Saturday, November 14, 2009

Final Reflection

Through ES2007S, I have gained deeper insights on good communication skills which include the verbal, non-verbal and written aspects of communication. Looking back at my first post, I see effective communication as a life-long ‘education’. I believe that we never stop learning and it takes experience and practice to improve our communication skills.

I feel that one of the most valuable takeaways from this course is learning to craft a successful resume and job application letter. The advice given by Brad and my classmates were really useful in improving my resume and job application letter. One of the activities that I enjoyed was the mock job interview, be it being the interviewer or the interviewee. It was really fun and I have learned so much on surviving a job interview from my classmates. Like my classmates, I feel that this was a good exposure and it definitely has better prepared me for a real job interview in the future.

As Brad has mentioned previously, the best way to improve one’s writing skills is to practice writing. And I totally agree with him! Initially, I found blogging a hassle due to my poor writing skills. However, I could see myself improving on my writing skills gradually through the blog assignments. Through blog writing, I also had a chance to discover that I tend to write minimal without much elaboration. Hence, I am grateful for the comments received from my classmates as they have helped me to identify my weaknesses and to further improve on my writing skills. In addition, I would like to thank my blogging buddy, Napalie, for her time and efforts to proofread my posts.

The project was an excellent opportunity for me to apply what I have learned during the course. I tried to adopt the 7Cs in writing the proposal and practice effective communication with my teammates. Besides this, I had a chance to write business correspondence, create a survey and carry out an interview together with my teammates. I believe all these experiences would be valuable to me when I step out into the working world in the near future.

I must say that the presentation was a nerve-wracking but rewarding experience for me. I have learned so much from listening to my classmates’ presentations. Big thanks to all who commented on my previous blog post! I really appreciate the encouragement and feedback on ways to improve my presentation skills.

Lastly, I would like to thank Brad for the wonderful learning experience and my classmates for making ES2007S a more enjoyable one.

7 comments:

  1. Hello PeiPei!

    The mock interview was indeed a good experience to test the water. From the experience, I felt that I need to improve on anticipating and preparing myself for the questions too. Thinking about it, I think the mock interview was probably the first "job interview" I ever had.

    I can see that the 7Cs had improved your language and organization. Especially the strong emphasis on editing, you sought to edit your entry before uploading the post. I think it has imposed a positive habit on us. :D

    Initally, I thought that blogging was a hassle too. With all the 7Cs to comply and heavy editing, it took up alot of the time to produce a good quality post. However, as you mentioned, it became a good platform to demonstrate our improved language. I think I'll continue to blog even after the module ended. It was fun interacting and receiving comments from you all.

    I am sure after the final OP, you have grown from the experience. Do not be disappointed, as a chinese proverb always says "Learn From Failure and Confirm with Success - 失败乃成功之母"

    Thank you for the insightful experience account.

    ;D

    - huahua -

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  2. Hey Peiling!

    From all the 'hassle' you've been through,there was so much you learnt from it which you can apply in many areas of your life. So it was all worthwhile wasnt it?=)

    As science students, we dont really regard writing skills as a top priority. Therefore, without practise,we might tend to lose touch with those grammar 'rules' learnt in primary/seconday school. But,with all these blog posts, it helps us practise them again.

    Remember how much difficulty we had in writing our blog post on personal statement? I am so glad this module has taught us how to draft it. Otherwise we would be so lost and unprofessional.

    I totally agree how enjoyable this module has been.

    Ruth

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  3. Hi Peiling,

    I share the sentiments as you regarding writing blogs. I used to spend 2 days on one blogpost! Nevertheless, it was a good experience and I'm sure many of us have benefited from it. As Huahua mentioned, it is a great platform for us to display our work. Also, it gives us an opportunity to learn form other classmates' writing styles as well as gain insightful comments/ critics from them. :)

    The mock interview was indeed enjoyable! We not only get to play the role as an interviewer but also get to experience a tinge of the tense atmosphere and the tough questions we were likely to encounter in the real world(though everyone was pretty nice). This activity did gave us a good scare but we survived!

    A little pat on the shoulders for persevering all the way! All the best with exams!

    Love,
    Shiny

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  4. Dear Peiling,

    You are most welcome! :) Actually I felt bad as I was not able to edit earlier and you had to wait for me. Thank you so much for being so helpful in editing mine too. You've helped me a lot. :)

    Peiling I agree with you that practising indeed will improve our writing! I have noticed that you have improved as you have written more too. :) Maybe we can still continue to blog even when we have completed this module in proper english! I believe the more we use Singlish in our blog, the more we will deteriorate in our English. I am sure we will be able to write and speak fluently in English with much effort! :)

    I always keep this in mind: "Every failure is a step to success". And every difficulty is an opportunity for us to learn and be better. As you have a desire to learn, I am sure you will be able to overcome all challanges ahead of you! :)

    Love,
    Nappy

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  5. Hi Peiling,

    I remembered the time when we were assigned to role-play as good friends during one of the initial lessons. In the story, I was having problems with my studies and I decided to confide in you for comfort. =). I thought we worked well together and I had fun during the session!

    Time do flies and I'm glad that you'e learnt much from ES2007S as well.

    Nice having you as my coursemate!

    Hazel =).

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  6. Thank you, Pei Ling, for this very comprehensive look at some of the areas that you appreciated in the course. I am, of course, very happy that you found the course useful and that your bonding with classmates proved to be so satisfying. It was also a great pleasure for me to watch you develop over the last three months. You made an excellent effort and made great strides in your writing, speaking and presenting. You're took the challenges in stride and have already benefitted as your post reveals.

    I wish you much success in the future and hope to keep in touch!

    Cheers :)

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