Final Reflection

Phew, am I glad that we’re given a chance to write a final reflection! There were so many things I wanted to say during the 2-minute sharing session on our last day with Ms Lim but I had to rush off to my exam. Pardon me if I was looking stressed too!

I feel that this module is really different from other modules in NUS as it imparts us with life skills such as communication, writing formal letters, job interviews and oral presentation. Along with the many projects with classmates, this module further helped me in managing interpersonal relationships. Taking this module has really been very productive as I can now put the skills learnt to good use in future.

I especially liked the activities done during class because interestingly, very often the main aim of the activity is not the activity itself, but to discover the way we interact with one another. This allows us to understand ourselves and others better, which is important so we can work well with each other. From the projects, I have also learned how to adapt my own working style to complement that of my classmates’ and bring the best out of one another. It is really a fruitful experience as I got to work with different people for class activities, peer teaching and the proposal. With Ms Lim’s constant scrutiny and constructive criticism of our writing and survey questions, it is really helpful as I can now write with better clarity and design unbiased questions.

Blogging is another unusual aspect of this module. It trains our writing and commenting skills which is effective in letting me take note of my 7Cs. It has also improved my analytical skills having instructed to write on a particular topic. This module has been really comprehensive in building our skills and I will definitely recommend it to my friends.

I am thankful too for a very encouraging, personable teacher and friendly classmates, all of whom contributed to a pleasant and exciting learning journey. :)

Reflection on Oral Presentation

The amount of time I spent on preparing the powerpoint slides was equivalent to 3 full days. It was good that I prepared a speech text before designing the powerpoint slides as the speech text set the skeleton for my presentation delivery method, and also ensured I included my audience. At the initial preparation stage, I just transferred what was in my speech text onto the slides from prose to point form, which made the slides somewhat mundane. However when my group collated our slides, I realized more pictures and more captivating animations should be added to capture the audience’s attention. As what Ms. Lim told us, “seeing is believing”, so I made sure my important points are in the slides and not just verbally stressed upon.

For my oral presentation, I spent 2 days practicing, which is much longer than I expected. I guess it’s because I got more edgy the more I practiced, and started forgetting certain things I wish to say. I thought it’s bad to spend so much time practicing since I ended up being more nervous instead; but to my surprise, I actually felt exceptionally calm during my actual presentation. The large amount of time spent practicing was worthwhile as it allowed me to really internalize what I needed to say. Thankfully the audience was really encouraging too :) Then again, having not watched the video of my own presentation yet, I feel being too calm may not be good as probably I may give the impression that I’m too relaxed? I think my biggest problem is that I was not loud enough, which might lead to the misconception of not being confident. Also, I might have turned to look at my slides more often than I should. Hopefully my strengths are that I was quite fluent and injected appropriate gestures!

Having said all these, I still feel that the best presentation is when the presenter is sincere, and manages to let his or her audience feel it. He or she also has to be clear and easily understood. Being a good presenter certainly requires lots of practice!

P.S. A BIG THANK YOU to Yi Han, Charmian and Franson for being wonderful teammates! Saturday was memorable. Haha. (Please don't include this in the word count! =P)

Evaluating Intercultural Behaviour

When I was ten, I invited my neighbour, Fiona, to my place to celebrate her birthday. We were very close friends as we were of the same age. A few days before the birthday celebration, my sister and I had prepared a few birthday presents for her by folding a few origami art pieces. Some of these included a miniature T-shirt and trousers. My sister intended to give Fiona the presents after the entire birthday celebration to surprise her, but I was eager and presented the origami pieces to Fiona right after cutting the cake. She was really happy when she received them, until she saw the miniature T-shirt and trousers. Suddenly she stopped smiling and gave a very disgusted look. She even put down all the origami presents, saying she wanted to leave. My sister and I were shocked for her sudden change in attitude, but we were too bewildered and afraid to ask her what was wrong. Just before Fiona stepped out of our house, I tried persuading her again to accept the origami presents as my sister and I had put in a lot of effort folding them. However, she was adamant about rejecting them and left hurriedly.

My sister was angry and I was feeling hurt, so I told my mother what happened when she returned home at night. My mother was taken aback and explained to us the reason for Fiona’s strong reaction. It was because Fiona came from a Taoist family, and they practise burning of paper clothes, believing it is a way to bring clothes from the mortal world to the deceased in the netherworld. I was finally enlightened as to why Fiona was upset; it was inauspicious for her to receive paper clothes, and worse still, on her birthday. My sister and I were not aware as we come from a Christian family.

Thinking back, maybe as children we could not express ourselves clearly and were not as sensitive, resulting in the communication breakdown between Fiona and me. She could have told me what went wrong, and on my part, I should have stopped insisting she keep the paper presents. Since then, I have become more sensitive in observing practices from other religions and cultures so that I would not offend my friends unintentionally.

