The Magical Experience

Having spent most of my university education in Engineering, and poking fun at the quirks of people generated from the faculty (myself included), getting in touch with the other side of my brain was a whole new experience altogether. To be honest, I was a little intimidated with the broad spectrum of my classmates on the first day and wondered at the possibility of learning about communication with a group of strangers. I mean, this was the case with the other lessons. (We've learnt to frown upon such overgeneralization, haven't we?) With initial ice-breaking, I grew to love the novelty of being able to read, write and speak in a class, instead of going fastest-fingers-first at the calculator, or wrecking my brain at which of the many formulae to apply.

Self Expression with Language and Blogging

Never in my life was I so grateful towards a language-obsessive friend who’d ridiculously police my grammar, even on random MSN chats. That took care of some of my language to a certain extent. However, a huge credit also goes to Vinod, my trusty blogging buddy. I have never had much opportunity to thank him for taking time off to plough through awkward expressions and long entries. Thank goodness the hideous mistakes didn’t live to see the world!

Secretly, I loved reading blogposts as they broadened my horizons. Interpersonal problems underscored various cultural expectations and societal values. The intercultural conflicts also brought to awareness the cultural taboos and social faux pas. Commenting, on the other hand, was more taxing with the mental exercise to empathize with protagonists of various character traits and from here I learnt to articulate my thoughts better. It helped having the opportunity to learn from others in this aspect! May for her clear thoughts and sound analysis of problems, Guo Chen with her intelligent insights, etc just to name a few.
                                                                                                                                    

Acquiring and Voicing Opinions-Gaining A Little Wisdom

I loved the way lesson content were intellectually stimulating and I recall subconsciously thinking about Ken Robinson’s approach to education, being consumed for a few days. He questioned the fundamentals of modern life, where many have allowed theirs to revolve around the notion to peg life’s achievements based on paper qualification. Being somewhat guilty of it, that thinking has given me a clearer perspective in the outlook of life- it’s the journey but not the destination, clichéd but how very forgettable being caught in such a meritocratic society.

Also, how can I forget my love-hate relationship with public speaking? With most of my reflections in the previous entry, it would have to come with confidence. With regards to the practical experiences, I have gained a little more to advance in this lifelong journey of improvement.

Nothing more valuable than FRIENDSHIP!

I have never dreamt I would ever get to know so many people personally through just one class. It is strange that the university boasts of multiculturalism, and people are accommodating towards differences. Yet, it is the diversity in the communities that we see in school, rather than the cultural variety found within each community. It was certainly heartwarming that the nature of interaction went beyond nationalities. Undoubtedly at times there were different perspectives, but with each verbalized idea, arguments could be strengthened to be more universally understood. This was a great practical approach to deal with differences—ironing them out, appreciating and embracing diversity. 

We have all come a long way since the beginning of the semester. Unbelievable. Somewhere, somehow the transformation just happened. For anything so inexplicable, devoid of any scientific formula governing the behaviour, it must be magic! Brad’s magical touch, the ‘rambunctious’ group of us and an unforgettable learning journey, all in one breathtaking semester.

Here's Presenting ENG on Youtube :)

Hi all, for the first time in my life, I have embedded videos in a blogpost! I hope this works. Please feel free to give your comments on our group presentation. Thank you!

Acknowledgments to Elgin for the videos, and the video tutorial on youtube for the thoughtful gesture educating tech-unsavvy people like me! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s40_tuZh2YQ

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3

ENG - An Analysis of the Hits and Misses

"Your opponent, in the end, is never really the player on the other side of the net, or the swimmer in the next lane, or the team on the other side of the field, or even the bar you must high-jump.  Your opponent is yourself, your negative internal voices, your level of determination." -- Grace Lichtenstein


It took a considerable amount of time for me to calm my nerves to reflect upon the oral presentation itself, and the events leading to it. I had to revisit my first blogpost to remind myself of the reasons I was putting myself through the gnawing fears, again. In retrospect, this experience I wouldn’t be able to convey in its entirety, but has certainly made a huge impact on my learning journey.

Firstly, of utmost importance, I would like to express my gratitude towards my group members for their efforts, Xing Quan for leading the group through this entire project, Billet for his encouragement and his wonderful ideas, and WenLue, for giving his utmost to make the oral presentation a success. One other special person I have to thank is XiaoShi who went the extra mile, sending messages of encouragement through the week. These gave me the strength to pull through.

