Final Reflections on ES2007S

The end of the semester is here, and I must say that this module had really taught me a lot. Although I am a science student, throughout the past years as an undergraduate I had enjoyed taking non-science modules. I particularly enjoyed taking this module, although I have to admit the workload is rather time-consuming. Then again, the assignments are all with purpose.

When I first saw this module promoted through the mass email, I thought that this was a rather curious module. It is essentially a module teaching a subject which does not exactly have a defined structure in the education system, yet it wasn’t exactly about teaching the English language.

A pleasant surprise was what I got when I attended the class. Confined to a small room, the seminar-style teaching was really welcomed. It really promoted interaction among those in the class, instead of just the one-way information flow in most lectures.

The introduction of the 7Cs was really good and I can see that it was frequently referred to throughout the module. It provided a great guide for crafting official emails, since I had the tendency to be long winded. I was rather clueless when it comes to writing resumes and CVs, as I would usually just create a general resume and CV and insert all of the skills I had regardless of relevance. How wrong I was when this module showed me that Conciseness is important.

I find the blogging part was really unique as a form of reflection after every lesson. It further reinforces what had been learnt. Furthermore, the proposal assignment was an eye-opening experience as this was my first time handling such a thing.

The most interesting part that I find about this module was the lessons about non-verbal language and the showing of the videos on presentation tips. These really affected the way I approached presentations, and in a good way I must say.

At the end of the day, the module wouldn’t have been such an enjoyable and enriching experience without the enthusiasm of the classmates (imagine how dreary the class would be when no one wants to make constructive comments as often happened in other seminar-style teachings such as tutorials), and the patience that Mrs. Richardson displayed while guiding us throughout the semester. This module have really made me grow more as a person.

Oral Presentation Reflections

Oral presentations are scary. I used to dread being picked to do presentations in classes, and it was without good reasons. Slide designing was tedious. Wall after wall of texts with the need to animate the entry of every single bullet points made me fell asleep while doing my own slides. It couldn’t be helped at those times since I was taught in the school of thought that more is better, even for oral presentations. Basically, the slides themselves were the presentations itself.

But the scariest was the actual presentation. Even with the best laid scripts and clocking in hours of practice, the anxiety never fades away presentations after presentations. The need to follow the script point for point actually made my mind to go blank on many occasions. Cue cards weren’t much of a help either. There is nothing worst than to just look blankly into your audiences’ eyes.

Oral presentations are still scary. However, for this recently done presentation, it was actually a mixture of excitement, scariness and a little dose of anxiety.

I was instantly captivated by the style of slide designing conveyed by Garr Reynolds. He advocated simplicity on his slides, specifically the extensive use of graphics with minimal supporting words.

Me and Anh decided to adopt this style of slide design. We searched the internet for a slide theme which fits our proposal. We used pictures from the internet to replace a lot of words. In fact, we don’t rely much on the use of cue cards to recall the points we wanted to make.

Another interesting thing I adopted from Garr Reynolds was to actually plan the slides on paper before transferring the slides to its electronic version. It really got my ideas to flow the instant I face the blank piece of paper, instead of staring into blank electronic space which happened very frequently in the past. Furthermore, I found that doing this way actually helped me to know the important points and flow of my presentation. There was no need for a script or cue cards to jog my memory. Of course, there was still the need to practice diligently in front of the mirror to properly grasp the flow.

Robert Grahams made a few points for the oral part of the presentation. The most notable one when I visited his website was that the audiences do not know what the presenter is going to present next, or how the flow of the presentation would be like. This really decreased the anxiety felt. I do not have to worry following a script in case I jumbled up the order of the explanations. As a matter of fact, for this presentation, I actually discarded the thought of writing up and memorizing the script before. I noticed during the presentation itself, this actually resulted in my mind not freezing up.

That being said, I do notice several weaknesses while speaking in my presentation. These include:

• Stuttering – I still stutter during presentations. Perhaps it was the anxiety that I felt when facing an audience.
• Pace – I used to speak too fast. So I tried to reduce the speed after consulting with Mrs. Richardson. However, I had the feeling that I was speaking too slowly, and coupled with my anxiety and my natural tendency to speed up; it resulted in a rather unnatural tone of speech to me.
• Slide theme – I could had looked for a theme with better color scheme, as the colour blue would put people too much into a relaxed mode.

To wrap this blog post up, I would like to note point stressed by both Garr Reynolds and Robert Graham which entirely changed my view on presentations itself. This is not in their exact words but:

In a presentation, it is not the slides but the presenter, which is the presentation itself.

