My Oral Presentation

From my point of view my performance was not at its best. Being a fourth year student I expected myself to have got over what people might call "stage fright". However, I realised when I stood up to present I did feel panicky even after practicing a couple of times beforehand. I am quite disappointed with this aspect of my presentation as I wanted to master the art of having a calm appearance during presentations.

I made a mental note before the presentation to have eye contact with all the listener's but during the presentation my mind was more focused on presenting smoothly that I realised I didn't give much attention to maintaining eye contact with all the listeners or to my posture. Towards the end I realised I was using hand gestures to put across certain points to the listener's. I am not sure if these hand gestures are appropriate for the presentation but I would have rather held them behind my back. Apart from these blunders my main concern was on the Q and A session. My group mates and I had agreed upon a strategy to decide who would be answering which question so as to avoid any confusion. However, during the session I hadn't followed this strategy at all and I fear that I might have not given a chance for my group mates to answer. I definitely do regret on this part.

Overall, I am aware my performance was not as I had compared it to be during rehersals however, I am happy as we all, both my team mates and I, had fun throughout entire process (which included shopping! :D).

Drum rolls... the Finale

Week 1 Class: 19/01/09

I am half an hour late for ES2007S class. My very first class in my final semester and I can already imagine the disappointed, judging look on my professor. There goes "first impression" down the drain.

I did have a reasonable excuse for being late (thanks to my first graded final year project presentation and having to take a 15 minute bus ride from Central Library to Science Faculty) however, it would still sound lame especially when a student is late for the first class.

I paused outside the door mentally preparing myself for the looks and reactions from my teacher and classmates when I walk in late. However, what I hadn't prepared for was what happened when I opened the door and stepped in.

"Come inside Priya" said the Professor. (Oh well something like that.)
This completely took me by surprise. It was the first time out of the four years in my whole undergraduate life that a Professor knew my name and on the very FIRST class and I thought to myself that I had already began to enjoy this class.

Week 13 Class: 13/04/09
Since the beginning to the very end this course has always had a very supportive and friendly atmosphere where both my teacher and classmates have helped me to improve myself as a whole.

Moving onto the blog post for this week, I believe that my first blog had missed the essential point of why effective communication is important to me. However, the revised version of my post includes an answer to this question. After reviewing this post now I believe that my understanding of effective communication has been further improved extending from understanding other people to being understood by other people. Additionally, I haven't given much focus to written based communication, that is, communication through letters, emails and expressing ones self through writings. I would also say that I have realised the importance of effective communication.

Overall, this module has definitely improved my communication skills and the knowledge of this has boosted my self confidence. For instance, the blogging activity has given me an opportunity to offer ways of resolving conflicts either in a hypothetical or real life situation. The in-class lesson on reading and explaining the article to Roy has taught me quite a few tricks of how to keep the listener's attention as well as it also has taught me that it is also equally the listener's responsibility to stay attentive to the speaker. Furthermore, the non verbal cues that I have picked up through out this course will help me in my daily conversations and interactions with other people, during presentations and even during interviews. Apart from the speaking and listening activities, the 7C's has also been equally important. It has enhanced my written skills enabling a better expression of my views through my writing. Most importantly the multicultural background of my class mates has made it possible to perceive certain things from their point of view.

Unlike the other courses I feel that the bond I have created among my classmates would not be a friendship that just lasts till the end of this semester but a friendship that will continue even after my graduation from NUS. The interviews conducted by fellow mates, the support and the feedback I gained for the weekly assignments, the tiring project and even the good luck messages for the upcoming presentation has brought me closer to my class mates.

Overall this course not only has equipped me with better communication skills it also has helped in my personal development.

I would definitely like to thank each of my class mates and Brad in this post but I would rather do them a favor by keeping it simple and short... THANK YOU!

edited April 14, 2009

Biodata

Name: Thevapriya
Nickname: Priya, Theva, Junks so on...
Born and Bred in: Colombo
Languages: English, Tamil
Reason to be in Singapore: Pursue higher studies
Education: Bachelor of Engineering (Bioengineering Honors) in National University of Singapore
Expected date of Graduation: May 2009

Ofcourse this is not a poorly written resume but a short introduction of myself.

Throughout the four years in NUS I have undergone self discovery and personal growth along with the growth in technical skills. For instance, being the only girl and the youngest in my family I have always been dependent on my parents and siblings to some extent. However, it is after NUS that I have learn't to take responsibility of many aspects including making decisions.