Application Letter Critique

Job Ad:
Asst Chemist/ Asst Chemical Engineer
* Company:
Advanced Green Solutions Pte Ltd

* Industry:
Healthcare/ Life Sciences/ Biomedical/ Pharmaceutical/ Medical Services

* Job Function:
Others

* Job Type:
Permanent / Full Time

* Date Posted:
Friday, 20 August 2010

Job Description:
Asst Chemist/
Asst Chemical Engineer

required
*Dip/ Degree in Chemistry/
Chemical Engineering,
fresh grads are welcome
*Preferably with working
experience in semi-
conductor ind/ laboratory

Kindly email resume to
a200810a@gmail.com

Pre-requisites:

o Min. Education Level : Diploma
o Field of Study : Chemistry
o Year of Exp Required : 1
o Skills : Laboratory
o Language : English

Application Letter:

Block 754
Yishun Street 72 #09-514
Singapore 760754

01 September 2010

Advanced Green Solutions Pte Ltd
2 Woodlands Spectrum I
#05-29 Woodlands Sector 1
Singapore 738068

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing to express my interest in the Assistant Chemist Position listed on Jobs.st701.com on 20th August 2010. I am a Chemistry Major student from National University of Singapore, comprehensively trained and experienced in laboratory techniques. I understand that your company values innovation, hence my creativity in chemical synthesis and expertise in laboratory skills will be of value-add during the research process.

My knowledge as a Chemistry Major includes complete training in laboratory work and report writing. Some of my laboratory techniques include Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Infrared Spectroscopy, Mass Spectroscopy, UV-VIS Spectroscopy, High Pressure Liquid Chromatography and Gas Chromatography. I am also equipped with the skills of delivering concise yet detailed laboratory reports, and have a sound knowledge of semiconductor chemistry. My experience working in the lab throughout the four years has enabled me to carry out experiments effectively in the shortest time possible, which is in line with your company's mission to generate cost-effective products.

Experience has taught me how to build strong interpersonal relationships yet also self-reliance. I have the ability to work in a team or independently. Actively taking part in several extra-curricular activities has equipped me with effective time management skills, discipline and commitment. I am able to communicate efficiently having worked as a teacher before. Experience in the supply chain industry has highlighted the importance of valuing customers; hence I would be customer-oriented when doing research, in line with your company’s core value, customer focus. As I advocate eco-friendliness, I will be dedicated towards designing green products, promoting your company’s environmental image.

In view of the objectives and openings of Advanced Green Solutions Pte Ltd, I believe my expertise is in line with your company’s needs. I will contact you next week. If there are any queries, please call me at 98776455 or email me at u0805167@nus.edu.sg. I look forward to hearing from you.

Enclosed is my resume. Thank you for reviewing my letter.

Yours Faithfully


Deng Wanqi

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you for all your comments in advance :)

Interpersonal Conflict: Who is right?

There are 2 main characters in my story, named Samantha and Gregory. They are married with two children, ages 14 and 18. Every time when Gregory returns home from work, he would look forward to having a proper homemade dinner with his family. However, because Samantha is a modern career woman and is ever more occupied with her work after her recent promotion, she has been coming home even later than Gregory for the past two months. Their children are also busy with exams. Gregory is starting to feel neglected by his family and wishes his wife could care for him more. Hence, when Samantha reached home, he asked, "Can you cut some fruits for me?" Samantha was really worn out by work then and was not keen on doing it. She felt that Gregory did not understand the demands of her work and was imposing his expectations on her to serve him. At first she bottled her grievances and obliged him. However, Gregory could see her unwillingness through her body language and was disappointed with her. Eventually both of them reached their tolerance limit and exploded with unhappiness towards each other.

The main problem is Gregory is receiving less than the attention he needs. The couple seldom sees each other now that Samantha has advanced in her career. There is also a lack of mutual understanding. Samantha misunderstood Gregory that by requesting her to cut fruits for him, he is being insensitive and expects her to serve him even after a long working day. The misunderstanding is most possibly due to Gregory's tone of voice. It is said that majority of the strain in relationships is caused by the wrong tone of voice. Gregory may have unintentionally sounded too demanding. Another likely reason is the couple has too high expectations of each other. Gregory expects more time and concern from Samantha while Samantha expects him to be more sensitive. She should have told him her feelings right from the start; bottling it up would only accumulate her unhappiness. It could also be that Samantha and Gregory have different primary love languages. There are five main love languages: touch, gifts, quality time, acts of service and words of appreciation. Gregory's could be acts of service while Samantha's could be words of appreciation. Hence, without understanding what each other's primary love language is, they would not be able to let each other feel loved as their form of showing concern is not effectively received by the other.

Dear friends, how can the family help themselves stay closely bonded regardless of their differences and busy schedules?

Effective Communication In My Perspective

Personally, when I get very busy with school, I would minimize online chatting time. This results in my interacting with people being very limited to just face-to-face and exchanging text messages. I would want my friends to understand exactly my message in the already precious time I have with them. In my situation, learning how to pick up and give out nonverbal communication cues is all the more essential as half my social time is face-to-face instead of virtually online. Nonverbal signals are more significant than spoken words as I am a more visual than phonetics person. Thus I pay more attention to what I see than hear. The skill of communicating nonverbally gives me additional information other than words to interpret the actual feelings of the other person.

As a chemistry student, I often have to work with different people as we cooperate in pairs or groups during lab experiments. I also aspire to be a chemist in future, in which research work is done by a group rather than individually. Thus communicating efficiently amongst group members is important so as to minimize confusion and optimize our findings during the experiment. Being able to convey our ideas correctly in written lab reports also allows readers to have better understanding of the subject.

Also, I have many friends of different religions and cultures. It is vital that I learn the various nonverbal languages that different cultures adopt. This heightens my level of awareness and sensitivity so I would not offend them unintentionally.

Hence effective communication is important for me.