Finally, the ES2007S module is over and I am writing the last post of the blog. I am glad that I decided to take this module as I’ve gained valuable skills, knew thirteen new friendly friends and a benevolent teacher. Thanks to all of you for your collaboration, feedback and helps.
I’ve improved my interpersonal skills a lot, throughout peer teaching, writing proposal, and oral presentation. Public speaking can be said as one of my weaknesses. I am afraid of it so much. Before the start of this semester, I only encountered two presentations- one lasted for only one minute and the other only 5 minutes. Before I came to NUS, I never had a chance to do presentations. That is part of the reason I decided to take ES2007s in order to overcome public-speaking-phobia. I spent my time carefully whether I should take this module or not. I read through and skim all the materials, previous blog posts and everything I could access to make the final decision to take. As an engineering student coming from a non-English-speaking country, I find myself weak in English. I was afraid that I could not be able to cope with the module. After analyzing the module’s description, I realized myself that this was the module I were looking for. So I made my decision to take and try my best.
After going through various skill builders, I enjoyed the module. My communication skills improved! I have my confidence to do presentation. Increasing my confidence is one of the greatest benefits. Throughout various projects and assignments, I’ve improved not only language skills but also people skills such as team building and some creative /artistic skills. Resume writing and mock jobs interview helped to prepare to expect real-time situation. I am glad that I decided to take the module.
So, is it the end of the module? I believe it is not. It is just the initial step to learn and apply various communication aspects integrated into our life. The module itself ends but the content we learn will never end and it is just the beginning to explore, to improve and to apply more!
The very first thing I realized was the term “oral presentation”. In my engineering modules so far, we just use the word “presentation”. But here, the word “oral” made me pay attention more to focus on delivery.
Preparation
Normally, I prefer to do first when there is a choice. But having a chance to do last mad me benefit a lot. If our team were the first one, I could not do as much as I did on Monday. Then I had a chance to learn the first two teams’ experiences, their way of presenting their delivery of content. These were valuable face –to-face tips for me to prepare, besides my research for presentation. Brad mentioned to keep slides simple, type less word and speak out more. When the first two teams applied these, I just understood the difference between theoretical knowledge and real experience of these presentation tips. These are very effective! And it was nice working with my teams and during rehearsal they pointed me out some errors and mispronunciation. Thank you my teammates for the correction.
Before it was about to start
Brad gave us 10 mins to prepare before we started. That period was the most restlessness time for me. I wanted to start and be over as soon as possible. I realized myself how impatient I was. I need to improve to calm my mind down. The plausible reason was I had another heavy presentation immediately after the class. That could make me restlessness.
While presenting
I got the feedback that I could have more connection with more eye contact. That is my weakness. During presentation, I might be looking at you. But in my eyes, I did not see you most of the time. What I saw were the words and sentences of what to tell next. My conscious mind reminded me to look at the audience but my subconscious and unconscious mind sometimes controlled over me to think of what to say next. This could be the base of the problem for doing some rocking motion in stance or pacing a bit rushed at times. I did not realize my behavior during the time.
After
I reflected on myself after the presentation. I think this problem could be due to my lagging process of speaking English. Since my first language is Burmese, I have used to think in the following way. I think in Burmese, I translate it, and before speak out, I need to check grammar and sentence structures and then finally speak in English. Listening even lag more since there is one more step of translating into Burmese first. I was afraid of Q&A session. Fortunately, I managed to understand all the questions being asked. After almost 3 years in S’pore, I think in English and speak in English without translating first for most of the daily life sentences. But I still need to improve a lot.
What I learned
From the oral presentation, I learned a lot about how to attract audience, how to use visual aid carefully, how to project your voice affectively, so on and so forth. I believe I have much more confident in presentation after Monday. It was nice learning experience throughout the process. Now I have 13 more nice friends!