I can safely say that I am hardworking and open to learning new concepts. For instance, I took the risk of undertaking a final year project in Semi Conductors even though I had nil knowledge in this field. At the end of the project I realised that I enjoyed working in a new environment. Furthermore, from the guidance of my supervisor I also found myself interested in learning new concepts related to Semi Conductors, in particular MEMS, and even self learn the basics of LabView Programming.

In improving my technical skills I undertook an internship in Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology. It is here that I gained hands-on experience in research in particular Stem cell research.In addition, I was able to extend my networks and interact with many highly qualified researchers. While, my career choice is in the field of designing and manufacturing medical instruments I do intend to keep my options open. Thus, I believe both my internship and my final year project would be helpful.

Moving on to personal growth I believe, that I have enhance my skills in leadership and communication. From the various positions, as the Project Head for freshmen orientation in the Srilankan committee to Marketing Head in the NUS Indian Dance, I have learnt to deal with difficult circumstances and lead a team of members of diverse backgrounds. For instance, I was the only non-Indian in the NUS Indian Executive committee. Even though it was intimidating at the very beginning I learn't how to overcome this and even form close friends with many of the members. This experience has enhanced my communication skills.

My interests extend from traveling to classical dance. To be more specific I discovered my interest in traveling only when I embarked on the student exchange program to Montreal. In the field of sports I was never a regular participant of a particular sport. Eventually, I did participate in the Cricket tournament within the Srilankan community and emerged as a Best Female Player.

Finally, my greatest achievements so far is funding for my own further studies and being a Co-author for a research paper published by my immediate supervisor.

Finally, I hope to keep challenging myself so that I will one day become a role model for the future generation.

Hurt

I would like to reflect on a personal experience to say why I think EFFECTIVE communication is essential.

Background:It is a general custom for me to "beg" my dad to be present when I receive awards during the annual prize giving. To an outsider it can seem that my father doesn't care much about his daughter. However, it is different between both of us.Regardless of whether I invite him or not, he would attend the ceremony. However, he likes the importance that I give him when I "beg" him to be present. Just to have abit of fun he would carry on making excuses and then act like he gives up and agrees to be there at the prize giving.

During the time of the incident my father had retired from his work. Thus he was no longer the main provider of the family's income.

Situation: It was the awarding ceremony for students to acknowledge their outstanding performance in extra curricular activities.(An event that was introduced in my final year in high school.)

Incident: : Briefly informing my mom that I was on ushering duty I had left for the awarding ceremony. (As I was one of the Prefects it was part of my responsibility to aid the teachers in making sure the event went smoothly.) When the event came to an end a bunch of friends of mine and I went for ice-cream. Finally, I went back home after 2 hours.

Skipping all the way up the stairs I bumped into my brother who had this you-are-so-going-to-be-in-trouble smile. Thanks to nonverbal communication, I sensed this and bugged him as to what was wrong.All he said was wait till you get inside.

So I stepped inside the main "hall" and I found my dad watching the TV with his back towards me. Nothing seemed wrong to me so I said "Hi dad!". He didn't turn towards at me at all.I went on to talk and he completely ignored me. I realized something was amiss here. This is because I'm usually the one who gives him the "silent" treatment when I'm mad at him. Hence, to be at the receiving end was disturbing. I sat next to him and placed my hand on his shoulder when he just shruged my hand off from his shoulder.
This really hurt me that I couldn't help but start crying. This reaction of mine set my dad off as he harshly said I was creating a scene for no reason.

Till then I had not seen my dad's face as he was still facing the TV. By then my mother had come into the "hall" and it was then I saw the hurt in my dad's eyes. It was a shock to see him so emotional and I still had no clue why. I was helpless but with my mother's help I realized why he was hurt.

Pre-incident:
When my dad had come home he realized that I was missing at home. He had asked my mother where I was and she had simply answered that I was away at the awarding ceremony. My brother had sensed later on that my dad was upset about something and resolved to think that me getting back home as the reason.

Why do you think my father reacted to the way he did? Do you think this is due to in effective communication?

edited 16/03/2009

The next day...

I had described the incident between J and S. SO, what did J and S do?

Well, S had emailed her regarding J's task. As soon as J read the email, she called up S and tried to argue at the end a compromise was made. J got fed up trying to avoid the task. Ultimately, she agreed to arrange for catering service but asked the Coordinators to deal with money matters. In the end, the task was completed without any complications.

A couple of weeks later J and S bumped into each other but they both exchanged a few formal words and parted in their own path. J and S were never best of buddies and now it seemed they were never going to be. However, they did maintain a very formal hi-bye whenever they met each other.

Intercultural behaviour

One of which I can remember very well is an incident that happened while i was on exchange.

Background: I was introduced to a guy S by my room mate. He appeared to be a very friendly person but a man of few words.

