Reflections on the Course

First I would like to thank Ms Goh for being such a good tutor, guiding us all the way through this tough but enjoyable module. Thank you for the valuable feedback you gave. I have learnt many things from her as well as from my fellow course-mates. I truly believe that the things I have learnt will aid me in surviving the “big and scary world” outside.

Through this course I have learnt how to communicate effectively. I have also learnt about the importance of non-verbal communication. I am more aware of my tone and my body language whenever I communicate with someone now. Writing the blog as part of the course has also taught me to be careful with my words, as the saying goes, “The pen is mightier than the sword”. I have learnt to put my points across effectively without being blunt and hurting others. This course also gave me opportunities to hone my presentation skills which I believe will be essential for my future work. Although I am far for being a good presenter, through the feedback from fellow course-mates and the video review, I became more conscious of my shortcomings and will seek to improve on them.

I have also learnt much about team-work. During the course of this module I had the privilege of working with Eileen and Jessica for the peer teaching as well as Danhua and Louie for the proposal. I would like to sincerely thank them for being such committed team-mates. I thoroughly enjoyed doing group work with you all and hope that we will have the opportunity to work together again. My teacher in Junior College once told me what TEAM stands for and I would like to share it with you all.

Together Everyone Achieves More

Although it may be tough to do projects and rush out proposals, they become considerably easier when you work in a team. “No man is an island”, so in my opinion being able to work well with others is biggest lesson I have learnt from this course.

Reflections on Oral Presentation

I would like to start my reflections on the Oral presentation by thanking my group-mates Danhua and Luigi. They have been such wonderful team-mates and it was a real pleasure to have worked with them. It is amazing how people of three different nationalities can work so well together. I learnt so much from working together with them. I would love to have another opportunity to work with them again.

The dedication the group showed was simply amazing. After our interview with Professor Tan Eng Chye, we worked through the night to transcribe the interview, churn out the power-point slides and to prepare the points for our presentation. I must really take my hat off to Luigi who can simply come up with power-point slides that looked so impressive in such a short amount of time. Although it was out of our hands that the interview was the day before our presentation, my group-mates did not even complain. They simply got down to work. For me, that showed a lot of character.

Individual Performance

For my peer teaching presentation, I received comments that I spoke too fast and that resulted in me being unclear at times. I believe that for this presentation I managed to control my pace well and tried to pronounce my words as clearly as I could. However, I still tripped on some words and I feel I should work on this aspect more.

Ms Goh also commented that for my peer teaching, I was a little tensed and did not look natural. In this aspect, I feel that I will need a lot more presentation opportunities before I can be as natural as some of our course-mates clearly were. However I felt that I was still able to deliver my points clearly to my “target audience”. Ms Goh also mentioned that I should smile when presenting. I could not remember if I did smile or not, but I guess I will find out when I watch the video on Thursday. Overall I felt that I did alright, though there were definitely areas which I could improve on. I hope to learn from your comments as my own assessment of my performance may not be accurate.

Intercultural Communication

I first went on a volunteer trip to Chiang Rai in 2005 to teach English to village children at a boarding school. During the trip we had plenty of time to interact with the children there. I must say I learnt a lot about their culture during those times. You may not know that Thais hold their king in high regard and insulting the King is a criminal offence. Although I was aware that the king is highly respected in their culture, I underestimated the extent of it. I was playing with the children when the ice-cream vendor came along, and I wanted to try their local coconut ice-cream. I clumsily fished out some coins and one of the coins dropped. Instinctively I stretched out my foot and stepped on the coin to prevent it from rolling away. The children around all dropped their jaws and gave me disapproving looks. I was very puzzled but quickly picked the coin and paid for my ice-cream. I found out later from my team leader that stepping on a coin was tantamount to kicking the king in the head as it bears the king’s portrait. It also extends to stepping on banknotes and licking stamps, which are fairly common practices in Singapore. Although it is tempting to just bring all my usual practices over to a new culture, I realised that I am in a foreign land and I should be more sensitive to their culture.

Personal Statement

I am currently a year two life-science undergraduate in NUS. I am a highly motivated individual with an out-going personality. I love new challenges and the feeling of satisfaction when completing them. My goal in life is “to aspire to inspire”, to add value to people around me and contribute actively to society.

My interest in the field of life-sciences began in secondary school where I was taught by Mr Hafiz, a really engaging teacher. He made me realise the wonders of nature phenomenon such as photosynthesis that we sometimes take for granted. He inspired me to enjoy biology and I became the top biology student in my level, and it also led me to pursue my degree in Life-Science.

I started guitar playing when I was twenty, and being able to play this wonderful instrument has given me joy in life. It also gave me confidence which translated to other areas of my life. Although it was really tough in the beginning, I worked hard at it with determination and perseverance. Within a short period I was able to play comfortably on the guitar. This gave me confidence that I can achieve what I set my heart and mind to.

With life science and music as my two of my greatest passions, I dream of being able to marry the two important aspects of my life. This dream sparked my interest in neuroscience. Although my peers have loftier ambitions of wanting to find cure for incurable diseases such as Parkinson disease, my humble ambition is to explore how our brain interprets music and perhaps make music even more enjoyable.