Preparation
The hard work put into preparation paid off largely. Despite a hectic timetable for all of us, I really appreciate how everyone managed to cast a sizeable portion of the long Deepavali weekend aside, just to focus on improving the delivery of the presentation, to the point we could even pre-empt what Erin (the teacher in the movie) was going to say.
We had delegated our parts early, a week before for crafting the script. Initially, having watched how Ken Robinson was able to put a spell on the crowd, I was very keen to do much storytelling to bring the points across, but thankfully, the timely advice from Billet and Xing Quan made me think twice. It was simply unrealistic—instead of leaving audiences spellbound, my then unmemorized script was a guaranteed spell for confusion. A better organization of content had to be developed.
Through the week, with the little time in between FYP commitments, deadlines and projects, with just running the words and ideas in my head, my rehearsals were rather dismal. From time to time, my speeches varied in confidence and content, despite the outlines being somewhat planned out. Nonetheless, it was a great leap of faith for our group to accept Billet’s idea. But I believe we rose to the occasion on the eve of the presentation, and even filmed it down to work on the flaws. In fact, we held our last rehearsal at 730am on Monday to gather the props and mentally prepare ourselves.


Delivery
It was a feeble attempt to boost my confidence with a greeting. The feel of presenting the class seemed very different from only the video camera and soon, I began to lose my thread of thoughts and hence the stammering, excessively peppered with ‘erms’.  At times, I wasn’t coherent. The proposed strategies were a crucial part of the presentation and yet I could not exude the confidence necessary to articulate that. This was a letdown to the group for their hard work. Their remarkable patience with my pauses and time-outs during the practices should not go unmentioned as well.
But one thing I can probably be glad for was that I managed a firm stance without looking at the slides and a better attempt with eye contact, which was a noteworthy improvement from the peer teaching presentation. I wished I could have smiled a little more. Also, I felt that it was a relief that the Q and A session was better than expected, as our group were prepared for several of the questions asked.


Slideware
After the decision to change the presentation style, the slides had to be naturally altered to suit it. I loved the simple white background, black words and some red for emphasis. The design was minimalist, with appropriate pictures to enhance the points that were made. This actually brought up the level of difficulty as the onus was on us to demonstrate our ideas better through our speeches.


In all, I would say that the preparation was largely sufficient for the group and we have come a long way together. On individual performance, the bulk of my problem was my fear of making mistakes, the paralysis upon standing in front of any audience and the sheer inability to block out the negative thoughts upon looking at their responses. Brad’s many tips for public speaking were certainly useful. But to acquire the confidence to look at the audience in the eye and yet remain unfazed to carry on speaking... This is something I hope to achieve with more exposure and practice. I thank all of you for enduring and piecing together the puzzles of my speech on Monday. Rest assured that my next audience, whoever they are, would see an improvement in the level of confidence.


"Far away in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see the beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead." -- Louisa May Alcott

what matters?

Amidst this crazy whirlwind of deadlines and projects, I stumbled upon this. Just thought it may give you guys  the same inspiration that it gave me the first time I saw it. Much as I may whine about blogging, it is indeed a good platform to send little encouragements! Anyway, just felt like giving thanks for all the friendships forged and learning opportunities throughout this module. Thanks for the support and encouragements thus far.  Hang in there everyone! :)

So what actually matters?

Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end.
There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days.
All the things you have collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will be passed on to someone else.
Your wealth, fame and temporality will shrivel to irrelevance.
It will not matter what you owed or what you were owed.

Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear.
So too, your hopes, ambitions and plans will expire.
It won't matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you lived on at the end.

It won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant.
Even your gender and skin colour will be irrelevant.

So what will matter?

How will the value of your days be measured?
What will matter is not what you bought but what you built, 

not what you got but what you gave.
What will matter is not your success but your significance.
What will matter is not what you learnt but what you taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched and empowered others to emulate your example.
What will matter is not your competence, but your character.
What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you are gone.
What will matter is not your memories, but the memories of those who loved you.
What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.

Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident. It's not a matter of circumstance but of choice.

Choose to live a life that matters.

