Reflection on ES2007

Frankly speaking, I planned to S/U this module at the time I decided to take it. Because it is my final year, I am quite busy with my Honors Year Project, job applications and CFA test. I took this module because I thought I could spend less time on it, but I was completely wrong. I put more efforts in this module than any other core modules I am taking this semester. Nevertheless, I do think I have learnt a lot from it.

Firstly, this module has sharpened my writing skills. To be frank, before I took this module, the last time I wrote something rather than report was during my bridging course before college. For almost four years, I had never written anything to express my thoughts and feelings. This module provides me a good opportunity to think critically and express my ideas in written form. By blogging weekly, I have gradually learnt how to apply 7Cs in writing. It will definitely benefit me when I enter the workforce after graduation.

Secondly, my communication skills were further improved. The module not only taught me the theoretical knowledge on interpersonal communication, but also allowed me to practice during in-class discussions and project meetings. During my job interviews, I do feel that I applied what I learnt from this module such as 7Cs, encoding and decoding.

Thirdly, the discussions and presentations boosted my confidence in conversing in English. In my daily life, I do not speak English often. Even sometimes I have to speak English, the conversations are usually casual or standard. This module offered me great chances to practice my spoken English, especially during project meetings when topics discussed could be quite serious. I deeply feel that I am more confident now, but I can clearly understand that I have to practice more in my daily life in order to be fluent in English.

During the last lesson, Ms Goh gave us the table of transferable skills. I was pretty amazed that we had learnt, practiced and improved so many skills during this short period of time. I do not regret taking this module and spending so much time on it! J

Reflection on Oral Presentation

In this reflection, I would like to thank my teammates first. Thank you so much for the supports and encouragement, and thank you for bearing my poor English. :p

For the team performance, I believe our content was relevant, clear and concise. We had quite creative approach, and I think our presentation was quite well structured. Overall, I am satisfied with our work. However, there are still certain parts we could do better. For example, we could assign someone to conduct the Q&A session beforehand so that it would be more organized. Moreover, our PowerPoint slides looked less professional compared to other groups’. Maybe we should have spent more time on it so that our presentation would be more appealing.

For my individual performance, I personally feel that I did not present as well as I did during my peer teaching. Maybe because I was not fully prepared, which made me feel less confident. During the Q & A session, I think I failed to organize my thoughts and express my ideas clearly, which I believe made “professors” a bit confused. I did have some hand gestures, which was an improvement from my peer teaching. However, I still believe it could be further improved, like I should have made some movement during the presentation. In addition, there was also some feedback from my peer teaching saying that I spoke too fast and failed to project my voice. I paid attention to these problems this time, I hope I did improve a bit.

I do think the presentation opportunities from this module have boosted my confidence in presenting ideas in public. I used to scare of presentation, but now I believe I am also capable of delivering my ideas and convincing the audience. Nevertheless, there are still a lot of presentation skills I have to learn and practice. I will try to seize every opportunity in the future to improve my presentation skills. J

Evaluating Intercultural Behavior

Ling worked in a multi-national corporation in Shanghai and happily married to her superior a few months ago. Her husband Raphael was from Germany. Being young and capable, he was assigned to Shanghai branch to assist in company’s expansion in China. Over there, he met his dream girl and decided to settle down in this strange city. While enjoying the marriage, the newlywed already had conflicts due to cultural differences.

One day, the light in the kitchen was not working. Raphael was going to replace the bulb. Since the light was quite high, he moved a chair over and stood on it. Afraid that Raphael might accidentally lose his footing, Ling ran over to hold the chair and his legs.

“What are you doing?” Raphael asked with astonishment.

“I’m trying to help you. Just in case you lost your balance.”

“What?” Raphael said angrily, “You think your husband can’t even change a light bulb?”

Ling felt wronged and upset. Being a traditional Chinese girl, she was just trying to show her care. But her behavior, which was quite common in Chinese culture, turned out to be an insult to her husband.

In this generation of globalization and migration, it is no longer difficult to observe different cultures in one society. Not only for the newlywed in the story, we all experience intercultural differences in our lives one way or another. Thus, it is important to understand and adapt to various cultural behaviors in order to avoid conflicts and misunderstandings.

Biodata

(juz realized you guys could not comment on my profile, so i copy and paste it here.)

I am a final year Statistics student from the National University of Singapore. Though interested in Economics, I was not able to specialize in it due to the limitations of my scholarship. Nevertheless, four years of studying with numbers made me a person with strong quantitative and analytical skills. Meanwhile, I still fulfill my interests by pursuing double minors in both Economics and Financial Mathematics.

Being an adventurous person, I left my home and started my life alone in Singapore at the age of 17. Though suffered from cultural shocks and homesickness, I quickly adapted to the new environment and made many new friends here. In addition, I had an opportunity to study in the United States as an exchange student during my second year in university. Over there, I met students from all over the world. Although we all came from different backgrounds, we shared and appreciated our differences in culture; we partied and traveled together, and became lifelong friends.