In order to carry out a communication needs analysis for the food science undergraduates, our team conducted an interview with Senior Lecturer Dr. Leong Lai Peng from the NUS-FST Programme. Our team's interview questions were mainly focused on:
1)Understanding the curriculum for FST students.
2)Finding out any relevant module(s) aiming to develop communication skills.
3)Gaining insights on how FST students are trained in effective communication
4)Identifying the different sectors within the food industry and her opinion on the most-vied for sector to focus on.
5)Comprehending the job responsibilities and level of importance of communication skills for that sector.
From that interview, our group learnt that the most essential training for an FST student to mature and to improve on his or her respective skills – including communication skills – is to do industrial attachment, or better known as the Professional Placement Program (PPP). Besides PPP, group projects, lab reports and class discussions are all part of the coursework to improve communication skills, even though the FST Program itself does not offer a specific communication module for its students. Furthermore, the product development sector is the most popular and the most communication-centric sector as it has plenty of opportunities to liaise with other departments, such as the marketing and the quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) teams. Fresh graduates will need to work in teams, write reports and proposals as well as work with other departments, rendering communication skills an important factor for success, especially for those in managerial positions.
After much discussion, our team decided to carry out surveys and interviews for our primary research. The interview with Dr. Leong aided in crafting and designing the questionnaire for employers and survey questions for employees in the food industry. To make our surveys more accessible to our respondents and to cope with the tedious task of summarizing the survey data, we chose to carry out our surveys online. Hence, our team decided to use surverymonkey.com. The user-friendly layout of surveymonkey.com was a bonus point.
Our primary research focuses mainly on the employers at various companies and the FST alumni in order to identify commonly-seen communication problems within the workplace. An email was sent to many employers in the food production sector to find out:
1)The communication skills undergraduates – and more specifically NUS undergraduates – lack
2)The training program(s) provided by a company for fresh graduate employees to improve communication skills
3)Whether job applicants who have completed the industrial attachment have an edge over those who have not.
6.1 Challenges met in the primary research
Initially, our team sent out emails using Gmail and unfortunately we did not receive any response. After analysing this problem, we deduced that it may be due to the domain “@gmail.comifically ithin the food science”. It has potential for some servers to block or flag as spam. Some employers may not even pay attention to a free mail domain like “@gmail.com”. Therefore, we sent out emails again using our NUS email wherein we immediately received acknowledgement letters from two companies.
6.2 Further research
Due to the low respondent rate of employers in Singapore, we had to think of other means of obtaining responses from elsewhere in order to make our research conclusive. Hence, the team decided to collect data not only locally, but also from MNCs and universities in foreign countries to compare and contrast the opinions of both NUS and universities overseas on the communication requirements of FST students. Moreover, a new decision was made to introduce survey questions to undergraduates in NUS who have completed or are completing PPP in order to understand their takes on the communication needs of their workplace and gain their reflections on their internship.
As a result, survey links were sent out to a total of 30 targeted NUS alumni employees in the food industry and 60 targeted undergraduates who have finished PPP. Since survey questions are designed in multiple choice formats, enabling ease of answering questions, a higher response rate is expected. For such survey-based research, the more data we have, the more accurately we can identify, analyse and interpret the problem. The aim of the survey questions is generally the same as that of the email questions to employers, which is to evaluate the communication skills required in the new product development sector in the food industry. Therefore, survey questions comprise questions from three main focuses:
1)Identifying which communication skills are most required - which undergraduates lack
2)Understanding the importance of PPP and ways of improving it
3)Identifying which module(s) will be able to help FST students to improve any lacking communication skill(s).
On top of the survey to undergraduates, we will also be sending out email requests for online interview to the direct superiors of these undergraduates:
1)To understand more about what they think is lacking in undergraduates during the PPP
2)To know if the undergraduates “matured” during the PPP, i.e. if the PPP is helpful in the development of character of undergraduates.
Finally, we will conduct online interviews with universities overseas regarding their student development programs for ideas on the modifications that we could make to the university curriculum.
