Final Reflection

As I looked back at my first post and think about it now, I believe that some of the things that I had said before still hold true today. ES2007S module has just reinforced my understanding of the value of effective communication skills.

It is definitely essential to have effective communication skills especially in this cutthroat society where everybody vies to stay on top. In order to differentiate from the rest and excel in your life, you will need to impress, forge interpersonal bonds and get along well with different kinds of people regardless whether there is a friction between personalities. The quality of life is not only determined by material means but also how truly happy you are. I feel that communication can be the key to true happiness as well. As I have mentioned in my initial post, humans are biologically social creatures and thus need to have interactions all the time. How often do you see a lonely soul being happy with him/herself? This can be why loneliness is frequently related to sadness.



We need to have a family. We need to have friends. We need to have a large, strong social network so that we have at least someone to rely on when anything happens. Such personal ties can be created if we can interact well with people. These relationships can be the source to our happiness and thus improve our quality of life.



All the above-mentioned require excellent communication skills and I have the privilege in learning such skills during my time in ES2007S. Brad has taught us the importance of effective communication skills and what he has imparted was an imprint on what I had written earlier. Therefore, my values on good communication skills did not change much even after a few months.

ES2007S has provided me with the opportunity of honing my communication skills and I must agree that it has helped me tremendously in the process. I have learnt how to conduct business meetings, write resumes and reports, and do interviews, presentations and much more. I have developed a greater understanding on how to interact well with people and therefore enhanced my social networking skills. All these will certainly come to good use in the later part of my life and I am grateful that Brad has taught us the relevant techniques and skills in class.

One thing that I would like to mention is about the interview sessions we had during class. I had written in my first entry that I would always become jittery whenever I have job interviews. However during the interview sessions, I was calm and compose and made sure I know what I want to say. Expectedly, the interview was a breeze. PREPARTION and PRACTICE are what made a good interview. I am glad to have a chance to practise during class.

The entire learning process was not only insightful but also enjoyable. I can’t remember looking forward to a class as much as I do for ES2007S. I guess it is because I had a fun time interacting with the people in class and it has a relax atmosphere to it where I can snack and eat whenever I want to...hee. Thanks Brad!

Overall, I had a terrific experience being in this class and I am sad that it is going to be over soon. I am going to miss the people and the joy that everybody brings. Not only do I gain effective communication skills but numerous friendships as well. Hopefully we’ll have some mini gathering some time after! Thank you all and will miss this class especially you Brad! Haha! Loves!

My Biodata

I am an outgoing, fun-loving and sociable girl who loves interacting and making new friends. I am humorous (I think) and never fail to make someone laugh. My good social networking skills allow me to establish numerous friendships, which I am grateful for.


Friends who held each letter to form my name! Smiles =)

I am a daredevil because I like the adrenaline rush that risk-taking provides. I am learning motor biking now though the dangers are profound. I have biked around Cambodia prior to getting a licence, not to mention the lack of helmet and safety gear. I have done trapeze in Bali even though I am afraid of heights. I have also gone on canoeing expedition in the midst of endless, choppy seas. There are numerous adventures I have yet to embark and I definitely want to complete the unfulfilled before I leave this earth. This daring nature of mine could open up more opportunities for me by doing things that people never dared do.

Biking along the roads of Cambodia.

I am radical to a certain extent and sometimes like to defy social norms. I have pierced my eyebrows once despite the throbbing pain and countless disapprovals from peers. This radical behaviour makes me a unique individual and allows me to stand out from the rest.

Sports award last year when I still had my eyebrow pierced. Don't think I left a very good impression on some of the VIPs. Haha.

I am of course sporty as well, having been in sports since I was in primary school. I am currently in the NUS dragonboat team, which is a major part of my university life now. I am competitive and like to challenge myself to see how far I can go. I am determined to achieve my goals and am willing to persevere. This has brought me numerous medals and the eventual NUS President sports team award trophy. Teamwork is the very essence in driving the entire team to greater heights. Through this experience, I have learnt how to work well with people and hone my people skills. This has definitely benefited me in the academic area where I have to work in group projects and presentations.

Receiving a medal in one of the competitions.

I champion social and environmental causes and volunteer whenever I can. I have helped out in a children’s home before and am currently a volunteer on the Pulau Semakau project aimed in conserving nature.

There are a wide variety of species at Pulau Semakau such as this species of star fish found off its sandy shores. Efforts are being done right now to conserve this island and transform it into a marine nature reserve.

