Final Post!!
I believe this course as allowed me to develop into a much more confident speaker who is able to impart the 7Cs of communication in my presentations. As compared to the first presentation, which was the Peer Teaching 1 , I believe I have gradually improve my self confidence and presentation skills. There were lots of opportunities given in class such as the mock interview and participating in other's peer teaching that provided ample opportunities to speak in class.
Initially, I was a student who believed writing scripts and using handouts during presentation ensures a good performance. However, most of the time this mode of presentation will some how or rather end up wrong. This is because I feel more tense and less confidence. I realised through my final oral presentation, how knowing your slides well and just preparing in your mind what you intend to deliver will instead make you feel more confident. There was not much improvement in terms of non-verbal communication which plays about 93% importance in a presentation. This was because I have always practice using non-verbal communication during other presentations. However, this time round I realise how important it is to have hand signs appropriate to the audiences that is present. As, a common sign in one culture could mean a bad indicator in another culture. Thus, these minute details can create a huge impact on one's presentation. I also have to say at this point, the topic on inter cultural communication was really fun and interesting. In terms of challenge, I would describe it as the ability to present without any handouts in hand. As, I have overcome this challenge I am glad to say I am more confident in presenting without any handouts for future presentations. This also would help me to portray a confidence image to my audiences.
Besides this I have learnt the most important part about communication is to remember is a two way traffic where constant feedback is always given and received. Hence, it is not only important to be an effective communicator but an effective listener as well. Furthermore, it is important to give feedback as an audience as it reassures your presenter that you are being able to understand his delivery. And as a presenter, it is important to receive this feedback and acknowledge it via non-verbal delivery which would enhance this communication.
Lastly, I would like to use this opportunity to thank Mdm Fadzilah and all my classmates as well as my group mates who made coming to this lesson everyday a fun place where active learning takes place. This was a module that I would never I regretted taking as it imparted me with raw skills that would be needed for us to outshine and perform better than our peers. It gave me knowledgeable insights to the world of communication and the importance of practising the 7Cs of communication. I am glad to say that at the end of the module, I have learnt the skills and tools to be an effective communicator!
Will definitely miss this class! Wish the very best to all my classmates who are graduating this semester and advance congratulations! As for those of us heading on to year 2 or 3 let us work harder and enjoy the perks of being a student!
Signing off,
Farhanah
Wednesday, 24 April 2013
Saturday, 20 April 2013
Reflections on Oral Presentation
I cannot believe that I have finally finished my oral presentation. Just a week ago, I was worried about the upcoming presentation because off the persuasive style this presentation had to be delivered in. The truth is I have never experienced doing a persuasive presentation before. Hence, I knew I had to prepare well enough for the presentation in order to put up a good performance! The real challenge was actually in delivering my speech without any hand notes in my hand. Thus, I had to rely on the pictures on my slides to recall what the contents of my speech.
Now that my presentation is over I am glad to say my group and I have done an awesome job! I really enjoyed working with my group members and am sure going to miss the two of them.
I believe my group members and I managed to use all the three backbone of persuasive presentation: logos,pathos and ethos. Thus, I strongly felt that we did managed to convince our audiences that streaming at the age of 12, which is the current primary education system in Singapore should be revamped as it does not encourage or enhance a student's human development and social integration.
Firstly, knowing each other slides and contents well allowed us to effectively pass our presentation from one to another. Thereby, creating a good flow in information to prevent losing any of our audience's attention. Our delivery was also good as we used our voice to create a serious situation that we wanted our audiences to feel. We also ensured that we all used hand gestures whenever appropriate. We tried to pace our speech well to ensure that we were not going to fast or slow that would cause us to loose of audience's attention. These points mentioned were perhaps one of the strengths in our presentation.
I guess some of the weakness included my failure in introducing my group members. Though I did mentioned their name I did not acknowledged them to the audiences. Besides, we also forgot that some of our audiences were not knowledgeable with common terms such as "Normal Acad" and "Normal Tech" which were short terms for "Normal Academic" and "Normal Technical". Hence, we should have remembered our various target audiences and avoid using short forms which would have left some of our audience lost.