By carrying out further research, the interview responses and survey questions analysis will enable us to identify and evaluate communication needs in the workplace, which will allow us to proceed further with our proposal.
As a foreigner here, I would like to share and compare some of my experiences ever since I reached to Singapore.
The very first intercultural situation was my name. My full name is Ye Thu Win. My parents simply call me “son”; my relatives call me “Ye Thu”; most of my Burmese friends call me “Ye Thu Win”. In Myanmar, we do not have family name or first name system. Nobody has to change a name when getting married. A name is just a name. It is that simple. During the orientation camp in my hall, I was introduced my name, and everyone started calling me “Thu Win”. When somebody said “Thu Win” to me the first time, I did not feel like he was calling me, I had some sort of disconcerting feeing. I tried to introduce them as “Ye Thu Win” or “Ye Thu”. But it turned out that “Thu Win” is very easy to remember. Just need to remember “to win”. Since I did not have any preference, “Thu Win” became my given name.
The family name system may become a problem for us when we need fill in a form or buy a plane ticket. In a form, it states that underline your family name. Since I do not have a family name, I only write down my name. Then miscommunication starts to occur! If you buy a plane ticket online, you have to fill in as first name, last name and sometimes it turns out that my name on a plane ticket becomes “Thu Win Ye”. Nowadays it becomes less problem. But sometimes, the officer complains that the name on the passport is different from on the plane ticket. I really wish that there was a third option “No family name system” whenever there is a form.
One of my friends asked me that “How do we maintain family line since we do not have a family name?” How would you think if you were me? Let me know your opinion if you do not have a family name system?
Another common problem for me is acronym. In my opinion, Singaporeans love acronyms. They try to abbreviate most of the words! I have to ask back so many times what a particular acronym stands for. For example “OTOT”, do you know what does it stand for? There are some misunderstanding situations because of acronyms. And so are for sms language. I feel that relatively many acronyms make us less effective to communicate. On the other hand, one of my friends adopts an acronym to his name. His name is “Aung Khant”. Since it is difficult to call, he addresses himself as “a.k”. And people become easy to remember it. This is a good point of acronym.
Well, the post becomes longer than expected, so I stop here though I have some other issues to share.
Have a nice recess week to everyone and be happy, healthy and prosperous in new year!
Block: AA, Level: B, Room:C
Prince George’s Park
27 Prince George’s Park
Singapore 111111
February 3rd, 2010
Saipem Singapore Pte Ltd
73 Science Park Drive,
#01-03/22 Cintech I Building,
Singapore 118254
Dear Sir/Madam,
Trainee Engineer in Mechanical Engineering Field
I would like to apply as the trainee engineer in Saipen Singapore Pte Ltd. I am enclosing my resume in response to your advertisement which was posted at eJob center under NUS carrier services on January 5, 2010.
I am currently pursuing a Bachelor of Engineering with Honors in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in Offshore Oil and Gas Technology (OOGT) at the National University of Singapore. I hope that my interest in OOGT could contribute innovation and creativity in a conducive environment of Saipen. The company’s mission to tackle each challenge with safe, reliable and innovative solutions has motivated me to apply for the position.
My career objective is to pursue a position in a dynamically challenging environment with ample opportunities to learn and contribute to continued development of professional skills. This is in line with the challenges and core values which Saipen Singapore Pte Ltd in OOGT field embraces.
My administrative supportive skills are reflected through my extracurricular activities. I helped as a Myanmar facilitator during the operation of Project Nargis to systematically distribute donated stuff. I also involved in a Youth Expedition project, known as Project Pinnya Tazaung, to help develop service and learning skills in both Singapore and Myanmar communities. Lastly, I was one of the program heads who organized the Dharma Camp 2009 of NUSBS.