Incident: One day I was rushing to my next class which was on the other side of the town. To get there I had to take a shuttle bus. (Similar to taking the shuttle bus to Bukit Timah campus). It was then that I bumped into S. Since I was in a rush it took me a couple of seconds to recognize him. I smiled widely at him, but at the same time I wondered how I am to greet him.
A hug (common among my Srilankan friends), a formal handshake, a casual high five or a handshake along with cheek kisses (which is very common among Quebecois)?
Meanwhile, he had put his hand forward as a gesture for the Quebecois handshake but, I stood there wondering. This moment of pause resulted in awkwardness and before I can return the gesture he withdrew his hand in embarrassment.Soon the awkwardness passed as he introduced his nearby friend, then we exchanged a few kind words and finally I politely excused myself to leave. To prevent another moment of awkwardness he hastily brought his fist forward now as a good bye gesture known as "Fist bump". Returning this gesture I left the place.

Consequence: A few days later I met my room mate at a dinner and S had turned up as well. However, as I was seated far away I never got the chance to talk to him. But I did notice that he seemed quite distant, less friendly I would say. I smiled at him but his return smile looked like he had forced it upon his face for courtesy. I questioned myself as to why he would suddenly be hostile towards me. I kept thinking it over and over and I finally resolved to discussing with my room mate.

I mentioned this to my room mate after dinner and she exclaimed that he had mentioned something about my last meeting with him but, was unaware of the details.

What do you think went wrong? How do you think I should tackle this situation?

My interpretation
I believe that it was the greeting incident and in particular that moment of pause, had given S some negative feelings. He could have felt less respected esp when his greeting gesture wasn't returned. In addition, the fact that this incident happened infront of one of his friends could have made matters worse. His friend could have made fun of him and this could have escalated the negative feelings towards me.

I also believe that this incident rose due to the difference in our cultural background. In my home country after the first meeting no two people continue with formal gestures and when they become good friends the gesture shifts to friendly hug (between male and female or female and female).However, in Montreal it is a usual custom to greet each other in the Quebecois way.

Tug of War

Characters: Individuals J and S

Background: Individual J was the coordinator of the Indian dancing committee. During a performance she was unofficially in charge of catering food for the performers. However, she wasn't happy with the task for many reasons but, with a smile on her face she completed the task. During the review of the performance she informed the other members the challenges she faced and the reasons for not wanting to take charge of catering in future. The management found her explanation reasonable and agreed to it.
Another individual S, was the treasurer at that time. An year later a new president was elected. S took over while J became the marketing director.

Incident: Few days before the performance J bumped into S. S ended up telling (more like instructing) J that she needed to cater food for the performers. J on the other hand had enough work from her position as marketing director plus she had school assignments due the next day. J was also taken back that S did not inform her during the meeting for the concert, did not send a mail or even personally meet her but informs her only when they accidentally bump into each other. J was now irritated with all this and she tried to back off from this task without giving the actual reason.
"I'm sorry S but I am already lagging behind in my school work. I am going to do an assignment now with her".

It was too late S had a disapproving tone in her voice. " Everyone has work, J! We just have 3 more days for the concert."
J argued that it was not part of her job as the marketing director and, continued to say that there were not 1 but 2 coordinators now to take over and share the task.
S, very irritated, said in a sharp tone that she was the president and that everyone (Committee members) had to listen to her.
J got mad at this and the conversation soon became a heated argument.
Realizing that there was no point in talking sense to S, J gave her one final NO and briskly walked away.

Feelings of J:
J now felt that she was mistreated because her wishes were disregarded. As she pondered over the matter she found more reasons to get angry with S.
She had informed the management earlier about her dislike and they, S included, had agreed.
She also felt that this was no way to let her know about her sudden additional duty.
Being the president doesn't allow S to force things upon the committee members.
Finally, when there were alternatives she wondered why she was approached by S. She thought to herself that she never got a reason from S why the coordinators couldn't do it.

Feelings of S:
She was angry that J had disregarded her request. She thought that J was unnecessarily stubborn over a petty issue.
She appeared determined to make sure that J did her work.
The situation now had turned into a competition as to who gets to have it their way.

But do you think there is a side that J has missed to see in S? How do you think they can resolve this?

edited 07 Feb 2009

Dear English...We Miss You...

So here is the blog post that I promised. Thanks to "Random mouth theorist" I found this post very entertaining and for his kindness in sharing this post.

Dear English...We Miss You...


"Yo, wt u up2 ds dys m doin fyne gtngalng k. stdyn n wrkn @ é sm tym i mzz al d odr ppl hu v wr n cls with hw r dey doin.gd i hpe. lol."

