Reflection of ES2007S(Final Post)

Reflecting upon this module, I find time passed very quickly whenever I attend this class. Perhaps this is due to the class being highly interactive, especially through the various activities that we need to participate. This class enabled me to widen my social circle and sharpen my communication skills. In addition, the small class size allowed the tutor to follow up and help us improve individually.

Firstly, my communication skills were enhanced through this module. It allowed me to gain insights on how to communicate with others as well as observing and interpretation of other’s responses. I also understood that communication is not just about talking but also about whether the message is translated across correctly and accurately. In addition, non-verbal cues are also important in communication, e.g. facial expressions are reflective of the person’s thoughts and responses. .

Secondly, this module also enhanced teamwork collaboration. Class activities were conducted by having four members in a group and rotated every week to ensure that everyone have a chance to work with everyone else. Furthermore, these activities help built up interpersonal relationships through supporting and encouraging each other during the process. We were also assigned projects to do which required us to plan ahead of time and cater to constraints of our group members. This kind of collaboration is reflective of the real world where teams are often formed to get specific tasks done.

Thirdly, I was exposed to the 7Cs in writing in this module. It sharpened my writing skills which are useful when I enter the workforce upon graduation. Through this module, I learnt to be more complete, concise, clarity, correct, concrete, coherent, and exhibit courtesy in my writings. It also taught me how to write a good resume and personal bio-data. In addition, I was also able to express my thoughts in the blog clearly and comment on other classmate’s blog post in a friendly and courtesy manner by not using strong words on them.

Fourthly, my confidence had increased since the reading of this module especially through oral presentation and peer teaching. Although, my stage fright was not completely overcome, it had improved significantly. The module had provided me with an opportunity to face my weakness and improved on it.

In conclusion, I had gained valuable lessons from this module. Although I am quiet and soft spoken, I enjoyed interacting with my classmates during class. All these experience gradually built up my confidence level and communication skills when facing other people.

Reflection on OP

The final presentation is finally over and I would like to take the chance to thank my group members, Wang Ting and Jessica for giving me support and encouragement during the entire process.

With regards to my performance during oral presentation, I was a bit disappointed with my performance because I felt that I could have done better. I evaluated myself based on the following:

Preparation

In preparation for the presentation, the group met up several times for rehearsals. Through these rehearsals, we seek to improve by feedbacking on each other’s performance.. We also timed ourselves to manage our time better. During the rehearsals, I made many mistakes, such as constantly looking at my cue cards and the screen, which I tried to rectify and I saw improvements in my performance. However, I felt that there was still room for improvements.

Delivery of speech and Use of slide ware

Considering some of the 7Cs, I was courteous during my presentation and had greeted everyone and thanked the three “invited guest”. However, my introduction of them could have been warmer and with more enthusiasm. In addition, I should have thanked the audience before passing on to the next speaker.

For “Clarity”, I managed to speak loudly and clearly in my presentation. However, I felt that I was not engaging enough. Being the first speaker, my role was to “sell” our proposed website, hence I felt that I should have tried to engage the audiences more and stir up interest for the idea. In addition, even though I consciously tried to intonate my voice, my tone was still monotonous.

In addition, with regards to the non-verbal cues, I felt that my eye contact was not sufficient. Firstly, I had difficulty in proceeding onto the next slide as I was not familiar with the slide controller. This made it difficult for me to use the laser pointer to refer to where I am talking about. Secondly, it was difficult to hold onto the controller and my cue cards while speaking, and ensuring that my slides were in the correct order while I was speaking, I felt that my coordination was lacking. As such, it caused me to lose eye contact with the audience as I constantly needed to look at my slides to make sure that they were correct and also refer to cue cards when I lose track of what I was saying. But overall, I managed to engage myself with the three “invited guest”.

I felt that I had done my best during the oral presentation, though I was disappointed and felt that with more preparation and less nervousness, I could have done better. However, it was a valuable experience and from it, I know what I can improve on in the future.

Intercultural Communication

A few years back, my family and I travelled to Hong Kong for a holiday. From observation, the people in Hong Kong spoke mainly in Cantonese dialect and since my family members were able to communicate in Cantonese, we did not have many difficulties in communication. However, the experience we had there was not a very pleasant one.