I hope to make a positive impact on the world and do whatever I can to make it a better place. =) Hopefully, I can become a rich and powerful person and donate millions of dollars to the less fortunate. Hah!

I wanna be like Bill Gates. Rich and powerful who donate billions of dollars to charity. Haha. Maybe can get a Nobel Peace Prize or something!

Edited: 22/10/2008

My Research Project Experience

First of all, I would like to say that it was a wonderful experience working with 3 efficient, hardworking and of course, also extremely nice guys in my group. One of the most significant things throughout this whole project experience is to be able to establish friendship ties with these 3 lovely guys (Liang Fu, Kheng Aik and Jacky), getting along and working well with them (I hope they are thinking along the same line too…hmm…).

Communication
As doing such project groupwork requires teamwork and effort, it is important that everybody is able to communicate well with one another. During our research project, Liang Fu, being the Chairman of the group, would assign each and everyone tasks to do. It is crucial that everybody understands their tasks well so that the assignments can be carried out efficiently. For example, when I was unsure of what I was supposed to do exactly, I would directly ask Liang Fu so as to confirm my job assignment and clear any doubts I have. We would have constant interactions with one another to provide suggestions for our research and to prevent any misunderstandings. We would also let one another know what we were doing and what we were supposed to bring for the next session (Like who was supposed to bring food and snacks for the next meeting…Hee). Therefore, communication is the key to working well in a group.

Building interpersonal relationships
Through these frequent interactions, we also get to know one another better and naturally, a friendship bond developed among the 4 of us. I’m glad to be able to know 3 more wonderful friends through this research project. =) Moreover, building interpersonal relationships with them maybe useful in the future if I do need their help next time. Haha. I do believe they will become successful professionals and make good business partners in the near future. If I do want to build my own business empire next time (Joyce Corporation…Haha!), like Donald Trump, I can ask engineers like Jacky and Liang Fu to help with the construction and Kheng Aik! You can be my chemist in the Research and Development department! Hahaha!


'Joyce Towers'

Being a team player
Being in a team sport myself, I understand what it means to be a team player. Coming from different faculties and backgrounds, it is important to set aside our differences and work together as one. Yet we can utilize our very differences and individual expertise to help one another and come up with better, effective ideas for our research. Being a team player means cooperating with one another so that things can be done faster and more efficiently. You have to be responsible not only for yourself but for the group as well. It is all about understanding, tolerance and good coordination with one another.

Doing research
I feel that searching for information and relevant articles was one of the easiest tasks to do, as there are many available sources around. In fact, our research topic, Green campus, is not a new concept and we are able to dig up lots of information on it. There are numerous resources from the Internet as well as in the library. Conducting the survey was the harder part of the research. We have to come up with 10 good, relevant questions for our survey to make sure the results would correspond to our problem and purpose statements. We had to also think of how to reach our target respondents within a short period of time. This is the time when I really have to set my creative juices flowing and really brainstorm hard for the survey. At least it was a good practice and hopefully it will not be that difficult the next time.

Writing report
I was assigned to do the introduction and part of the discussion of the report. It was a bit difficult for me as I had other datelines to fulfill and tests to study. Time was definitely a factor for me. I have to apologize to Liang Fu for waiting up for me and editing the report till 3 plus am. Sorry! In addition, I learn how to write a standard report by referring to the sample reports provided in the ivle. I do feel a sense of accomplishment after writing my part of the report and it was worth all the effort. *Smiles*

The research project was a good learning experience overall but I’m glad it is all over. Whew! To end it off, I would like to thank the 3 guys in my group for being so patient and understanding towards me and for providing all the yummilicious snacks in class. I would also like to thank Kheng Aik for letting me use his laptop and introducing me to funny, brainless games! Haha. And of course not to forget Brad who had given us advice on how to do our report and make sure that it is well organized. Thank you all! I hope I have been a useful team member to you all as well! Whee!

The Hand Gesture

There was this one time when an Italian couple came to Singapore to tour and sightsee. They were new to Singapore and therefore did not know much about the Asian culture here. One day, they found themselves at the heart of Little India, tired and hungry after much sightseeing. They chanced upon a small Indian family restaurant and decided to get a first taste of Indian cuisine.