After studying abroad alone for almost five years, I am now an independent and resilient individual who will never surrender to difficulties. Just as my favorite saying: "When there is nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire."

Application letter

Banking Associate Program (Citibank)

- Good Honors Degree (minimum 2nd Upper Hons) or a Master degree

- No more than one year of work experience if you have graduated

- A genuine interest in financial services sector

- A highly motivated and results-oriented individual

- Strong analytical and quantitative skill

- Excellent communication and quantitative skill

- High commitment to integrity and ethical decision making

- A creative individual who can execute innovative ideas successfully

- Flexibility, adaptability and resilience to work in a challenging and fast-paced environment

Miss Wu Xiaoyu

Block 22, #05-21-J

35 Prince George’s Park

Singapore 118429

30 August 2009

Recruitment Manager

Citibank

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to apply for Management Associate Program with Citibank Consumer Banking. I came to know this program through Citibank on-campus recruitment talk and the requirements of the program appealed to me immensely.

As an Honors year Statistics undergraduate at the National University of Singapore, I have strong analytical and quantitative skills. It was sufficiently shown during my summer internship at Singapore Pools, where my statistical analyses and models were adopted in making business decisions. On the other hand, I also have keen interest in financial services sector, which led me to pursue duo minors in Economics and Financial Mathematics, and enroll in qualification tests of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

Being a foreign student, I am very adaptable to new environment. Five years of living in a foreign country made me an independent and resilient person who is capable of overcoming obstacles and making things happen. My consistently above par grades are a good indication of my motivation and perseverance. In addition to my academic competence, I have cultivated great interpersonal skills during my previous internships and displayed excellent teamwork during co-curricular activities.

Citibank is a world’s leading bank with well-established international presence. Its dynamic and meritocratic working environment provides an excellent platform for career development, which further motivates me to join this organization. It would be a great privilege to work with Citibank, and I believe my abilities and qualifications would be a good fit to the company.

I have a positive attitude and would be delighted to meet up for an interview. Please do not hesitate to contact me via my email address at xiaoyu@nus.edu.sg or my mobile phone number at 90923953 for further discussion.

Thank you very much for your attention. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely yours,

Xiaoyu

Resolving interpersonal conflict

Lisa was student from NUS. During her second year, she enrolled in the student exchange program and got a chance to study in the University of California, Santa Barbara. In order to experience real American cultures, she decided to rent an apartment instead of staying on campus. Luckily, she found a single-room apartment that was only five-minute walk from campus. What’s more, she had a local girl as her roommate. Everything was perfect and Lisa was really excited about her new life.

Laura was Lisa’s roommate. She was a typical California girl – friendly and cheerful. After a few days, the two girls became very good friends. However, there was one problem between the girls. Laura had a boyfriend who lived in San Diego. Every Friday, her boyfriend would come to Santa Barbara to spend the weekend with Laura. Since Lisa and Laura slept in one bedroom, Lisa felt quite embarrassed to share one bedroom with a couple. One day, Lisa implied her feeling to Laura and told her she was from a more conservative country. Laura looked quite embarrassed. She apologized and explained that it was their culture. From then on, Laura never asked her boyfriend to stay overnight. Her boyfriend still came to Santa Barbara every weekend, but he could only stay for a few hours then had to head back to San Diego. Lisa was a bit sorry about it. She also felt Laura was not that close to her anymore.

If you were Lisa, what would you do?

Why effective communication is important...

No man is an island. Life without family and friends is dull and incomplete, just like a garden without flowers. Good relationships are precious but also seem to be perishable. Misunderstandings and conflicts can easily destroy a relationship.

I used to be my mother’s good girl. I told her everything happened in school, from teachers’ compliments to my little friends’ secrets. However, the relationship had grown cold when I became a teenager. Feeling that my thoughts and behaviors could not be understood, I rebelled against my mother and became extremely impatient with her. Every conversation could lead to a quarrel and result in a “war”.

“Why can’t you be quiet? I can’t bear you any more!” I yelled at my mother.

My mother was absolutely furious. Her eyes were sparkling with angry flame. “How could you say that to me? I’m your mother and I just want to do you good!”

“I’m 15 years old. Stop telling me what I am supposed to do! I can make my own decisions!” I looked back into her eyes bravely and shouted as loudly as I could.

During those days, we “communicated” in that way. Where once there had been closeness, there was only strain. As I’ve grown older, I realize how rude and immature I was. Those shouts and yells did not help expressing my thoughts, but only disappointed my mother and tore our relationship apart.

Now I’m here in Singapore, while my mother is still in China. We talk through phone and MSN a few times every week. Of course, we still have disagreement sometimes, but I’ll explain my thoughts patiently and mother will also tell me her concerns. Through this way, we understand each other better and we are close again. I’m still my mother’s girl.

Xiaoyu