Now that I have graduated from NUS, I

Now that I have graduated from NUS, I look back and believe that ES2007 is among the most useful modules I have taken. The focus on soft skills is definitely something that distinguishes the module from others that I have taken. When I enrolled, I expected to improve my presentation and writing skills over the course of the module. Now that I have finished, I can say that my expectations were generally met.

The bi-weekly writing assignments in the form of blogging kept me on my toes and instilled made sure that I do not lose touch with writing. However, these were often not as structured as the reports that I churn out for my scientific modules. While I usually tried to maintain some semblance of organisation in my writing, I regret to say that I do not explicitly plan what I intend to write for blogs as compared to my reports. In this regard, I felt that I let myself down in attempting to improve my writing.

Despite this, my other aim of trying to improve my presentation skills was achieved. The course was delivered in such a way that participants were constantly probed with questions to encourage class participation. I was glad that I am able to contribute to discussions and through this I felt I became more confident in speaking out in a group discussion, especially in situations when my opinion was not sought openly. Communication was the keystone of the module,  I was exposed to different aspects of it and made more aware of how I speak and carry myself when conversing with others. Non verbal cues and fillers in my sentences are now things which I will take note of when people talk to me.

Even though I did not fulfil all my initial goals for the module, I must say I did not regret taking it in my final semester and strongly believe that what I take away, especially communication skills, will be vastly applicable to my future endeavours.

Reflections on oral presentation

Over the years as an undergraduate, I have always had a more cavalier approach to oral presentations. I did not like to memorise scripts and would always rely on my own improvisation on the spot with some reference to the slides prepared. During the module, my usual methodology with oral presentation did not fail me, though I must say there were many areas I could have improved upon. 

A few days before the proposal presentation, I was already thinking of how to deliver it. I was aware that I mustn’t fail my group mates, so I prepared some form of script which I followed loosely. During our practices, I had no problems delivering the presentation (partly due to the lack of assessment during practices!). I had already volunteered to present on the part where I was most familiar, this no doubt helped with the preparations of both the slides and the actual presentation. I made sure my slides weren’t cluttered with information, since I already had some experience with my honours presentation. 

During the actual presentation, I must admit I let my nerves get the better of me. Despite the practices and my familiarity of the subject, I was speaking faster than I should have. On hindsight, I realised I could have looked at my groupmates more, as they mentioned they were trying to slow me down via hand signals. I believe the key area I need to work on is my awareness of my surroundings during presentations, as I would get far too absorbed into the presentation and not noticed small actions or the body language of my audience which I could have used to correct myself mid delivery. 

Nevertheless, the presentation was still a good learning experience and I feel that this would only serve to strengthen my delivery in the future.

Fostering intercultural behaviour

Singapore is a melting pot of different cultures, what with its history as a nation built on the hard work of migrants. Working in Singapore requires a multitude of communication skills, and intercultural communication and interaction is an integral part of Singapore society.

The consumption of durians is something that almost all Singaporeans can identify with.I would like to share about one occasion where I had brought back several durians to my laboratory and several new European colleagues were present. 

Having gathered everayone at the open area outside lab, the Asians were happily opening the durians. The curious Europeans amongst us came out to witness the consumption of the strange looking spiky fruit. Given that these were wild durians, they did not smell as nice as some other varieties. With our encouragement, I was glad to see the Europeans try the fruit for the first time. Given the smell and the rather slippery texture of the fruit, I must imagine that they may have  thought they were eating something rotten. Also, I have seen American reality shows like Fear Factor in the past where the durian was presented as something disgusting. I was therefore impressed by how sporting they were for not complaining too much and popping the entire seed into the mouth. 

We all had a good laugh at the grimaces on their faces after they had finished with one seed each. They responded to our queries of how it tasted with forced smiles, and hastily beat a retreat upon our offers of more seeds. 

There is no conflict here to be discussed, rather just a situation whereby people of other cultures were respectful enough to try something offered by their “gracious hosts”, even if it seems revolting. This is something which I myself practise, where I will show respect to my hosts’ offer of their local delicacy even if it is something I dislike.

 

Critique for cover letter

Hi all,

Here is the 2nd draft of my cover letter. I essentially tailored it to another job which I felt was more suitable to my skills though it may not be my first choice. I have changed names to maintain privacy.

