Bankrupt for this module!

I have to confess first that this ES2007S costed me 1800 CORS points. I guess the demand was very high and the supply was too low(16 people per class). So I am bankrupt now...

Nonetheless, I would say that it is all worthwhile. I did learn a lot from this heavy elective module.
I have learnt to:
1)be a teacher (for once only :P)
We made sure that we really taught something beneficial to the students. Putting myself in the shoes of a teacher, I could understand how they feel when students are cooperative and hard working. Now I appreciate my professors and tutors more because I could feel how they feel while teaching.

2)be a team player
Inevitably, there were some frictions while we try to work as a team. There were some clashes of ideas. I have learnt to compromise and try to reach a consensus. Everyone in team took initiative to contribute to the success of our project. At times when I felt that it was not the right way, I tried very hard to convince my team mates. For example, when the majority of the team believed that our proposed programme should be made compulsory to all freshmen, I tried my best to persuade them  to drop that idea and make it an optional one which was more realistic and feasible. And thanks to Alicia Alvin and Vinod for finally agreeing with me!

3)be an active blogger 
I thought blogging is a good platform to practice written communications. It is much better than MSN or other time-consuming venues in which people seldom write a proper sentence. The sharing of application letters was extremely helpful because seldom do we find such a rich pool of application letter samples. The books on  cover letter and resume are often outdated. I will definitely recommend my friends to visit our blogs and take a look at all the excellent application letters.

4)be a good speaker
It is all about people and communications. Everything else is secondary. No one could read my mind if I could not get my message across.  Speak, speak and speak well!

Looking through the list, I believe this learning experience definitely worth more that 1800 CORS points!

Alibaba ROCKS!!

We finally finished the oral presentation today! I could not describe how relieved I was when I stepped out of the classroom.:D Now let me think through this whole experience with this presentation.

1.Preparations
Based on the grade we got for proposal, we were very confident that we had great contents. We decided to follow the flow of oral discussion, so that everyone is more familiar with their own topics to cover. There were some disagreements on the use of supplementary audiovisuals. Initially, we wanted to use PowerPoint slides and some large white papers for illustrations. Then Vinod introduced to Prezi.com, which is much cooler that conventional slides. Despite the time constraints, we finally decided to give Prezi a try. I was extremely excited about this because Prezi was very new to me and it looks much more interesting that the over-used PowerPoint slides. :P

We were inspired the style of presentation by Ken Robinson, a charismatic speaker and educator. Given the nature of our project, we could not be too humorous in front of all the VIPs in our audience. But the take-away point is that the real talking is always the focus, audio-visuals are simply supplementaries. In the past, I had the tendency to make fancy slides and animations, trying to impress people. However, that distracted people and did not help getting my messages across. Yes, always keep the slides simple and to the point!

For rehearsals, our group has invested in a great amount of time and energy to make sure we handle Prezi properly. I had a programming exam to clear last Saturday, so I could not spend too much time on the preparations before that. Fortunately, my team mates were very considerate and helpful. We have devoted the entire Sunday to this presentation, going through the cycles of rehearsal several times and giving each other constructive feedbacks. I was very lucky to have team mates who really works as a team and help each other out.

2.Delivery
We designed a new setting in the classroom and divided the class into four groups, each representing one stakeholder. I believe this initiative helps audience to know exactly who they were in this scenario.

We made a point that we were not going to take scripts to the stage, although we have already written out numerous drafts of scripts.:P For me, after going through the content many times, I could somehow internalise the points and talk about it in a nature way. I was quite happy that I improved upon my monotonous tone and speak with more passion and enthusiasm. Since people are sitting in a semi-circle, I made an effort to turn around and address everyone.

In terms of the weaknesses,  I have to admit here that I forgot to mention one point about NUS Career Centre. I was supposed to say more the career workshops, but on the spot, I forgot it altogether. I found out this mistake after my presentation and was quite disappointed with myself. But thinking back, people probably did not know I missed this point because there were no bullet points, just a picture of NUS Career Centre on the screen. They did not know what I was planning to say, so they also would not notice this missing point. Therefore, the moral of the story is that it is perfectly fine to miss one or two minor points during presentation, because the audience probably do not know about it!