They arrived at the entrance and a male Indian waiter was there to greet them. He brought them to a table and they sat down. The waiter spoke to them in heavily accented English and with their limited understanding of the language, they did not know what he was saying. He kept asking them ‘what do you want to eat’ but they were still clueless especially with his heavy Indian accent. Exasperated, the waiter decided to use hand gestures to bring across his point. He kept using his hand to show this:

When they saw his hand gestures, the Italian couple became infuriated and their faces turned red. They got so angry that they said something in Italian and though it was not clear what they said, it was definitely something not good. They immediately stood up and walked away in a huff, ignoring the poor waiter who was chasing after them and asking them what was wrong. They were gone in a jiffy and the helpless waiter walked back looking confused and scratching his head, trying to figure out what he did wrong.

I was shocked to see that the Italian couple walked off agitated and angry as I felt the waiter did nothing wrong. In Indian culture, using the hand gesture as seen in the picture above was common practice and meant a sign of eating. Therefore, it seemed that there was nothing offensive about this gesture and the Italian couple was just being ridiculous and petty. However, after much research, it was known that showing this hand gesture meant ‘what the f***’ in Italian. Now it is more understandable why the Italian couple was offended. Here is a video explaining the numerous Italian hand gestures which I found useful and entertaining:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVCuyrPk7P4

To sum it off, we must always be careful in using hand gestures or any kind of body language when interacting with people of different cultural backgrounds. Similar gestures can hold dissimilar meanings in different cultures. It is thus important and handy to do some research first before communicating with others of different cultures. In this way, intercultural conflict can be avoided. Here is some useful information about the various hand gestures and their interpretation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_gesture

P.S. The above scenario was hypothetical, as I haven’t actually seen or been in an intercultural conflict myself. I was inspired by Russell Peters who is an Indian American comedian and loves to joke about people of different cultural groups especially his own ethnic group. Here is a video of him talking about the hand gesture mentioned above and the different meanings it has in the Indian and Italian culture:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbNkuK6X1i4

Green Disco!

Since our research topic is all about GREEN issues, I am thinking of injecting some fun, excitement and creativeness into our project to spice it up rather than having the usual boring typical project of educating people to actively utilize the 3 R’s- Reduce, reuse and recycle. Like giving out brochures containing long-winded information on why and how we should save the environment, blah blah blah…which translate into more yawns, yawns, yawns. BORING!

Issue/Problem/Product:
These days, many people ESPECIALLY the YOUNG are apathetic to the fact that the environment they live in is severely depleting each day. They are ignorant to the seriousness of the situation even when there are numerous campaigns abound to fight climate change. I am guilty to be one of them. Opps. Therefore, I propose that our project should be more relevant to people of our age and younger, to make it fun, intriguing and exciting so as to capture their attention and increase their awareness of climate change.

My main research idea is to introduce Club4Climate in Singapore. Club4Climate is the first eco nightclub in London that helps look after the environment. The most interesting and coolest part is that its dance-floor generates electricity. As long as clubbers stepped on it, electricity will be produced to power the entire building. In fact, the entire club is so eco-friendly that it also includes low flush toilets and automatic taps to ensure maximum water saving and even gives free entry for those who walked or cycled to the venue!

I found it an innovative idea as it not only allows people to enjoy their nightlife but to save the world at the same time.

You can check out Club4Climate at their website:

http://www.club4climate.com/

I believe if we introduce Club4Climate in Singapore, it will be easier to reach out to young Singaporeans about green issues as they make up the bulk of the population in the country’s booming night scene. The young may welcome the concept as it is hip, cool and fresh, things that they are looking out for. Moreover, with incentives like free entry to the club, they will be encouraged to walk or cycle instead of driving or cabbing there. By integrating eco-friendliness into part of their lifestyle, young Singaporeans will inadvertently exercise the 3 R’s without having to put much effort into educating them. Hence, it is a good topic to research on.

General research question:
So the question is, ‘Is it viable to introduce Club4Climate in Singapore?’

Problem statement:
The main objective of this study is to analyse whether young Singaporeans will be interested in having Club4Climate in Singapore and also to examine whether it will increase their awareness and interest in saving the earth.

Reason for an attitudinal survey:
Our target respondents for the survey will be Young Singaporeans as we will need to find out their attitudes towards Club4Climate. The survey will aid in solving the problem statement and from there, draw a conclusion whether it is viable to introduce this rather new concept to Singapore.

I think I can continue ranting on the benefits of my research topic but guess I’ll just end here and let you guys decide whether it will be a good research for our project. Do please consider! Whee! Bring you guys more cookies! Haha… =)

And the solution is...

After reading what you guys have written on my previous blog post, I’ll try to sum up everything to come out with the best possible solution.

