Wednesday, April 15, 2009

The presentation

Honestly speaking, this presentation is the first one I have done here that talking for about 7 mimutes without looking at the notes.

Our group has met 3 times totally to prepare this presentation which shows that we do take it seriously.So I really want to do it perfect for my part in order to make our group's total performance good, which I think I didn't make it.

First of all, I stopped at some places which makes the whole speech not fluently.

Secondly,when I watch the video I took for reflecting, I feel that my gesture and eye contact are not very nature and confident.

Thirdly, I think for some words I didn't pronounce in the right way and my voice that day was quite strange. Maybe partly because I was quite nervous that day.

I think that's what I find out so far, I will add more if I find out more later.

You are welcome to give me the tips that I should work on, thank you very much.

Final Reflection of My Stay in Singapore


When I first created this blog, I excitedly wrote down the first post unrelated to the module. It is beginning of my adventure in Singapore. Now it's the end. I would like to take the chance to reflect all my semester in Singapore, not just in ES2007S module.


This paragraph is for ES2007S module. Actually the workload for this module is more than what I thought in the beginning, which have pushed me to learn more. Now I want to say: Brad, thank you for your strict, vividly and interesting teaching method, thank you for your every comment in my every post, thank you for your detailed comment in my resume, cover letter and our group's report. At the same time, thank you for everyone to go through this semester with me, even though I didn't get the chance to get to know more about everyone, but I can really feel everyone is very kind, nice and also hardworking. Finally, I want to thank my group members: Poosai and Jeanatte. Thank you for being my group member in helping me learn the professional communication through doing the research, writing the report and addressing the presentation.

This whole semester, the first priceless treasure for me is the academic pursuits and leadership development.

I have learned the diligence and high-efficiency from those outstanding classmates who I study with; I have learned the knowledge and methodology from the excellent and profound professors’ teaching and inculcation; I have learned the innovation and persistence from the projects that I have involved in, I have learned the confidence and profession from the presentations I have prepared and addressed.

Even though I am from the engineering faculty, I still engage in experiencing and nurturing the entrepreneurship spirit which is highly regarded by NUS. I have attended many business talks and training programs that help me extract the logical thinking and organizational method to develop and excavate my potential leadership ability.

This whole semester, the second priceless treasure for me is the community services and the volunteer projects I have engaged in. I belong to the Red Cross community.

Project Rice is the first activity organized by Red Cross that I have taken part in. It is a nationwide rice collection community service project, in which, the volunteers will be going around the housing estates in Singapore to collect rice donations. The collected rice will then be packed in accordance to 5kg packs and be distributed to the various beneficiaries around the shores of our tiny island.

The second one is “The Red Cross Home for the Disabled”. It is a nursing home run under the care of the Singapore Red Cross Society. Yearly, volunteers from the organisation will participate in the Chinese New Year celebration, sharing the joy and love of the New Year to the residents of the home.

The third one is the “Blood Donation Drive”. Did you know that there are only around 1% of active donors in Singapore? So with each academic year, blood donation drives are organized in support to the good cause to appeal for more donors.

The fourth one is the “Learning How to Serve The Society Workshop”. It aims to help us strengthen our awareness of the importance of serving the society and our confidence in building and developing the leadership ability by designing some games for us to achieve its object by heart.

This whole semester, the third priceless treasure for me is the friends I have made here.

I can say I am really lucky to make so many friends from different countries, different backgrounds and different cultures. We study together, we travel together, we go out together...... They play hard, but they study harder. I enhance my English ability because of them, I expand my global horizon because of them, my thought become more global-oriented because of them, I become more mentally mature because of them. So many things that I just can not list literally.

This whole semester, the fourth priceless treasure for me is the travelling experience I have gone through.

From Malaysia’s trip with 7 friends from 4 different countries to Thailand trip with 3 friends from 2 different countries, to Cambodia’s trip with just my best female friend from Spain, to Philippines’ trip with 4 friends from 3 different countries, the experience that I have gained is something that I can not learn from the books. We plan the whole trip ourselves, from deciding the route, to booking the tickets, to carrying the backpack to find the budget hostels, to taking the 10-hour bus sometimes, to sharing our perspectives and thoughts for some current affairs , to discussing about the interesting cultural difference, to dealing with some occasional difficulties and emergencies, to taking care with each other when someone is in trouble……I learn the independency and well-preparation when arranging the trip, I learn the calmness and patience when handling those sudden problems, I learn attendance and carefulness when watching out for each other. During those travelling time, I also met many people who have amazing and special backgrounds and stories, which gives me the motivation and courage to face every potential upcoming challenges and setbacks.

In conclusion, I learn one thing: Nothing is impossible if you want to give it a try!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Post #5:North Korea's Rocket Launch

On April 5,2009,North Korea launched a rocket which it announced was carrying a satellite, despite international appealled not to go ahead with the launch.This news was almost on every newspaper's front page.

US, South Korea, Japan had made it very clear that if North Korea really launched the rocket, they would punish it jointly.Their navy vessels even deployed off the North Korean coast and equipped with sophisticated radar and anti-missile weaponry.So why does North Korea so firmly insist in launching the rocket regardless the risk of being attacked internationally? After reading through some news websites, I get the universal agreed answer.

North Korea's attempt to put an object into the orbit is its way to communicate with other countries that it has developed the independent capability of launching its own satellite,the capability of the ballistic missile, it's trying to tell the whole world that North Korea,which other coutries think about as an impoverished country, hidden behind one of the last Cold War frontiers, has become strong enough to become a member of a very exclusive club, has become strong enough to get the respect and fear from other coutries.

It's a diplomatic game,it's a kind of costly political nonverbal communication which has actually been used by many countries.Even though the launch was said to be a failure,but it really spoke out what it wanted to say.The North Korean media even praised Kim Jong-il’s leadership, saying that a communications satellite was circling the Earth, broadcasting patriotic songs.

However, while the North Korea government spent such a huge amount of money in preparing this political launch, there were thousands of its people struggling with hunger and poverty.What if its government spent those money in helping improve its people's living standard, helping educate its people instead? Will it do better to make North Korea stronger than the political communication?