To whom it may concern,

Application for position of Junior Animal Management Officer

I am writing to apply for the position of Junior Animal Management Officer in the Singapore Zoo after working with the Fragile Forest Department for my Final year Project and seeing a vacancy on the Wildlife Reserves Singapore Website. I am expecting to graduate from National University of Singapore (NUS) with a 2^nd Upper Class Honours in Life Sciences (specializing in Biology). I wish to begin my career with the Singapore Zoo due to its world class record of championing conservation while maintaining excellent profit margins. With the recent introduction of the River Safari, there have been greater expectations towards the Zoo as a globally renowned attraction. I am therefore eager to be part of an organization with such an exciting new direction.

I have been in the Biology laboratory specializing in amphibian ecology and reproduction under the supervision of Asst. Professor Daniel Banner. Prof. Banner has worked together with the zoo on several occasions, notably the python rehabilitation project and the amphibian App for mobile devices; hence I am sure I can act as a valuable go-between for both the zoo and the laboratory for future collaborations.

As a life sciences graduate, I have honed my analytical skills through various research projects that I have undertaken in my course of study in NUS. I have had experience in frog and tadpole husbandry and dissection, keeping 200 individuals alive over the course of 5 months by efficiently utilizing a limited budget of $300. I possess extensive knowledge of locally endangered frogs, which would be useful to the Fragile Forest Exhibit as I am capable of spearheading their breeding projects.

Lastly, through my leadership experiences in NUS Photographic Society as Logistics Director and NUS Science Computer Based Learning Centre as Logistic Director and Vice President of Operations, I have acquired competencies in event management and daily operational optimization. I have organized annual fairs for both organizations reaching out to more than 5000 people and achieving profits up to $2200 net.  Therefore, with my unique skill set, I believe that I am well suited to contribute to the enhancement of Fragile Forest as a prominent attraction within the zoo.

Thank you for your time in reviewing my application. I have enclosed my resume for your consideration. I look forward to a face-to-face interview with you to discuss my suitability for this position. I can be contacted at 12345678 or frogpuan@gmail.com at your convenience.

Yours Sincerely,

Christopher Puan Ziyang

Resolving Interpersonal Conflicts

Money is always a tricky issue in interpersonal relationships. In my case, there were 4 people involved. The CCA’s president (P), treasurer (T), the marketing director (MD) and the logistics director (me). The MD had been collecting supplies and sponsored products using his private transport and was racking up expenses in the course of his duties for the club. As the amount was getting substantial, he made a request to claim his travelling expenses. I was for the idea, as it did not make sense for him to be penalised for doing his part in collecting equipment, after which I was in charge of storing it. P approved the request, naturally. What came as a surprise was that T rejected the idea.

She immediately went on to justify her stand, saying that it is hard for MD to claim for transport given that he could not justify the exact distance travelled and the petrol costs. P and I then went on to say that this could be remedied, as the petrol per kilometre and the distance could be calculated from Google maps. However, she did not accept our explanations, saying that such methods would be inaccurate. Having done such claims before, I began to lose my patience. As the disagreement escalated, she went on to insinuate that I am not doing my job as I should be taking a taxi to collect the equipment rather than rely on the MD. 

Having previously agreed on this issue with the MD, I was immediately enraged and my riposte was that she was the incompetent one for not being open minded with working and not understanding that the agreement between the MD and I was a more efficient approach to doing things (we had exchanged some duties to ensure fairness). 

On hindsight, I should have managed my anger, but how could this situation have been better managed?

 

 

ES2007 Post 1: Effective Communication Skills

The seminar on friday covered various aspects of communication and listening. Topics discussed ranged from communication training to different methodologies when approaching public speaking. Active listening and information processing, being equally important in communication, was also touched on. 

Takeaways from the discussion were many. During the lesson, I was able to reflect upon different scenarios in which I had previously committed some form of “error” (on hindsight, everything seems to be able to be improved upon).

An example from the past will be used as a case study showing how the principles covered regarding effective communication could have led to a better outcome.

I was the head of a flagship CCA event into which I incorporated a seminar, a gaming competition and a bazaar. Envisioning a grand event, collaboration between multiple CCAs was sought. After the event, I realised that communication was severely lacking in several key areas, leading to negative outcomes. Linking this experience back to the article on “Introduction to communication skills”, I will attempt to dissect my experience in accordance with the relevant parts of the communication process from the article.