Finally in terms of our visual I think we did an excellent job in the power point slides. All credit goes to William! We actually adopted approach where most of the time a single picture was used to present all the points that we wanted to deliver to our audiences. This was rather a challenge to all three of us as this meant that we had no helping words available on the screen to aid us in our speech. Thus, we had to really spent time preparing and rehearsing our delivery speech. Furthermore, we did this without holding any scripts or hand notes. Personally, this was a challenge as I was really worried that I would either forgot what I wanted to say during my presentation or simply go blank!
This presentation itself was a great experience. I really learned and gained from having such an experience and opportunity. I would also like to thank my fellow classmates who played different roles in the education sector. Thanks for your questions and tips which helped us to improve our proposal as well as provided greater insights to how we can better edit our proposed solution. It was one great persuasive presentation that I would never forget!
Farhanah
Sunday, 10 March 2013
Evaluating Intercultural Behavior
Hi guys,
Well I really had a hard time thinking about a situation where I encountered an inter cultural scenario. So this goes way back to my lower secondary school days. Secondary school days was one of the greatest time where I make awesome friends who till today are my best buddies! So, my group of friends were all from different races, 2 of whom were Chinese and 2 of whom were Malay and 1 Indian friend. We were really a good representative of the multicultural society and we are proud of it even till today. Being with a group of multicultural friends helped me foster great inter cultural understanding.
It was my first time that I had called my group of friends over to my place to join in my festival celebration, Hari Raya. I had no idea at that time that my Chinese friends and my Indian friend did not take beef! Sadly, most of the dishes prepared by my Mom were made of beef. There was only one dish made of chicken. So, I called them over for lunch and realised that did not take beef. My friends were really nice and were not offended. But I really felt terrible and upset over myself for not taking the initiative to know more about their religion and culture. Since then, I took the effort to know more about my friends culture and practices. This allowed me to gain a greater understanding of Chinese and Indian practices. Hence, these days for I ensure that I include dishes that are made of seafood for them to enjoy!
I would like to share another incident that benefited me in my workplace because of having friends from different culture. This year I had the opportunity to attend to my tuition company's CNY lunch. This was the first time I had the pleasure of being part of a CNY year. One of my Chinese colleague praised my ability to eat efficiently with a chopstick and practising good habits while using a chopstick. This appraisal was due to my Chinese friend who taught me how to eat with a chopstick and teaching me the don't while using a chopstick such as not pointing your chopstick to someone. And to ensure that the index finger does not stick out during usage as it is impolite. And I am glad to have learned to use a chopsticks which I can boast about to my brothers as they can't.
Hence, personally I feel its essential to understand and take the initiative to learn about acts that maybe considered rude or impolite. And these extra knowledge can be really beneficial in one way or another especially in countries like Singapore with a multicultural and multiracial society.
Hope you enjoyed reading my post!
Regards
Farhanah
Well I really had a hard time thinking about a situation where I encountered an inter cultural scenario. So this goes way back to my lower secondary school days. Secondary school days was one of the greatest time where I make awesome friends who till today are my best buddies! So, my group of friends were all from different races, 2 of whom were Chinese and 2 of whom were Malay and 1 Indian friend. We were really a good representative of the multicultural society and we are proud of it even till today. Being with a group of multicultural friends helped me foster great inter cultural understanding.
It was my first time that I had called my group of friends over to my place to join in my festival celebration, Hari Raya. I had no idea at that time that my Chinese friends and my Indian friend did not take beef! Sadly, most of the dishes prepared by my Mom were made of beef. There was only one dish made of chicken. So, I called them over for lunch and realised that did not take beef. My friends were really nice and were not offended. But I really felt terrible and upset over myself for not taking the initiative to know more about their religion and culture. Since then, I took the effort to know more about my friends culture and practices. This allowed me to gain a greater understanding of Chinese and Indian practices. Hence, these days for I ensure that I include dishes that are made of seafood for them to enjoy!
