, it was my fault to have shouted at her. The next day, I received a note titled: “The hatchet has been buried”.

Since then, we become so much closer than before. We travelled overseas together and spend sleepless nights gossiping with one another. I wonder if we would be this close if this incident did not happen.

Miscommunications are bound to occur in life. We should not act rashly, but instead allow one to explain himself/herself before starting an argument. The cold war can be seen as a good chance for us to reflect on our actions and only then, we realize how important it is to treasure each other’s company and not take one another for granted. Don’t you agree?