The Bittergourd Superstition

Lunch with the four special ladies from the Quality Laboratory was always enjoyable. The conversation was largely varied and entertaining, filled with gossipy banter about the colleague across tables, or a worried discussion about their teenage children. Both Sumadi and Abuma were local Indians, while Sarah immigrated from North India when she got married ten years ago. Lorraine, their young Filipino supervisor, was an amicable lady of few words.

The three Indians often brought food from home, religiously adhering to their weekly vegetarian diet. It was a welcoming contrast to see the assortment of flavourful curries and yoghurts that they whipped up, as my mother’s culinary skills were limited to boiled vegetables, steamed fish and tofu. (Well, I exaggerate.)

We were having lunch as usual when Sumadi opened her packet and the mouth-watering aroma of belachan (prawn and chilli paste) filled the air. She began to dish out some to Abuma, and smiled shyly when I paid her a compliment, offering some to me. Observing that she had little for herself, I declined. Yet amid my protests, she placed a spoonful on my plate and instructed me to try it.

Noticing her packet lacked a healthy nutritional balance, I suggested, “Hey, now that you have so little to eat, why not take some of my bittergourd?”

She hesitated. I could see that she was tempted to accept, but refused uneasily.  I had remembered her eating the dish two days back, and it could not have been about sharing food and utensils too, since she had initiated the offer. Dismissing the thought, I quickly attributed her refusal to maternal instincts, hoping to fatten up the young intern ‘at her growing age’, as motherly figures may say.

I scooped the slices deftly from my plate, attempting to reciprocate with an undeclared attack. It was brusquely stopped midair and directed back firmly. It was quite unlike Sumadi’s character to be so insistent. Opposite us, Lorraine raised her eyebrows, puzzled.

Finally, Sumadi explained that in her cultural upbringing, bittergourds meant a bitter implication for relationships. It was a social inhibition to serve the dish to guests. Even for family consumption, she would leave it in the wok, and portions would have to be collected individually! Abuma was nodding vigorously in agreement, while the other three of us listened incredulously. It was in treasuring our friendship that she disallowed me from sharing the dish. I never looked at bittergourds in the same light again, at least when eating with the both of them.

This event was brief, but it jolted me from complacency towards understanding intercultural behaviour. I had assumed that I was sufficiently exposed to the Indian culture, by having attended Indian weddings, and living in an Indian household in Australia for a month. Personally, bittergourds had been but a type of vegetables.

Yet, Sarah’s ignorance of this superstition proved that there were still many intricate differences in traditions and practices within people of similar race. Thus, my key to effective intercultural communication would be constant alertness, attentive observation, then finally seeking to clarify when in doubt. Who could tell which other words held a different connotation, or when an object entrenched underlying meanings?

The Cover Letter of Bosch's Aspiring Junior Manager (editted)

Bosch's Junior Manager's Program


Objective: 
Our Junior Managers Program is designed to groom management potentials who are competent in their area of expertise to become future ‘organization anchors’ to contribute to the organization.  


Structure & Duration:
Junior Managers Program is a 1.5 to 2 years long program which trainees are assigned to different functions within the organization, inclusive of at least 1 overseas assignment. This rotation will give trainee the breadth of experience and exposure to help them move into management role in mid to long term within the assigned division. 
Upon completion of the program, trainee will take on an appropriate position within the division which they can apply the skills and knowledge acquired in the program.


Key Development Areas:
The trainee will be developed through training courses, seminars and on-the-job training in the following areas: 

• Bosch Values, Culture and Processes
• Functional Knowledge
• Project Management
• Leadership and Management Skills 
• Intercultural Competency

Criteria:  
Currently, we are looking for a Junior Managers Program candidate within the Corporate Research department. If you possess the following criteria, please send in your resume to hr@sg.bosch.com:

• PhD in Natural Science or Technical Engineering or other related field (e.g. Physics, Chemistry, Mechanical Engineering)
• Fresh graduate or graduate with less than 3 years of working experience
• Good leadership track records in Core Curriculum Activities (CCA) during university studies, first experience in project management would be helpful
• Has gained foreign experience during a semester or internship
• Good English written and verbal communication skills. Knowledge of other foreign language will be an added advantage
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Highly initiative
• Able to work in a team as well as independently
• Willing to travel and relocate during the program

Kindly indicate “Junior Managers Program Application for CR” in the subject heading of your email application.
http://www.bosch.com.sg/content/language1/html/3071_6488.htm