Intercultural Conflict

I was once at a rather large gathering organized by a group from a single nationality. It was one of those casual events where the members mingled around and played catch up with each other.

So there I was, together with a bunch of close friends, ploughing through the field of old acquaintances and striking up conversations here and there.

A while later, the attention of the entire group were gathered and we were introduced to three new people. Exchange of greetings between our group and with each of the three new friends ensued. Through observing them, I assumed that they were of a different nationality.

A moment neither too soon nor too late passed, and I caught a glimpse of the new friends again, hanging at the edges of a larger group of people talking animatedly. I decided it was the right time to get acquainted with them.

Ploughing through the field of people again, and with my close friends tagging along, we introduced ourselves personally. I find them to be warm, friendly and polite. Yet, it wasn’t enough to stave off what was coming next.

We started off with the stock questions frequently used when getting acquainted with strangers. I noticed everyone began feeling uncomfortable during the moment of silence, which increases as we ran out of topics. There was hardly anything which we had a common interest in. When either of us talked about our home country, each of us could only nod out of friendly respect, as neither of us had been to the other’s country.

Then we shifted to a last common, everyday topic. By then, I realized there were both cultural and language barrier presented within our conversation. Most of the jokes made by us require a degree of proficiency in some of our dialects, as its hilarity lies in its interpretation ambiguity. Besides, we ourselves had difficulty to understand certain words which our new friends said due to their accent. I am sure that they too were experiencing the same problem as there had been a few times they requested us to repeat our sentences. Furthermore, as we knew at least three different languages and tend to mix the words from these languages around in the sentence, our three new friends were sometimes left in a state of utter confusion.

It wasn’t long before I noticed that our three friends began drifting away from the conversation, as we subconsciously reverted back to our old casual speech style.

Personal BioData

Ever since I laid eyes on the National Geographic channel at a very young age, it sparked an interest in me and I became even more curious of the natural world around me. Some years later down the road of life, education finally introduced me to the formal name of my interest. I had at last known that my interest lies within the field of science.

Being a student that had been enamored by science, it is only natural that I continued to study this all the way to university. After completing high school, I took up the chance offered by the National University of Singapore (NUS) to further my studies and the next thing I knew, I am here on a visa. I guess am intoxicated by the thought of the abundance of opportunities in doing laboratory work and attached to projects being supervised by dedicated professors.

While I am extremely interested in anything and everything that had to do with biological sciences, I found that I am more inclined towards the field of research involving microorganisms and the human immunity system. I guess it is the dream of every scientist in this field to find the cure for all diseases, and I am no different.

An undergraduate in Life Sciences, I am currently in Year 3 and am pursuing a specialization in the Biomedical field. My name is Ng Wai Chii and this, is me and science.

Application Letter

Room 422, Block B, Ng Wai Chii Handphone no.: 65-98174180
Ridge View Residences,
25 Lower Kent Ridge,
Singapore 119081.
nwchii@hotmail.com



Agency for Science, Technology & Research (A*STAR)
1 Fusionopolis Way,
#20-10 Connexis,
Singapore 138632
Att: HR Department (Corporate Internship Programme)





To whom it may concern,

If your company is seeking for an inquisitive, flexible and all-rounder intern, I would appreciate it if you would consider me. The experiences that I had gathered so far are highlighted in the accompanying resume.

During the duration of my course, I had been diversifying the courses that I took. My inquisitive nature pushed me to take courses which are not in my major’s domain, including marketing and computing. These courses gave me more chances to hone my presentation skills.

I had also joined as a junior marketing committee for archery club. During my stint, I had secured goodie bags for the club’s biggest event, the NUS Indoor Archery Competition.

I believed that my personality and experiences I possess would be of an added strength to the company. I can be contacted at the number and email listed above and am looking forward to hear from you soon.


Yours sincerely,



NG WAI CHII

Resolving Interpersonal Conflict

If you wouldn’t mind, for this little post of mine, please lend me some of your mind. Before this story to you I hail, let me warn you of this old man’s tale. Halt your turning tail, at least listen till… the end of this rather old man’s tale.

And so it began, not too recent ago. A group of man, themselves not very old. The four of them at the last count, they stick together like man and his hound.

One was Ride, who was high and thus sees every sight. The other was Side, who was there and thus always in sight. Another was Wide, who can understand whichever side. And then there was Hide, who sees but keeps to his own right.