Once, I passed by a gift shop to get some presents for my friends. The female shopkeeper was busy with her work and didn’t notice me. In order to get her attention, I started to wave to her and called her “xiao jie” which meant “miss” in Chinese. She glanced at me, clearly noticed by presence, but continued to ignore me and pack her merchandise. I was pretty angry with her for behavior and attitude, so I called for her even louder. The shopkeeper stomped towards me and told me to get out of her shop and she did not want to sell things to me. I was very surprised at her action but decided not to pursue the matter further since I was not familiar with the place.

In the evening, my parents and I went to a restaurant for some Chinese food. The meal was delicious but we could not finish the food and decided to call for “ta bao” which means “takeaway” in Chinese. The waiter scolded us for not being polite to them. We were quite puzzled at the way he treated us.

It was only after we returned back to Singapore that a friend told us that we should not have used the phases “xiao jie” and “ta bao” because it meant “prostitute” and “packed dead body” respectively. After this incident, I understood the importance of understanding other cultural beliefs and even their language before we interact with them. In addition, being aware of other cultural differences and complexity allowed us to overcome miscommunication problem and increased cultural sensitivity, especially in the way we speak.

My Personal statement

My interest in science started back in secondary school where I excelled in my biology, chemistry and mathematics. However, during my pre-university studies, I did not take A-level biology as it was not offered as a subject by my school. Nevertheless, this did not deter me from pursuing my interest in science. To further my knowledge in the field of science, I participated in projects and workshops such as perfume making. During the perfume making workshop, I got a taste of being a chemist where I experienced firsthand as how to mix different isometric compound together to come up with a good perfume. In addition, I also led a project to investigate ways of making a perfume that is light in smell but lasting. During the process, I was also equipped with some marketing tools and strategy, as well as presentation skills, as we had to market our product.

Being an undergraduate majoring in Life Sciences had given me the perfect avenue to pursue my interest and exposed me to many aspects of biology, the science of living organisms. The complexity of life especially of the human body had astonished me in many ways. Every day we are exposed to different kind of virus, bacteria and other microorganism, whether beneficial or detrimental to us. Their design are simple, yet their diversity is beyond any other organisms making them great vectors for genetic research but also potent disease-causing machineries and these motivated me to research further into them. Through my undergraduate studies, my analytical and experimental skills had greatly refined and improved as I was equipped with the different experimental techniques involving microorganism, such as bacteria culture, Chromatin Immunoprecipitation and genetic engineering techniques These techniques are much needed in biomedical field which is the forefront where battle against disease-causing viruses and bacteria are fought.

To improve my medical knowledge, I also worked as a clinic assistant at Northeast medical centre. The clinic not only deals with general medical illness but also on long term diseases like diabetes, obesity and diabetes. I was also involved in certain procedures like ECG and handling wounds. In the clinic, I not only learnt the medical skills but also interpersonal skills when I learn to speak to patients regarding their medical condition and medication.

With my interpersonal skills at handling people and hands on experience in various science projects, I am able to interact well with others. In addition, my willingness to learn and perseverance to overcome any obstacles will pull me through any difficulty I face. Lastly, in my own free time I enjoy watching scientific shows like Regenesis where they make use of scientific tools to explore the unknown of science. With a deep interest in science and various projects I participated in, I believe these are important traits of a scientist and I possess them.

Application for Junior/Medical Labratory Technologist

Lim Eileen
507 Hougang Ave 8
#05-660
Singapore 530507
rain_lin87@hotmail.com

National Healthcare Group
6 Commonwealth Lane
GTMI Building Level 6
Singapore 149547

Dear Hiring Professionals,

Application for the post of Junior/Medical Laboratory Technologist

I would like to apply for the position of Junior/Medical Laboratory Technologist with the National Health Group (NHG).

I am a Bachelor of Science graduate from the National University of Singapore (NUS), majoring in Life-Science and my area of specialization is biomedical science.