Appendix: The online version of the article I read about Bosch on newspapers on The Straits Times (Weblink and Summary below:)
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_525688.html 

• Bosch's Group opens $92million ASEAN Headquarters
• Future investment of $26million into solar energy research for next 5 years
• Regional Hub for its Security Systems, Automotive Aftermarket and Solar Energy Divisions
• Focus in research in organic photovoltaics

*****
My Cover Letter


Toh Yanling 
Blk XXX XXXX St XX, #XX-XXX 
Singapore XXXXXX 
(65) 9XXX XXXX 
yanling.toh@nus.edu.sg


1st September 2010


Director, Human Resource 
Robert Bosch (SEA) Pte Ltd 
11 Bishan Street 21 
Singapore 573943


Dear Sir/Madam,


JUNIOR MANAGERS PROGRAM APPLICATION FOR CR


I am a final year undergraduate in Mechanical Engineering with a great interest in photovoltaics. It was with much excitement that I found an alignment of my interest in an article about your opening in The Straits Times, dated 13th May 2010. Since then, I have been a staunch follower of the local website, where I have learnt of this program. Having participated in numerous talks about renewable energy under the NUS’s Technopreneurship Incubation Programme, I am very keen to seek opportunities to contribute especially towards the Renewable Energy Systems Division, under the Junior Managers Program.


My analytical and leadership skills have been honed through the numerous projects I have managed both in school and various charitable organizations. These include the executive positions at a youth club in Central Singapore Community Development Council and Rotaract Club of Singapore (City). These community projects include raising awareness for dementia and the Bone Marrow Registry in schools, as well as overseas trips to Siem Reap, Cambodia. During my term as Community Service Director, the club clinched regional awards, such as the Best Rotaract Club of the Year in 2008.


With regards to professional development, I was given the opportunity to develop technical skills in various departments at Favelle Favco Bhd in Sydney, Australia. This not only provided me with profound insight into the management operations for manufacturing the world’s fastest cranes, but also an immersion into the multicultural environment of the workplace with colleagues from continents all over the globe. In addition, through a year long design project  to design and fabricate a solar tracking system for indoor illumination, my teamwork and communication skills were further honed. Our device was eventually showcased to industrial experts at the annual exhibition.


As such, I believe that together with my passion to travel, these interpersonal and leadership skills gained from the variety of curricular and co-curricular activities would put me in good stead to work amicably with colleagues, in contribution to continuous productivity of the organization.


Enclosed, please find my resume. I would welcome the opportunity for an interview at your convenience to discuss the prospect for a position in your organisation.


I look forward to receiving your favourable reply.


Yours faithfully, 




Toh Yanling 
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering 
National University of Singapore

An Interpersonal Conflict at a Workplace (:

Louise is a fresh graduate and a greenhorn in the workforce. Eager to embark on her new phase in life, she began her employment at MNC Electronics Corporation as a quality engineer. She has been placed under the supervision of another engineer Alex, for a three-month probation period and assigned to assist with his workload.

In the department, each quality engineer oversees the manufacturing of different products. In collaborating to incorporate a new system into her product, Louise is acquainted with Greg, a senior quality engineer in-charge of the new system.

Alex has requested her to work with Greg to solve the teething problems, while he is always preoccupied with solving other production problems. In good nature, Greg often takes Louise under his wing, teaching her various corporate procedures and sharing his work philosophy. He firmly believes that quality problems should be solved for the long term, instead of fixing problems symptomatically. Gradually, Louise realises that it perfectly describes Alex, who solves only urgent issues-at-hand to meet customer orders. Who could blame him, where time is money in the fast-paced electronics industry? This frequently strains their working relationship: Greg trying to solve Alex’s recurring problems, while the latter rejects the time-consuming solutions.

With an existing wedge between both of them, Louise is often in a dilemma having to report to two superiors. One day, Alex assigns Louise to find evidence of Greg’s miscalculation. Shortly after, Greg approaches her to iron out details of the new product, oblivious to the situation. Hard-pressed for time, she cannot accede. However, to explain her dilemma would implicate Alex, and make their dispute more severe. But keeping mum may reflect her incompetence. Yet, if she agrees to the extra work from Greg, this may offend Alex who would ultimately be assessing her performance.

What do you think Louise should do?