Ride was always high, and thus needed mounts for his rounds. Side was always there, but he could only take it, for so very long. Wide felt it was wrong, yet he unknowingly be one and so did not make a complain song. And Hide, wasn’t strong, to accept what he had seen as wrong.

Then, Ride felt his calling, of which he would later be clinging. His new adventure was beginning, but before realizing, he already had himself gone tumbling.

Side, Wide and Hide came a knocking, yet there was no responding.

“What now could be happening?” Wide was enquiring.

“Perhaps he had found a new haunting,” Side frowning while replying, “To go for a new mounting?”

“So now we’re nothing,” Hide adding, “And thus it has begun the tossing?”

And so went on did the talking, to heights inconceivable it was nauseating. All the while there was no defending, for the defendant seemed to be ignoring. So worse it got the accusing, that they came in agreeing, he was at fault for the pain they are now sharing. It doesn’t take too much thinking, that they later found them three only remaining.

Began it has the subtle ignoring, so much it is a tight rope would seem less straining. Whatever happened to the good long lasting, of which all four had not so long ago been wishing?

As cliché it is to be saying this, every beginning has an ending, yet none had been thinking, so soon it would be coming.

So that was the Conflict, which blew everything off tangents. Closet skeletons were flicked, and now their friendship is mere fragments.

Would it then matter, had they found a way much better?


P.S. = This blog post was deliberately written in such style. As you can read, the post touches on an interpersonal conflict between friends, yet it was beating around the bush. The post was explaining the situation, yet it was dancing around and never explaining it clearly. It captures the feelings of the remaining three friends, to understand, to be there, and to accept and not confront directly the habits of a friend. In this situation, no one knows how to resolve the matter, other than the simple, but direct approach, which most would wish to avoid doing so.

P.S.S. = To summarize it in normal words, Ride, Side, Wide and Hide were friends. It had been noted amongst themselves that Ride was an opportunist, yet they never clearly resolved this trait of his. When Ride went on to a new environment and had to deal with it, the other three felt neglected. They felt ignored, because they do not have anything to offer him in the new environment. Lack of communication and the creativeness of the human mind lead to the breakdown of the friendship.

P.S.S.S. = This is the first time I am trying to rhyme something, and to make it worse it had to be so long. Anyway, my rhyme wasn’t good at all, as I sort of gave up on it halfway and began using pseudo-rhyming instead.

Effective Communication Skills: Why is it important?

Let’s start this first post with a question: What does effective communication mean? In my opinion, effective communication basically means communication which can convey the speaker’s intentions over to the listener without misinterpretation.

Now that I had established my interpretation to avoid a misinterpretation of an effective communication, let this post delve deeper into my mind about the importance of being skillful at communicating. A point to note, this is an example of being both not Concise and a bit unClear.

Effective communication is important for me due to this simple, albeit the most important fact, that it can Clearly convey the true message that the speaker had in mind. If the speaker were to give an ambiguous or unclear sentence due to poor skills, this would open the sentence to a wide variety of (mis)interpretation. However, in the hands (or tongues for technicalities sake) of skillful communicators, some sentences were meant to be a pun or double entendre. However, that is for another time and another post.

Besides, it is important to grasp your listeners’ attention until your story has been fully delivered. Therefore, when there is a need to speak, instead of a want, the speaker must make the story Concise. Survey shown had established that most people only listened to 25%-50% of the conversation. Therefore, it is important not to push your luck with dinosaur-stories (an example of a pun to grandfather’s story). It is improbable for a listener to exactly interpret your message if the listener was to listen to a small part of the story.

Furthermore, to be able to communicate effectively, one would be able to influence just about anyone else with their precise usage of charismatic words. How did the great leaders of modern times influenced their people to do great deeds? How did leaders calm the spirits of their embattled people in times of crisis? We’ve seen it all being portrayed in the movies. We’ve experienced it first hand when our leaders approached us indirectly during the 1997 crisis. It is through their speeches. It is through the use of words. And to deliver such words with such impact, one would need to bring it out across effectively. Of course, these leaders also followed through with action and not just plain talk. However, to put any plan into motion, one would need to mobilize whatever resources which are needed.

Therefore, while one indeed needs to walk the talk, one also needs to talk the talk so big that it may seem improbable, but possible. A talk so tall, that their walk has the room to take titanic strides, and take them to places of great heights. Oh yes, this is a case of being not Concise, but I’m just being creative with these clichéd phrases.