I would like to share another incident that benefited me in my workplace because of having friends from different culture. This year I had the opportunity to attend to my tuition company's CNY lunch. This was the first time I had the pleasure of being part of a CNY year. One of my Chinese colleague praised my ability to eat efficiently with a chopstick and practising good habits while using a chopstick. This appraisal was due to my Chinese friend who taught me how to eat with a chopstick and teaching me the don't while using a chopstick such as not pointing your chopstick to someone. And to ensure that the index finger does not stick out during usage as it is impolite. And I am glad to have learned to use a chopsticks which I can boast about to my brothers as they can't.
Hence, personally I feel its essential to understand and take the initiative to learn about acts that maybe considered rude or impolite. And these extra knowledge can be really beneficial in one way or another especially in countries like Singapore with a multicultural and multiracial society.
Hope you enjoyed reading my post!
Regards
Farhanah
Monday, 25 February 2013
Peer Teaching Review (Indiviual)
Peer Teaching Review: Good/Bad News Messages, Email
This blog post is about my individual reflections based on my group's peer teaching topic: The 7CS of effective communication and how to write and deliver good/bad news messages via letters or an email. Honestly, I was really very worried and scared of the presentation as it been nearly half a semester since I last had a official presentation. But I am really glad that along with my group mates William and Amy we managed to pull off our presentation really well. As a team we were able to cooperate with one another well which enabled us to work effectively as a team.Thank you, William and Amy for being such awesome team mates that I enjoy working together with! And not forgetting to thank my classmates for being active participants whom provided us with constant feedback during our presentation and activity time.
While preparing for this peer teaching presentation, I challenged myself not to write any form of speeches for me to memorize. Instead, I ensured I was familiar with my entire group's slide and particularly my content that I had to cover during the presentation. Although, I was nervous in the beginning of my presentation I tried to maintain eye contact with my classmates that somehow chase away my anxiety and fear. The more I maintain eye contact and using my hands to emphasize important points, the more comfortable I felt. This peer teaching, provided me with a good platform to practice on my presentation skills as well as being able to speak confidently and comfortably to an audience whom I had no prior experience presenting with.
The feedback provided by my classmates, gave me an overall view on how effective my group was able to deliver our intended content to our audience. This included feedback in areas such as presentation slide, oral presentation skills and our prepared handouts as well as our ability to conduct activity without any major hiccups. I believe we did a good job after collecting responses from our classmates as well as from our own personal sense of satisfaction.
In a conclusion, this peer teaching gave me the opportunity to understand how important knowing your content well can allow you to be more confident during presentation. It showed me that maintaining constant eye contact is an important aspect for effective communication. Finally, I also gain insights to learning how to deliver good/bad news messages using the 7Cs of communication.
Hope everyone enjoyed our peer teaching and gain useful insights to writing a good/bad news message. If you wish to read about our group's reflections, please click here. If you have any questions, feel free to approach any one of us!
Regards
Farhanah
This blog post is about my individual reflections based on my group's peer teaching topic: The 7CS of effective communication and how to write and deliver good/bad news messages via letters or an email. Honestly, I was really very worried and scared of the presentation as it been nearly half a semester since I last had a official presentation. But I am really glad that along with my group mates William and Amy we managed to pull off our presentation really well. As a team we were able to cooperate with one another well which enabled us to work effectively as a team.Thank you, William and Amy for being such awesome team mates that I enjoy working together with! And not forgetting to thank my classmates for being active participants whom provided us with constant feedback during our presentation and activity time.
While preparing for this peer teaching presentation, I challenged myself not to write any form of speeches for me to memorize. Instead, I ensured I was familiar with my entire group's slide and particularly my content that I had to cover during the presentation. Although, I was nervous in the beginning of my presentation I tried to maintain eye contact with my classmates that somehow chase away my anxiety and fear. The more I maintain eye contact and using my hands to emphasize important points, the more comfortable I felt. This peer teaching, provided me with a good platform to practice on my presentation skills as well as being able to speak confidently and comfortably to an audience whom I had no prior experience presenting with.