1. Source: The initial discussions for collaboration were vague, failing to elucidate many pieces of information required for the optimal outcome, with key areas such as cost and profit sharing not clearly defined before we each carried out our work.
2. Message: Information gaps abound and therefore ideas were not conveyed.
3. Encoding: My personal failure to understand the work culture of another organisation led to assumptions, many of which were wrong.
4. Channel:  Face-to-face,  written communication and phone calls were used, I would not have done it differently.
5. Feedback: I believe all of us were hesitant in asking “hard” questions concerning money and this led to the unpleasant situation.
6. Context: It was the first time our CCAs had embarked on such a collaboration, many things were unclear and we did not understand each other well.

From this, I realise that effective communication is important in getting the best possible outcome from a situation. By eliminating ambiguity, expectations can be tempered accordingly.

348 Words

Cabal Online: The everlasting war

The main thing that is somewhat likable about cabal online is the sometimes exhilarating wars. The wars come every 4 hrs every day, ie, 6am, 10am, so on and so forth. The best wars are never those that are won easily, they are the ones which are won by the skin of one’s teeth. The best war i have ever been in was one whereby i was instrumental in securing the decisive victory. I was the one who captured the final small base at the final second of the time limit( 1 hour) and that capture led to our country taking the win. What made the triumph even sweeter was that we were getting thrashed at the beginning of the war. Overcoming the odds, making a comeback with a vengeance, that is what makes life exciting.

Force Shielder(Transcender)

Blader- Praetor class

My good old dog/ Baik saya anjing tua

I have a rather big dog at home; its name is old mad dog. It is a faithful friend and has guarded our house for 9 years. However, bathing it was really a problem. It does not want to be bathed, and will run off and hide. Washing it is no easy task as well. It is uncooperative and will struggle in the toilet. It will also shake itself often, drenching me in the process. It is very problematic, but I still like washing my dog.

Saya ada seekor anjing besar di rumah; nama ia anjing gila tua. Ia kawan ragam dan ada berjaga rumah kami selama sembilan tahun.  Bagaimanapun, bermandi ia betul susah. Ia tidak mahu bermandi, dan lari rumah di luar. cucinya juga sulit. Ia enggan membantu dan bergelut di dalam bilik rumah. Ia juga selalu goyang sendiri , memberi minum saya.  Ia sangat susah, tetapi saya masih suka bercuci anjing saya.

Anjing saya dan saya

For LAM1201: post 1 My favourite Garden/ Taman kegemaran saya

There is a big garden near my house in woodlands. It is on top of a small hill, but is visited frequently by the people living nearby. People go there to exercise in the mornings and evenings; some elderly people also plant various plants and vegetables in the garden itself. I will run up the hill once every week as exercise and also to take in the natural scenery in the garden. I really like going there because it is quiet and I can breathe in the fresh air.

Terdapat satu taman besar dekat rumah saya di Woodlands. Ia di atas bukit kecil, tapi orang yang tinggal dekat sini selalu kunjungan. Orang pergi ke sana bersukan pada pukul pagi dan petang; orang tua juga menanami pokok-pokok di taman . Saya akan berlari-lari anak ke atas bukit sekali setiap minggu di atas bukit untuk senaman dan juga melihat pandangan di taman. Saya sangat suka pergi di sana kerana taman itu sunyi dan saya boleh bernafas angin segak.

the sprinting area( itu tempat lari)

 

going up to the top….( pergi di atas)

Signing a life away

there is a lesson to be learnt by those who buy pets on impulse, one must always consider the fact that u are the one who would take care of the animal til its( or your) death. In health or sickness, rain or shine, your pet is your charge. Only if you are morally void can you feel that having a pet is like having a soft toy. U have to devote yourself to the upkeep of the pet, if not, there is only silent suffering on the part of the hapless animal. Should it lapse into a condition that is utterly miserable, and one finally realises that the animal is better off dead, bringing the unfortunate soul to the vet, and signing its life away, must will always be a deed that should not be done, or endured, by any responsible pet owner. I am saying this from experience, having to consign the life of a family member of 6 years to oblivion, i feel utterly disgusted at myself that i had to resort to euthanasia to release our companion from its agony. There was surely something else that could have been done, but i knew that if we allowed the condition of the animal to degrade to this stage, we will surely suffer divine retribution if we let it live out of mercy only for it to relapse into that state in the future once more.In the future, i myself will no doubt die a miserable death myself for being one of the people responsible, indirectly or otherwise, for our family member’s demise. The act of euthanasia may be a humane form of killing, but it is still murder nevertheless, and the sin will be something i will have to bear, and it will serve as a reminder to me to perform numerous good deeds merely to chip away at the weight of the sin bearing down on me.