The Final Reflection

As time flies away, we are now at the end of semester. This is a fulfilling semester and I have learned a lot from this module –ES2007S Professional Communication. This is a good time for a reflection.

I can still remember the time when I first stepped into the classroom, I felt both excited and nervous when I met all of you. And when we took photos together at the end of last session, I felt after one semester, we are all friends. I think this is the most precious thing I have taken from this module.

This is the first time I tried blogging, personally I do not really like it but I must admit this is a good platform to communicate with each other. By reading each other’s blog, we understand each other more. In addition, some posts are really excellent; they give me some hints on how to express myself effectively by writing. By commenting each other’s blog, we actually established a form of communication which allows us to discuss things in depth.

I believe that my communication skills have improved after one semester of training. Although I will still be nervous when talking in front of people, I can feel that my confidence level has already risen. During the semester I also learned that proper ways of using verbal language like emphasis to better express myself.

During this semester I also learned many life skills like how to write a good application letter and resume, how to express myself during interview. One very important point I have gotten is that we cannot ignore small things. For example, as first I don’t think the paper used printing application letter is a matter, now I am convinced that these kinds of small things will left an expression of you on other people. To take notes of these small things can make you stand out.

Of course things I have learned from this module are much more than what I wrote here. Although this is a very heavy module, I can say I achieved more.

Review for Oral Presentation

Last Thursday, I went through the oral presentation of our proposal. It was quite a challenge for me, but luckily I have done it although the actual performance was not so desired.

I feel the power point slide for our group is excellent. We have spent a lot of time to make it attractive, clear and coherent. Especially, for part “Bus – A Permanent Line”, Xiu Qin used appropriate and impressive animation to express our idea very clearly.

Before the actually presentation, my team met twice for rehearsal. But I think we should do more than that as from the actually presentation, there were still mistakes. I was very busy last week, as one of my closest friends in Shanghai visited me on Wednesday and Thursday. The night before presentation, I actually never practice on my own. And this causes me appeared very nervous on the presentation day itself because I knew, I was not familiar with the speech text. From this I learnt, there is always unexpected things, we should start preparing everything earlier.

On the presentation day, our team standardized our dressing. This is very important as this is a formal presentation when we dressed as a team; we express our team spirit and our profession. Everyone arrived school early that day and we tested the presentation slide very carefully.

During the presentation, I was really very nervous. I was not very confidence in presenting in front of a group and the camera actually made it worse. I referred to speech text very often and I also missed a few number to points that I prepared. I think these can be improved by continuous practicing.

The experience of writing proposal and presenting it is very enriching. I have learned a lot from my teammates.

Culture Difference.

To be honest, I do not really feel there is much difference between Shanghai and Singapore in term of appearance, both are big, and fast paced city. The main difference to me is in people’s mindset.

Back in my first year of university, I asked my parents a question, “should I go to do a part time job?” I think most of my friends here will be stunned when they hear this question. And the fact is when I asked this question during junior college years, all of my family member were against it and my grandmother even spend a few hours talk to me and educated me that getting a good result was the more important thing for me.

In china, especially in cities, people do not want their kids expose to society too early. This is maybe also because there is only one child in a family in china, there is less burden and children a kind of “spoiled”. When I come to Singapore, I saw most of employee in MacDonald are secondary school kids, this is impressed me, this is hardly seen in big city of china.

To comment whether china children are “over-protected” is good? I may say it is both good and bad. For me personally, this kind of protection give me a happy childhood, without worry too much things. And to compare to my peers, I seems to be a bit less experienced.

Conflict Between Two of My Best Friends

B and S are two of my best friends in Singapore. They are my secondary school junior. Maybe because we are from same city of china, we've hit it off ever since our first chatting to each other. S is a very pretty girl with a mild look, but a impulsive character. B used to be a bit tomboy look, and with a strong character as well. (She looks very girly now) There is one fact I must admit, S and B got along with each other better, they were so close that even S's mum once suspected that they were in a girl and girl relationship.