The feedback provided by my classmates, gave me an overall view on how effective my group was able to deliver our intended content to our audience. This included feedback in areas such as presentation slide, oral presentation skills and our prepared handouts as well as our ability to conduct activity without any major hiccups. I believe we did a good job after collecting responses from our classmates as well as from our own personal sense of satisfaction.
In a conclusion, this peer teaching gave me the opportunity to understand how important knowing your content well can allow you to be more confident during presentation. It showed me that maintaining constant eye contact is an important aspect for effective communication. Finally, I also gain insights to learning how to deliver good/bad news messages using the 7Cs of communication.
Hope everyone enjoyed our peer teaching and gain useful insights to writing a good/bad news message. If you wish to read about our group's reflections, please click here. If you have any questions, feel free to approach any one of us!
Regards
Farhanah
Tuesday, 19 February 2013
Blk 49 #12-215
Email:rinaftrish@yahoo.com.sg
19th February 2013
1 Jalan Tan Tock Seng
Department of Rheumatology,
Allergy and Immuonlogy
Dear Sir/Madam
Application for the position of Research Assistant
at Department of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology
I am writing to convey my
interest in applying for the position as a Research Assistant at the Department
of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology. I came across this job advertisement
through the job search portal, STJOBS. I am currently pursuing my third year,
final semester degree programme in Life Sciences at the National University of
Singapore and will be expecting to graduate in May 2013.
Being a young and energetic
graduate, I am highly interested in embarking my career in the field of clinical
research especially in one of Singapore ’s
largest and prestigious multidisciplinary hospital providing quality medical
and developmental care more than 160 years.
Studying Biomedical Science, for
nearly 6 years in my polytechnic and university, I have developed and acquired
relevant skills that is essential in laboratory based research studies. For
instance, I was an intern at the System’s Biology Lab based in the Genome Institute
of Singapore where I was assigned to conduct experiments to study the effects
on cells after heat shock. In addition, I had first hand experience in carrying
out a final year research project to the study the effects of Piper nigrum
extracts on breast cancer cells under. Having to prepare many reports and
presentations, I have effectively learnt to use Microsoft Excel for data
management and representation along with Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. These
laboratory experiences for a year allowed me to develop my confidence and
skills in carrying out research work.
Besides these skills and
knowledge, I believe being an effective team player is vital in a workplace.
Being an active participant in my institutions activities such as taking part
in the Youth Expedition Programme, involving in Polytechnic Open House and
charity bazaars, I have developed my skills as an effective communicator and a
team player. I manage to develop strong and effective relationships further
through my tutoring interest where I had to work with my co-teachers,
administrative staff and boss to ensure fun and effective learning among our
students.
With my relevant work and
interpersonal skills, I will strive to be a valuable member in this research
group should I be given the opportunity. Thank you for your time spent on
reviewing my application. My resume and testimonials are enclosed for your kind
consideration. I will be looking forward for an interview with great
anticipation to provide an opportunity to discuss my suitability for this
position. I can be contacted at +6590765389 or via my email,
rinaftrish@yahoo.com.sg.
Yours Sincerely
Nur Farhanah
Monday, 11 February 2013
Resolving Interpersonal Conflicts
Firstly I would like to wish all my friends celebrating Chinese New Year a happy
and prosperous new year. And to all others a happy long holiday. Sorry for uploading my post past the deadline. I just got back from holiday where I had no excess to Internet.
Conflicts that arise between two people could be taken on a positive or a negative note. At times these conflicts can strengthen the bond between two people or it could end up breaking the bond that they share.
This interpersonal conflict that I am going to share was a real life scenario that I had encountered. So it all begins with these two people X and Y. X and had a friend A and Y had a friend B. However, A and B had their own disagreements and did not see eye to eye. Sadly despite X and Y knowing that A and B had their own misunderstanding they never shared with each other the extent of how bad their relationship was. During a event organised by X and Y they invited all their friends to come over for a party. During the party, friends of A when to express their concerns over to X about the issue that B never acknowledged the presence of their group of them including A. While Y was busy with the party food preparation, X approached Y and demanded Y for a reason for B's behaviour towards his friends. Y got mad and raised her voice. Y replied to X that despite knowing the situation why did you ask me, you should have asked your friends to confront B herself instead. This situation was worsen when Y and X got into a greater heated argument. In the end the party was called off and everyone was ashamed of their act.