Other than that, I wished that I could have smiled more, talked more confidently with humour, like what Ken Robinson did for his presentations.

3.Audiovisuals
Prezi is awesome!!We found two very relevant videos to illustrate our points and add new dimensions to our presentation. Prezi forced us to minimise the words on the screen; we could no longer throw in a long paragraph and expect the audience to digest it in several seconds. For my part, since I wanted my speech to be the focus of people's attention, I simply put a few pictures to show the organisations I will talk about. That is rather effective because I believe that more people were looking at me instead of the screen which has only one picture. :D

But if we had more time, we could make the whole map more organised on Prezi. In other words, the contents on Prezi could be further improved. With the limited time we had, I believe we had tried our best. So no regrets.:)

In conclusion, I believe I have improved tremendously from the peer teaching session to this oral presentation. I wish I could present like Ken Robinson and Steve Jobs, simple, sharp and sweet. There is still a long way to go in this journey of self-improvements.

Stereotypes

It is all about stereotypes. When people think of mainland Chinese, they would have this stereotypical image of a Chinese who talks loudly in public, spits everywhere and suffers from extreme poverty. I am a Chinese born and bred in mainland China and I know very well that not everyone is like that. In fact, many people are very courteous and well-behaved in public. One bitter experience with a Singaporean student in a local secondary school is constantly reminding me how detrimental stereotypes are in inter-cultural communications.

A few years ago, my mum bought me a very fancy limited edition Swatch watch in London. I loved it very much and wore it on the first day of school. During recess period, one classmate noticed my new watch and asked me to pass it to her so that she could take a closer look. I gladly agreed. How awesome it was for a teenager to show off her coolest watch! However, to my utter disbelief, she glanced at it, threw it back at me and then said light-heartedly in her perfect Singlish, “Is it real or not? Must be faked la… You Chinese all love to buy faked products…” What a heart attack! Why do people always hold those stereotypes against people of different backgrounds? I was speechless and silently watched her walk away. It was meaningless to talk more about it and prove her that my new watch is actually not faked.

Since then, I never spoke to her again because the scar was already there. I could forgive her now because I believe that everyone does some bad things during teenage years. The moral of this story is that we should never hold any negative stereotypes against people. This rule is crucial in inter-cultural communications. Very often, we match the stereotypes and people in a sub-conscious way. “Oh he is from China, so he must spit a lot.” “ He must be very poor because he is from a developing country.” “The litter must be thrown by him because he is from a third world country.”  These stereotypes should be avoided by all means. Only then could we communicate with sincerity and respect.

Application Letter for EDB Internship Programme(Edited)

Job Title: Intern at Economic Development Board(EDB) Singapore

About the internship: At EDB, the internship program has been and will continue to be an integral part of our engagement and development efforts to attract and retain candidates of high calibre. As an organisation, we believe that getting meaningful work experience at university is a great way of increasing your future employability. That is why the internship is designed to build valuable professional and corporate experience in highly-motivated students. The programme is demanding and can include cross-disciplinary projects within the organisation so as to encourage new approaches and perspectives in relation to business and economic challenges.

What and who they look for: We don't simply look at the strength of your academic qualifications. Your personality, ambition and passion count just as much. And, because you will participate in demanding projects in a constantly evolving environment, we look for the entrepreneurial fire in you and expressions of imagination and creativity.

Requirement for intern in Logistics Division: University students majoring in Industrial Engineering

Job scope of an intern: Scope out opportunities in Sustainable Supply Chain for Logistics Industry and come up with game plan.

                                                                                                                                  

Block X Prince George Park

Level X, Room X

Singapore 118XXX

+659387XXXX

xi@nus.edu.sg

September 1, 2010

Human Resources Department
250 North Bridge Road
#28-00 Raffles City Tower
Singapore 179101

Dear Sir/Madam,

                              Application for Summer Internship Programme

After attending a career sharing session with Mr. Gabriel Aw, an EDB Senior Officer and an alumni of National University of Singapore(NUS), I have gained a better understanding of the nature of work in EDB. It interests me immensely. I am writing this letter to apply for an intern position in Logistics Division in summer internship programme 2011.