My captain should have discussed with the rest of the teammates first to decide whether we should follow our coach’s decision. If my team decides to do so, then I guess we just have to face the consequences. Just as what Max advises, our coach is after all looking out for our best interest and we should trust him and his judgment. However, if we decide to go against his wishes, we should row our hearts out for the race and do our best as a matter of respect to our opponents and ourselves. In fact, I do believe that it does not matter which lanes we are in because if we are strong enough, we can overcome all obstacles. This will further prove to our competitors that nothing can come our way. =)

Usain Bolt. Who cares about whether you're cocky or not. Is all about winning in the end. Haha.

What REALLY happened in the end…

We felt rather guilty of what we had done but we decided not to harp on it and concentrate on the finals. After all what was done was done. Our captain had earlier mentioned that we should not be affected by what others said and was time to prove what we were capable of during the finals. This caused us to be more motivated as we wanted to detract the speculations about us. Ultimately we won the finals and by a huge margin! The first in the years of NUS dragonboat. We subsequently won the coveted ‘Prime Minister’s Cup’ too! It was a joyous moment for us and our coach even insisted that we should shake hands with our rivals and congratulate them which we did. In the end it was not about what people thought about us but about what we thought about ourselves and knowing that we had done our utmost best eventually.

The glorious moment. Winning the PM cup race.

Please help! In a dilemma...

It was the first day of the dragonboat competition and my team (NUS) was all prepared to give a good fight. We had to go through the preliminary round first before getting into the finals and looking at our competitors from the particular heats event we were in, we knew that getting a first place was not a difficult task to do and were confident of securing a spot in the finals (Just as long as we are top three in the heats, we are able to qualify for the finals). While we were warming up for the race, our coach suddenly came over and called us to gather around him. He decided to abandon the initial plan of getting first for the heats and told us to get second placing instead. His reason was that we could get a better lane for the finals and this would pose as an advantage to us (Though minimal, the water conditions are different for every lane and this would be beneficial or problematic to the team depending on the lane they are in. For example, the water currents are stronger in lane 1 as compared to lane 2 and this means that the rowers in lane 1 need to expend more energy to paddle to overcome the stronger currents).

Although shocked at the sudden change of plans, we decided to adhere to our coach’s decision and ‘try’ to get second instead. We went down and raced but lo and behold, we were too fast for our competitors. They were lagging way behind and we slowed down for them to catch up with us. However, we were nearing the finishing line and seeing that our ‘closest’ rival was nowhere near us, we deliberately slowed down even more and some of us even stopped paddling just before the end, afraid that we would cross the finishing line first. We waited and immediately after our competitor crossed the line we followed suit and came in second.

Our actions were obvious to the spectators watching on shore and had caused quite abit of commotion. People began questioning our actions and motives. Our rivals were even more unforgiving in their comments. They said we were cocky and had no sense of sportsmanship. One of them even blogged about it and this is what he had to say:


And in today's race at Bedok Reservoir.... there was this particular women's team which actually slowed down (maybe they were really tired?) just before the last bouy to let the other incoming team went through first.No idea exactly what's the rationale for doing so - but this sheer act seriously puts down that incoming team, humiliating them. I seriously dont think they deserve this kinda 'treatment'. Sportsmanship is not just about playing fair, but also abt respecting your opponents by putting in your best. So when you stopped/ deliberately slowed down and let the others go past you ....... oh well...

His blog post had generated numerous responses and most agreed with what he said. Here are some of the comments given:

‘indeed. there were gasps and commotions from where i stood and watched. i was appalled too. given the kind of rep that womens team have.’

‘their actions have made a total mockery of the first position. if said team thinks their so damn fast that they can afford to be cocky enough to give up first spot, then shouldnt they be fast enough to overcome whatever disadvantages lane 3 poses?….. …..team of the year (and mayb president's team of the year this year) indeed! this is what nus is teaching their athletes to emulate’

‘i am appalled by how NUS actually slowed down like few metres before the finishing line. I wonder what teachings they circulate within the team. Certainly not admirable.’

My team was definitely not proud with what we had done. However, we kept quiet and tolerated the much talk about us because we knew if we spoke up we might infuriate even more people. Now people see us in a different light and dislike us even more. The conflict and tension between our opponents are even more profound these days.

If you were one of my teammates, what will you have done? Will you have listened to my coach and follow his decision or will you ignore him and just do the best you can for the race? My coach might be angry if you don’t listen to him in the end yet if you listened and get second for the race, people would start criticizing about you, which was what happened.

Furthermore, upon hearing those terrible comments thereafter, what will you have done? Ignore them and just move on? Or speak up to defend yourself? Note that if you speak up, you may still be shot down repeatedly and never-ending arguments will ensue. This would generate a even bigger conflict. So how?