The feelings involved in this situation was a very intense one indeed. However, what made this whole conflict enter a whole new level was the failure for all the parties involve to realise that the situation was not appropriate to bring address an issue that needed space and time. They felt to realised a party scenario is not an ideal environment for one to discuss sensitive issue. Beside this, the people involved in this conflict lack emotional intelligence. They displayed no restrain in managing their emotions and did not try to calm their thoughts.
This scenario showed how important self awareness and self honesty is. We need to recognize our emotions and how it can be misunderstood as a sign of anger in a crowd. We must be honest with our own weaknesses and accept it instead of trying to denying it all the time.
With that my dear friends, I would like to leave you guys a question. If suppose you were in person's X/Y shoes how differently would you have reacted to the situation as described above? The choice of X or Y is yours to make.
Signing Off,
Farhanah
Friday, 25 January 2013
Hi Everyone,
Hope that your week two of semester has not been filled with assignments yet but rather slack as mine!
Why is Effective Communication Important to Me...
Hope that your week two of semester has not been filled with assignments yet but rather slack as mine!
Currently, I am in Year 2 Life Sciences. I have still got a year or two before heading to the workforce.
I was intending to take this module in my third year, however due to timetable clashes and a disappointing bidding session I decided to take this module as earlier than expected.
Why is Effective Communication Important to Me...
I believe effective communication is crucial regardless of whichever field or occupation one may belong to. That being said, a effective communicator should be one who is well aware of his/her audiences so as to deliver what was intended in the clear manner. I feel my future occupation as a researcher would require me to be able to share my ideas and solutions to my fellow colleagues. I also am prepared that this choice of occupation would mean endless meetings and presentations.
Besides these reasons, I also would want to be an effective communicator to the students who I am currently tutoring. Other than science, I also love tutoring. It has never been easy for me to get certain theories or ideas across to my students. They all would be just staring at me and saying 'huh' in chorus.
Hence, I hope I can improve my skills in getting my intended message across to my students over the period of this module.
Besides these reasons, effective communication is important to me as I always believe that I lack the confidence during presentations. I do not encounter such problem when having a normal conversation. I believe the problem lies when I have to memorise a script and say it exactly as it was written. The added pressure of not forgetting the words and the tense environment diminishes the little confidence I had earlier to zero.
So sometimes I feel memorising script is not such a good idea if you one to be an effective communicator. Therefore, effective communication is important to me as I want to be a better presenter. One who is able to speak with confidence and share one's work with pride.
To sum it up, effective communication is important to me as I believe it would make me a better speaker, one with confidence and clarity in both thoughts and speech. Furthermore, I want effective communication to be a skill of mine which I can declare with confidence and be acknowledged for.
I hope I have explained why I feel effective communication is important to me! Hope you enjoy reading my post!
Signing Off,
Farhanah
Besides these reasons, I also would want to be an effective communicator to the students who I am currently tutoring. Other than science, I also love tutoring. It has never been easy for me to get certain theories or ideas across to my students. They all would be just staring at me and saying 'huh' in chorus.
Hence, I hope I can improve my skills in getting my intended message across to my students over the period of this module.
Besides these reasons, effective communication is important to me as I always believe that I lack the confidence during presentations. I do not encounter such problem when having a normal conversation. I believe the problem lies when I have to memorise a script and say it exactly as it was written. The added pressure of not forgetting the words and the tense environment diminishes the little confidence I had earlier to zero.
So sometimes I feel memorising script is not such a good idea if you one to be an effective communicator. Therefore, effective communication is important to me as I want to be a better presenter. One who is able to speak with confidence and share one's work with pride.
To sum it up, effective communication is important to me as I believe it would make me a better speaker, one with confidence and clarity in both thoughts and speech. Furthermore, I want effective communication to be a skill of mine which I can declare with confidence and be acknowledged for.
I hope I have explained why I feel effective communication is important to me! Hope you enjoy reading my post!
Signing Off,
Farhanah
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)