I also believe in giving back to the society through community work and services. In 2005 and 2007, I participated in overseas community work, planning and experiencing community service trips to Thailand. The opportunities to work with people in my team and interaction with people of a different culture taught me valuable interpersonal skills which has certainly equipped me the relevant organizational and leadership skills to handle the challenges I may face in future.

I am easy going and can get along with people of all types of personality. Being fluent in both English and Mandarin, I also picked up Thai as my third language. Apart from music, I also enjoy playing sports and reading.

Personal statement for Graduate Programme

This personal state is written for the UAB(University of Alabama at Birmingham) Neuroscience Graduate Program.
The website is at http://neuroscience-uab.infomedia.com/content.asp?id=369494

Statement of Purpose

I first learnt how to play the guitar nearly two years ago. I can still vividly remember the first time I tried, it was really terrible. My wrist was sore from bending and my fingers hurt terribly from pressing the strings. However I did not give up as I had set my mind on it. Thus I persevered. Within two years I became the lead singer and guitarist for my church band. This was only possible because of my determined attitude. Although this success came at a painful price, it was totally worth it as music continues to give me great joy in life. I am certain with this tenacity I possess I will be able to persevere even when obstacles arise and especially so in the area of research where the road to success is a long and arduous one.

Playing in a band has taught me many lessons and one of the most important lessons is team work. I play in a five piece band consisting of a keyboardist, a bassist, a drummer and two guitarists. I recall when we first started out, it was difficult as all of us came from different musical backgrounds and was hard to come to a consensus. It was particularly hard to give up individuality to gel as a team, and it took an awful performance for me to learn that lesson. After that particular performance, I realised the importance of teamwork and have to disregard my individuality for the sake of the team. After a short span of three months, the band was able to give a much improved performance at a church event. I believe being a team player is important in a research team where collaborative effort is essential just like in a band, and I possess that attribute.

I used to have stage frights every single time I am on stage. Once I had to sing in front of about a hundred people and I was freaked out. However as I started singing, I felt relaxed and I found I enjoyed it. Singing has brought me confidence and this is translated to other aspects of my life, making me a more assured person.

My fascination with music led me to become curious with the intricacy of our human brain. I marvel at how the human brain is able process electrical pulses generated by the ear into the wonderful thing we call music. It is intriguing as to how the brain is able to recognise the rise and fall of melody, harmony of chords or even discordant. This made me decide to enrol in an undergraduate course in Biology, in hope of understanding the complexity of the brain. I am excited about the research programme your neuroscience department offers as I believe that I will benefit greatly from learning under a neuroscience mentor in permanent lab which is not offered in many universities.

Therefore I believe that with the determination and the confidence that I possess, I can excel in whatever I set my heart to. I am certain that I will be a valuable asset to your Graduate Programme. I look forward to using the creativity and tenacity I demonstrated in playing for my band to meet new challenges at the graduate level and later in my career to become an innovative neuroscientist.

Interpersonal Conflict

You were having dinner with your usual group of friends, Mark and Wayne. You noticed that Alan did not turn up.
Now Mark, Wayne and Alan had always worked for ABC Company selling laptops during the IT shows held every three months. Alan only managed to get the job through the recommendations of Mark and Wayne.

In between dinner, Alan messaged Mark that he would not be working for ABC at the upcoming IT-show as he just went for an interview at XYZ Company and he got the job. Both Mark and Wayne were indignant as Alan did not bother to inform them that he was going to switch company and they felt “betrayed”. They were also unhappy that he did not include them as they did on previous job opportunities.

Wayne then decided to call Alan to clarify matters. When questioned why he went for the interview without informing them, he could not explain himself and instead kept asking them to “come down for the interview now”. Wayne replied that they were not in the vicinity and it will be too late to rush down and asked him if he will forsake working for XYZ if Mark and he could not work for XYZ. Alan replied that he will still do so. Wayne and Mark then felt that Alan was placing “money” over “brotherhood” as XYZ offers better pay.
You know Wayne, Mark and Alan very well and do not wish to see their relationship sour. What do you think you should do to resolve the conflict between the three of them?

Importance of Effective Communication

Effective communication is important to me as I would like to be able to express my feelings in a manner that will not emotionally injure others especially when dealing with sensitive issues, as sometimes emotional scars are harder to heal than physical ones. I feel that communicating effectively does not just involve talking but also active listening. Effective communication can help to prevent misinterpretation and misunderstanding, and in turn foster better relationships.

Communication can only happen when there are at least two people involved and it can be portrayed as riding on a see-saw, whereby a person talks, the other listens and vice versa. Communication breaks down when both parties try to talk at the same time and it is certainly not called communicating when both parties try to listen at the same time. This means that when one party speaks, the other party should listen and vice versa. Therefore I feel that it is important to know when to talk and when to listen. I also feel that to become an effective communicator, I have to convey my message in a manner that can be easily understood by the person I am talking to as well as actively listen when the person speaks.

Being an effective communicator can benefit us hugely in all aspects of our lives, be it in work, in school and even at home. Having good relationships with people around us will definitely make us happier people.

Hello

This is my first ever blog and I will probably never start a blog if I had not taken this module "Professional Communication".