I am very interested in the position stated above and I strongly believe that I have the qualifications and experience required for it. I have engaged in various science projects and research, such as mapping/characterizing conserved and variable amino acids in NA sequences of all avian H5N1 available in public database and Carbon source regulation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae GAL1 gene in my school curriculum. These projects have equipped me with excellent experimental and research skills, such as Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), DNA sequencing techniques and bioinformatics research techniques. Hence, I believe I will be able to work independently with the skills I am equipped with.

In addition, I have done a stint in a clinic as a temporary clinic assistant, which has provided me with the exposure and experience with working and interacting with the general public as well as my fellow colleagues. Further details of my personal particulars, qualifications and experience are contained in my resume which is attached with this file.

I have learned a lot about the good reputation of NHG and it would be a great privilege for me to embark on a career in NHG. I sincerely hope you will grant me the opportunity of an interview to assess my eligibility for the post.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Thank You

Yours sincerely

Lim Eileen


Link to the job :http://sg.dimension.jobsdb.com/career/Default.asp?PID=3&AC=SGNHG&EC=TTSH&GC=G1&JobID=5975&LID=1&SGB210303896665573

Interpersonal conflict

I was working in a clinic as a part time clinic assistant during the school holidays. As I was new and inexperienced, there were many things I had to learn from scratch. There was once I was told I had to work with A, whom I had never met before. Initially I thought it might be a good chance to know more people but my first impression of her didn’t turn out well.

I was working the night-shift with A . When I first saw her, I tried greeting her by calling her name and saying hi. However her response was a cold, curt nod with barely a glance at me. As we were the only two clinic assistant around, I hoped the situation wouldn’t be so tense. I tried to create conversation by asking more about her, such as where she stayed and how long she had been working. Her responses were always laconic one-worded utterances.

Later in the evening, A went out for dinner, leaving me alone in the clinic and unfortunately several patients came after she left. Since I was inexperienced with the drugs, I wasn’t confident enough to dispense the medication without her around. I panicked and quickly called her. It was only after some time that I saw her strolling into the clinic with a pack of dinner. The patients gave me irritated looks because they couldn’t get their medicine after seeing the doctor. As I was rushing to settle patients bill and medication, there was a female patient who came in and sat there. I was busy at that point of time and didn’t remember if that female patient had been registered into the system. Thus I went to ask A, who was eating her packed dinner if that particular patient was registered, A replied me yes. In the end it turned out the patient was not registered and she started ranting about my inefficiency, in coarse language, and even flung at me the card she had written her name on. I felt pretty upset over this incident and complained to my parents about it. However I did not raise this issue to anyone in the clinic because I felt that I was a newcomer and did not want to create any tensions between colleagues. But I had a bad impression about her after that especially when I knew I would be working with her.

I guess in this issue the main problem could be a breakdown in communication between A and myself. There could be many reasons why A was treating me in this manner. Perhaps she was feeling down and did not wish to talk to me, or she may dislike newcomers, etc. On the other side, I had prejudice against her because of her attitude towards me. Thus, in facing such a situation, how would you have handled it?

Why effective communication skills are important for you?

Effective communication is a relevant skill everyone should be equipped with. It enhances the quality of interpersonal interactions, increases understanding and is important in the development of strong relationships.Equipped with these skills, one would be able to express oneself better and prevent any misunderstandings due to miscommunication.

Being able to communicate is easy, but the ability to communicate effectively and translating your idea across without any mistakes is difficult. In addition, the way you communicate with your family and friends will be different from the way you talk to professors in school. Sometimes a communication breakdown could cause lots of misunderstanding and unhappiness. Thus, equipping myself with such skills ensure I am able to grow myself internally and externally.

By ‘ internally’, I could increase my self-confidence when I am speaking; while ‘externally’, my ideas would be transmitted across more clearly. Succinct and effective communication is also essential in my career when I deliver my thoughts and feelings during interviews and presentations, as well as enabling me to cooperate effectively with my colleagues.

However being a shy and soft-spoken person, this is not an easy task. To achieve this, I would need to build up my confidence and the ability to convey my feelings in words rather than bottling them up, whether in group discussions or face-to-face dialogues.