After graduating from secondary school, each of us was busy with own things. Although we didn't meet so often, we never drifted apart. Things changed in last year, my second semester in university.

That time, three of us shared same unit. At first, we were so happy that we could chit chat till very late and we could help each other dress up again. But things didn't turn out to be so nice. One night, S told me she don't want to be friend with B anymore, she think that B changed a lot and now B only knows how to use people. I was very stunned after I heard this, as to me they were always soul mate. I continued to ask S why, she said B was avoiding her and purposely never invite her to her birthday party and the only reason B called her was asked her to settle university administration problem (that time B was in China). And even worse, B deleted S from her Facebook contact.

I don't know what happened between them. The only thing I know is after that I cannot mention S in front of B, and cannot mention B in front of S. And I am always obeying this rule; because I think something bad was already happened and I don't want to hurt them twice. It was like I almost lost two very good friends. I want to solve the conflict between two of my best friends and until now I still cannot figure out a good way. Can anyone help me?

Application Letter for IT Security Advisor(Assuming I am a graduate student)

Chen Yan
ABC Street 62
Block 98, #10-20
Singapore 124589
(+65) 90010002

12th February, 2010

HR Manager
54 EFG Street
Singapore 678093

Dear Sir/Madam,

APPLICATION FOR THE POST OF ITSECURITY ADVISOR

I have a great interest on your advertisement for position of IT security advisor posted on jobstreet. As I know, F&G is a company with long history, wide scope of business and excellent quality of product; I would very much want to be part of your team to contribute to your future success.

I graduated from National University of Singapore (NUS) with a honor degree in computer engineering, specialized in networking. During my course of study in NUS, I completed numbers of modules related to IT security. Other than normal curricular, I have also attended many workshops to build up my computer skills, for instance, UNIX workshop, VMware workshop. Therefore, I have equipped sufficient knowledge in IT security related field.

The experience of being a leader in co-curricular activities in junior college and experience of organizing event in university also equipped me with strong interpersonal skills and communication skills. During my study in NUS, I had to handle many project at same times, so I am able to work under tight deadlines. I am a well-organized and enthusiasm person who enjoys challenge myself and working in a fast-paced environment. My knowledge together with my passion in IT security field makes the right person for the position you are looking to fill.

I have attached my personal resume, which outlines details of my education, experience and person information.

I will be available to come in for an interview at any time convenient to you. Please feel free to contact me by phone at 90010002 or by email at cy514@hotmail.com. I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.


Yours Faithfully,

Chen Yan

Enclosed: Resume

YES! It is Important!

"Everything becomes a little different as soon as it is spoken out loud." -Hermann Hesse

People live in big group, there is no denying the mass amount of interactions we have everyday as a result. Sometimes, we may interrupt with one another. or even end up in a heated argument. Hence, having good communication is one of the most basic and important skill we should have in life.

Why communication is so critical? Let's start with some examples of miscommunication. In my country China, people live in northern part especially those live in village likes guests to sit on their bed and have chatting, it is a way to show their friendship. But in the southern part, if you enter people's bedroom and sit on their bed, it is a considered been rude. Another example that we can see in real life is when the control tower command a airplane delay takeoff, but the pilot miss this important message (this event really happened), this resulted in the airplane crashing with another airplane which was taking off and many people died. Having bad communication not also causes bad relationship, but also billions of moneys and even human life. Therefore, we must admit that communication is extremely important to us.

Why effective communication? In my opinion, effective communication means communication in a way which is consume least amount of resources, and at the same time achieve the purposes of communication. For example, there are many ways to conduct meetings, but why most people prefers face to face meeting instead of online meeting? I think this is because talking is a faster way to communicate prepared to typing and face-to-face meeting have much less distraction then other kind of meetings. Learning how to communicate effectively help us to save time, money and other resources and most importantly it helps us to create better outcomes.

Personally, I must admit that my communication skill is poor. Sometimes, I dare not to express my feelings in public. During this module, I want to train my communication skill. I hope after taking this module, iI will be able to talk confidently and excellently in public. :)