I strongly believe that my passion for OOGT, positive attitude, collaborative and self-management skills would help in Saipen Singapore Pte Ltd. I am willing not only to pursue continual development of technologies but also to improve more on interpersonal skills which would help achieve Saipen Singapore Pte Ltd’s organizational goals.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
(I have changed the personal information to avoid disclosure online )
Block: AA, Level: B, Room: C
Prince George’s Park
27 Prince George’s Park
Singapore 11xxxx
February 3rd, 2010
73 Science Park Drive,
#01-03/22 Cintech I Building,
Singapore 118254
To whom it may concern,
Trainee Engineer in Mechanical Engineering Field
I would like to apply as the trainee engineer in Saipen Singapore Pte Ltd. I am enclosing my resume in response to your advertisement which is posted at eJob center under NUS carrier services in January 5, 2010.
I am currently pursuing Bachelor of Engineering with Honors in Mechanical Engineering, specialized in Offshore Oil and Gas Technology (OOGT) at the National University of Singapore. I hope that my interest in OOGT could contribute innovation and creativity in a conducive environment of Saipen. The company’s mission to tackle each challenge with safe, reliable and innovative solutions has motivated me to apply for the position.
My career objective is to strive to pursue a position in a dynamically challenging environment with ample opportunities to learn and contribute continued development of professional skills which is in line with challenges and core values of Saipen Singapore Pte Ltd in OOGT field.
My administrative supportive skills are reflected through extracurricular activities. I helped as a Myanmar facilitator during the operation of Project Nargis to distribute donated stuff systematically. I also involved in a Youth Expedition project, known as Project Pinnya Tazaung, to help to develop service and learning skills of both Singapore and Myanmar communities. I was one of the program heads to organize Dharma Camp 2009 of NUSBS.
I strongly believe that my passion in OOGT, my positive attitude, collaborative and self-management skills would help to pursue a career in Saipen Singapore Pte Ltd. I am willing not only to pursue continual development of technologies but also to improve more on interpersonal skills and these will help to achieve Saipen Singapore Pte Ltd’s organizational goals.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Mr. Ye Thu Win
(+65)8*******
u07*****@nus.edu.sg
(Job link
http://ejobcentre.nus.edu.sg/Jobs/jobdesc.asp?type=0&eid=4763291&jid=2049898&did=41&its=0&src=8&itn= )
In the Burmese culture, teachers are the same level as parents. Students love, respect and frighten their teachers especially in primary and middle school level. Parents give teachers the trust for their children in school time.
There is a student ‘z’ who is studying at Grade 6 (start of middle school level). ‘z’ ‘s parents are rich enough that they give their child private tuition on English language, even with a native speaker!
During one of the English classes in school, ‘z’ ’s teacher, “Mr.A” ,is trying to explain his pupils on a particular topic. When “Mr.A” is pronouncing an English word, he hears a soft laughing sound. He continues explaining others English words and hears some kind of laughing sound. He tries to find out during his teaching and finally spots that ‘z’ is making chuckle. Mr.A blames ‘z’ for making chuckle and not paying attention to his teaching. The similar situation happens again in next class and this time, Mr.A gets so upset and presumes that ‘z’ is disrespectful and demands ‘z’ to bring his parents to school and meet up with him.
What happens to ‘z’ is that he is not disrespectful. He just cannot control himself when he hears Mr.A’s pronunciation of some English words. Mr.A, who has more exposure to Burmese language and come from a rural village, sometimes cannot pronounce some English words correctly. His temperament is some sort of impatient type.
When ‘z’ ’s parents finally finds out what has happened at school after carefully asking out their child, they try to carefully think how to resolve the problem. If you were a parent of ‘z’, what and how would you do to resolve the problem? What and how would you say to your child? You are also afraid that if you tell the teacher directly about his wrong pronunciation, he would feel ashamed, and in later classes, he would not be careful to your son or scold and blame your son all the times whenever there is a chance. Should the third party, such as another colleague teacher or even a headmaster/headmistress be involved in this matter to resolve?
