BlOG # 6 WONDERFUL EXPERIENCES AT ES2007S

Parting is such a sweet sorrow. Yes we should smile because we have met, learned and gained experiences.

Thanks to my classmates and Ms Fazilah for all the teaching and guidance. I really enjoyed myself and have learned how to improve my communication competence. I have learned how to listen actively and at the same now look out for non-verbal cues that might are useful feedback to the communicator. Come to think about it, these are little details that I often take little notice on and I am glad that through this course, I am able to incorporate these insights into my everyday life. Most importantly, I have learned the techniques on how to engage the audience and that will be useful for my final year project. Also, I think the crucial skills I have learnt were to write the good application letter and resumes and how to perform and anticipate for mock interviews. Through this course, I believe I am adept in these essential skills required for job hunt. However, I feel that the skills acquired in class are only bare foundation to communication. As such, constant practising and incorporation of skills (e.g. application of 7Cs) to everyday communication will help to improve one’s communication competence. In addition, one needs to reflect on the skills learnt and I feel blogging has been a useful platform for me to express my thoughts and feelings.

Of course, learning cannot take place without a great participation from the class. I feel that our class were very active during lesson and were not hesitant to share their experiences and ideas. Thus, I feel active engagement in class promotes a very comfortable atmosphere for learning and sharing. With that, I was more willing to share and talk more during class. I am pleased to have taken up this course which has better enriched me on what it takes to have a good and effective communication with others.

Goodbyes are not forever.
Goodbyes are not the end.
They simply mean I'll miss you
Until we meet again! 

BLOG # 5 REFECTION ON MY ORAL PRESENTATION

"The art of pleasing consists in being pleased."

Hazlitt, William 

The journey in preparing for the presentation had been an enjoyable one. I must say my team was very clear about our project and the goals we aim to achieve during the presentation. This boosts our confidence so that we can effectively persuade others with the ideas that we believe in.

Looking at individual’s performance, I was fairly nervous about it, but I do have to say I felt that it went surprisingly better than expected.  I have noted some improvement from my previous peer teaching and is probably attributed to reflections on the mistakes made during the previous encounter. I believe I spoke more confidently in front of the crowd because I was much prepared than before. To do this, I make sure I practice my speech by rehearsing in front of the mirror so that I am familiarised with my slides. Practicing with the rest of the group members also helps to reduce the tendency of me rushing through my presentations and to establish consistency and promote coordination in the group.  With all the preparation effort, I was certain that I paced my speech well during the oral presentation. In addition, rehearsing in front of the mirror allows me to examine the non-verbal cues for example facial expressions, gesture and posture that I might portray unconsciously. I believe such non-verbal cues help to enhance the delivery of ideas for effective persuasion and I felt that I managed to keep them in check by analyzing the feedback from my audience during the presentation.

My team was quite prepared and remained calm throughout the question and answer section. I feel that this preparedness was possible because all of us were forced to be critical of the slides we have created. During the final collaboration, my team got together and scrutinised the slides from another perspective to come out with a list of possible questions.

Having mentioned the good points, I do have some negative points that I have gathered. For instance, I realised that I may skip the slides because of the time constraint. I think such abrupt distraction reflects a lack of professional communication. Thus, it is important to put necessary things in the slides that you intend to present so as to increase one’s conciseness and help to keep the presentation within the time limit. Of course, it is equally important to focus on the main point in each slide and briefly summarise after each slide so that the audience can better assimilate the details.