By end of May 2011, I would have finished two years of formal engineering education in NUS. My major is in Industrial and Systems Engineering specialising in logistics and supply chain management. An internship experience in EDB’s Logistics Division allows me to have a holistic view of the entire industry. Furthermore, the project’s focus on sustainable supply chain is extremely relevant to my course work in university. I believe this is a golden opportunity for me to find out how my technical knowledge could be utilised in the real workplace.

My academic strengths are evident in my school results, which place me on track for First Class Honours Degree. On top of that, I have taken many cross-disciplinary courses in University Scholars Programme. I believe a wider range of knowledge in different fields and more experiences working with people of diverse backgrounds could help me handle the demanding projects in this internship programme.

My organisational skills and communication skills are further enhanced through a variety of projects I have accomplished. Last year, I have initiated and spearheaded an independent student project , “Campus Speech Contest 2010”. After forming a twenty-people organising committee we have successfully raised funds and run the very first Speech Contest in my university. In addition, after one-year of dedicated work as a Human Resources Director in Institution of Engineers, Singapore(IES)-NUS Student Branch, I was elected to be the President of our Executive Committee, leading a group of twenty students to serve the engineering community. Through these experiences, I have honed my leadership and communication skills, which will definitely come in handy in the workplace.

My strong academic strengths, relevant technical knowledge and effective communication skills make me a suitable candidate for this position. I have enclosed a copy of my resume with additional information about my qualifications. Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to receiving your reply.

Yours sincerely



Miss Xi Xi

Interpersonal Conflict

The story here is from my friend's real-life experience.

There are two girls working in a CCA group in NUS. Girl A is the leader of a project team whereas Girl B is the officer reporting to A. Both of them had to earn some CCA points in order to secure a campus accomodation in the following year. After some weeks, A noticed that B does not like to attend any CCA meetings. B often gave excuses after the meetings were ended. Usual excuses are "got other things on", "got lessons" or simply "not feeling well". Trying to be considerate, A accepted all B's excuses. A called, emailed and sent messages to inform B of what she ought to do, but B simply did not give any responses. The reason B gave was that "Oh, I don't check emails often and my handphone went out of battery". With no choices, A had to do all the work in the project.

After some time, A happened to be involved in a recruitment drive and came across B's resume. B states in her resume that she is the "chief organiser" of that project mentioned above. A was furious about this. Some weeks later, after A was elected the President of their CCA group, B emailed A and requested to be promoted and demanded more CCA points.

I believe most of us had similar experiences as Girl A. My question here is how should she respond in this situation?

Peer Teaching Feedbacks

Hi friends,

It was really a pleasure for us to run the very first peer teaching session today. We hope you enjoyed that 30 minutes. We are very new teachers, so we do need your feedback! Please comment here to let us hear from you. Thank you very much.

Why effective communication skills are important for me?

I have been pondering about the goals of my life for a long time. “What do I want from life?” I asked. My answer to this typical philosophical question is a happy family and a fulfilling career which provides financial support for a decent lifestyle. The most crucial soft skills, communication skills, in some sense, are the means to the ultimate ends.


In family life, I wish to carry a listening ear, converse eloquently and send the right non-verbal clues to show that I care about my family members dearly. Due to generational gap, there are some inevitable frictions between my parents and me. If communicated badly, an insignificant issue could quickly explode into a huge fight. Most of these incidents can be avoided if we are all patient and active listeners.

In working life, excellent communication skills could not be more emphasized. No one carries any glamorous education certificates around to impress. What really impresses is the way they communicate. People who can speak and write well also tend to progress faster in their careers. In fact, in a networking session, if we observe carefully, we could more or less know who the higher ranking people are, simply by judging at their communication skills.

Here, I would like to share some of my past observations. As interns or fresh graduates, we often face difficulties adjusting to the corporate world. In offices, we, in our twenties, need to work with people of different age groups. Some of them are as senior as my father or even grandfather. The education in school does train us to work with classmates, but we seldom have the opportunity to work with senior people. Hence, when we communicate with them, it is better to show more respect for their seniority and rich experiences.

Life is not going to be a bed of roses when we just launch our careers in the future. It demands sheer hard work and a high EQ. It is indeed the time to start to improve my EQ now.