This is a true scenario and up till now I’m still troubled by it whenever I think back, as the conflict is never really solved. Hopefully, I get to hear what solutions you guys have to offer and know what I should have done in this kind of situation.

Do we deserve the medals and trophies in the end??

P.S. Sorry for this long post as this problem requires a lot of explanations with the technical terms and all. If you still don’t understand some parts of the problem please let me know! I apologize for any inconvenience caused! Hah…

Developing effective communication skills. Is it important???

Communication is a phenomenon that is happening ALL the time. Our entire lives have been dedicated to communicating with others either formally or informally. This is because we are situated in an environment where we are always surrounded by people (unless we are being castaway in some remote island devoid of any living souls) hence interacting with others is something that we cannot avoid. Humans are biologically designed to be social creatures, a characteristic trait that is essential for survival due to our dependence on others. Even the socially inept will have to communicate some point in their lives no matter how infrequent their interactions are. This is probably the reason why prisoners are placed in isolation cells as a form of punishment to prevent them from having any social contact with the outside world. In fact, being imprisoned in an isolation cell is extremely torturous for many prisoners where I’ve heard that some have gone insanely mad from being isolated too long. Hmm…




Modern technological advances have inevitably caused us to be placed on a global frontier, thus effective communication skills are necessary tools to enable us to have a competitive edge. Communication can reveal much about oneself, whether you’re just a brawn with no brains or a blonde who do actually possess some substance despite stereotypical notions.


A blonde can actually be a lawyer?? No kidding.

Companies want someone who can communicate well so that he or she can represent a good corporate image for the organization not just locally but on a worldwide stage. Therefore, developing effective communication skills is important as it helps one to score an interview, clinch a deal and build interpersonal relationships with business associates.

In an informal setting, communication allows one to foster friendship ties with others so as to widen one’s social network, which can prove to be useful later part in life. It also enables one to resolve conflicts so as to ensure a more peace-loving and harmonious society, making the world a better place… ideally speaking. Hah.

These days, chasing someone of the opposite sex is a difficult task unlike the Stone Age times when members of the opposite sex just come together and mate. Even then, I do believe they possess some non-verbal communication cues to signal one another that they are ready to ‘go forth and reproduce’. Non-verbal communication cues still exist in the dating arena today but they are subtler. Sometimes it is hard to interpret what the other party is thinking. One way to judge whether he or she is interested in you is through their body language, eye contact, tone of voice and touch. Moreover, being attractive no longer just means being good-looking but knowing how to speak well too. How many times have you caught sight of a gorgeous guy or girl but only to be turned off once they started talking? On the other hand, if someone is able to speak eloquently and with confidence, he or she may exude a charisma that makes he or she attractive even though they may not be that good-looking. This could be why some guys employ flowery words to ‘dupe’ the women they are interested in. Haha.

Lastly, having good communicative skills not only can aid oneself but help others as well. For example, motivational speakers who enrich the lives of others and inspire them to live a better, fulfilled life. Randy Pausch, a professor from Carnegie Mellon became a worldwide sensation due to his presentation on ‘the last lecture: Achieving your childhood dreams’. At that time, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and his days were numbered. His moving presentation shows people that he is not going to let the days go by him but to live the fullest as he can. Unfortunately, he passed away this late July. He was an exemplary figure of how effective communication can touch and inspire the lives of many.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo
Website of Randy Pausch's video on 'the last lecture'

On a personal note, effective communication skills are important to ME because they affect how others view me as a person. Somehow my friends often do not take me seriously probably because of the way I talked. They even frankly told me that I speak rather brashly, peppered with lots of 'lahs' and 'lohs'. In other words, they feel that the way I talk is ATROCIOUS! One of them even commented that if I'm going to talk like that during my job interviews or when meeting clients, I'm totally going to screw it up. However, when some of my friends read my essays, they were impressed that I can write so fluently yet talk like crap. Furthermore, I'm always overwhelm with anxiety when preparing for job interviews that when it is my turn, my mouth would clamp up and I'll be totally lost for words. Expectedly, I didn't get the job. Therefore, it is crucial for me to brush up on my communication skills so that I can articulate my words properly and to prove to my friends that I'm NOT as DUMB as they think I am. Also, I hope to one day clinch my first job interview!

To sum it off, communication is intricately intertwined with our lives and we cannot live without it. In order to survive and be on top, it is therefore important to develop effective communication skills. =)

Edited: 2/9/08