So...that is an example of the text messages I get from friends. Well, thats an interesting use of the language, to say the least. I've heard of short-hand but this really takes the cake. I mean, seriously, what on earth is wrong with people nowadays. I have nothing against writing in short-hand or in shortened form, i do so myself. But stuff like this really gets under my skin. So many people all over the place suffer from what I like to call, SVDS (Severe Vowel Deficiency Syndrome). I mean seriously, whats so wrong with vowels? Trust me, once you get to know them, they're actually nice people, vowels. All they really want is to be accepted.

Another thing is IMspeak, where one tends to use those magnificent abbreviations coined by the great elder ones of MSN Messenger...Oh wait, I apologize, Its WindowsLive™Messenger now. Ok, so i guess I cant really come down on abbreviations like LoL (laugh out loud), RoFL (Rolling on the Floor Laughing), LMAO (Laughing my ass off) and LMFAO (basically LMAO plus one extra word that starts with an 'F', the difference being that LMFAO is probably more, well, intense? Maybe? But man, you need a dictionary to understand the myriad of IMspeak terms out there.

Oh yeah, what about those words that are spelled wrong for no apparent reason. What comes to mind is a very good friend of mine, salt of the earth and all but for some reason he spells cool as 'kewl'. (If you're reading this I apologize, but at least I didn't mention your name.) This problem I've noticed all over the place. Why, whats wrong with cool? It consists of four letters, and so is kewl. So whats the reason for using 'kewl'. I've noticed so many people go around misspelling words, deliberately. And I can't for the life of me fathom why.

Oh well, this is just what I think. I do shorten-words occasionally but not to the level where whoever it is that I'm talking to needs some sort of complex high-level decoder to try and figure out what the hell it is I'm trying to say. So many times, all such messages to me, have ended up with me replying with 'Huh?' and then the person having to then re-explain the message to me, simply cause I can't figure out some word or phrase or sentence in the message. Oh well, to try and find something positive, at least it gives my mind a workout. Move over sudoku, get lost chess, here comes freestyle SMSUnderstand™®.

Personally I think that everybody should just get back to using good, normal COMPLETE English. With out screwing around with grammar, spelling and punctuation. I.e. when it comes to using the English language, use it properly and in the right context and stop being so fewlish...


(p.s. for those scratching their heads over the picture at the start of the post. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sic )

“Communication is not only the essence of being human, but also a vital property of life.” -John A. Piece

The baby was agitated for sometime now and began to cry. But, as her mother held her precious child to her chest, the single touch of her hand and the sound of her heart beat silenced the baby's cry.

Isn’t this a simple case of effective communication at its best? The baby is nothing but a new born child. Yet, somehow the need to communicate was incorporated into its mind. I believe communication is an innate ability in everyone which requires some effort to be enhanced. How else would a new born baby know to cry at discomfort and laugh at happiness?

Effective communication, as I would say, is important not only to convey feelings, emotions and attitudes, but also to understand and to be understood by others.Communication has earned more recognition with the shift of the world towards technology and globalization. As more and more people venture out from their comforts of home they meet people belonging to different background, cultures and values.

For instance, when we consider the ethnic conflict in Srilanka, what baffles most people is how similar both the majority and the minorities are. We are of the same skin color, similar facial features, we have similar languages with common phrases and words and most of all, similar cultural values. With so much resemblance it is quite puzzling to an outsider as to what could have contributed to the ethnic conflict. The answers I would say is the lack of effective communication. Thus, it is essential to cultivate the necessary skills for good communication.

Narrowing the point, effective communication is very important to me. Why?

First of all, I am graduating this semester (talk about wrong timing with recession going on!). Thus, I need to be extra good in my communication skills. Hence, from preparing top resumes to handling interviews and then to managing the work environment, I should be at my best. As Roy mentioned this course is equipped to teach us the skills.

Next, this would also be my first time in a proper work environment. My previous experience was at an internship where I was still treated as a student. My mentors overlooked my mistakes and encouraged me when ever I was disheartened. However, in a real work environment I doubt I will get this much of support and help! Thus, like Keldren mentioned I want to achieve success!

Finally, I am an international student here in Singapore. My family is quite scattered (with my brothers abroad and my parents in Srilanka). Thus, my friends in NUS are my family. They share both good times and bad times. They would laugh with me, poke fun at me and cry with me when needed. But, truth be told we are all humans and prone to make mistakes, sometimes due to misunderstandings. So, I hope this course will also help me to resolve those conflicts and form new bonds.

edited 01/02/2009