Final Reflection on ES2007S

Towards the last few lessons and after the final oral presentation, I've noticed a few differences in myself. Most evident was that I had more confidence while doing a presentation and also speaking up in class. Before taking up the class, I felt that I was more of an introvert and would be more comfortable keeping to myself. The main draw of this class I felt that it was very accepting of all our different ideas and by speaking up and sharing our ideas with the class, we get to learn more from each other's points of view on different topics.

As I've said in the previous post, I felt that there was a huge improvement from my first oral presentation during the Mock Peer Teaching and the most recent presentation on my group's proposal. The reason for this was really the helpful feedback given by the class and Dr Radhika. I really paid attention to their constructive feedback and worked on improving from there.

Besides the feedback, I found the instructional videos on delivering presentations particularly helpful and humourous as well. It left us with simple tips to improve our presentations such as "Preparation is Everything" and "POP". The other videos that were shown, such as the one by John Cleese about being assertive also made the class more lively.

Working with my classmates on the Peer Teaching and Proposal was an invaluable experience as this was the first time I've done a group project and presentation since JC, which was 2 years ago. I enjoyed learning from the strengths and insights of my group members and bouncing off ideas of each other while we worked on the tasks given to us.

Overall, I found that I had a wonderful time throughout this module and culture of the class, which was very open and vocal made me enjoy ES2007S even more. This module was a breath of fresh air compared to the heavy Engineering modules that I'm currently taking, and I did look forward to each and every class. After this semester, I will integrate the presentation skills as well as the analytical skills that I've gathered from the class into the future subjects or projects that I will be undertaking.

Reflection on Oral Presentation

For our final presentation on our proposal, I was tasked to present the part on the result analysis of our research. Knowing this part of our presentation will be little dry, I did my best to include a few relevant and engaging visuals in order to keep the audiences attention.

Before the actual day of the presentation, my group members and I met up to practice our different parts. What we took away from that rehearsal was that we needed to be more precise and focused in order to cut down the time we took to present our individual parts of the proposal as almost all of us overshot the time limit.

From the feedback I received on the previous Peer Teaching presentation, I found out that I was looking at the slides too much and was not facing the audience while delivering my presentation. As such, for this presentation, I was doing my best consciously not to rely too much on the Powerpoint slide as well as my script.

For the actual presentation, I felt a little more confident than the previous presentations, as my weaknesses were pointed out to me and I was going to attempt not to repeat those same mistakes again. Part of preparing for this presentation was to know my material well. During the presentation, I did my best to deliver our analysis well and from the facial expressions and body language of the audience, I felt that they understood what I was trying to bring across and so, I felt that I had done my part. However I did feel that I could have injected more humour into my presentation, as I really like to make people laugh.

During the feedback, Dr Radhika, explained how memorising the script by heart was not really a good thing and that was one of the most important things I took away. I did realise that I was trying to recall certain parts of my script during the presentation and this was evident from my body language. Furthermore, because I was trying to recall the contents of my script, I was not able to use more of non-verbal cues and gestures and it might have made my presentation a little robotic.

On the whole, I feel that I have made a stark improvement from the mock peer teaching. This is mostly due to the honest feedback from the rest of the class and Dr Radhika, which have allowed me to know where my weaknesses lie and how to overcome them.

Evaluating Intercultural Behaviour

In Junior College, I had a friend who was very religious. He was a practicing Muslim who was very pious and staunch. From the way he behaved and how he treated others, he was following the teachings of Islam down to the latter. This includes praying openly in public areas, wearing the traditional baju kurung or "jubah" anywhere he goes and keeping his facial hair. To others, his dress sense, demeanour and mannerisms might seem weird or out of place. However, I feel it is his prerogative to choose such a noble path. I only had one disagreement with him, about keeping his beard long while serving National Service.

In Islam, it is encouraged to grow a beard. However it is not compulsory. My friend was adamant about keeping his beard even in the Army. He attempted to obtain a letter from the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) that would allow him to keep the beard in the Armed Forces. Much like how the Sikh's are allowed to keep their hair long and wear turbans even during their National Service.

When I heard about his request to MUIS, I felt that it was a little unreasonable and it is rather impossible for one to be allowed to that while in NS. Don't get me wrong, I find that practicing one's religion is something wonderful and it gives one purpose and a positive outlook and encouragement in life. However, as I've mentioned earlier, in a place like Singapore, some compromises have to be made. If the it isn't a compulsory rule in Islam, my friend did not have to be too extreme and go to such lengths to practice his religion. 

In a secular society such as Singapore, however, I believe that there are some compromises that one has to make. For example, there is no open practice of religion in government schools and offices. If one wants to practice one's religion, he has to do it at his own discretion. More so in National Service, where soldiers have to sport short and neat hair and be clean shaven at all times. I feel that his devotion was out of place and he should learn to compromise with such rules. Honestly, I believe that there should always be a balance in everything one does. It should also be done in moderation and not be taken to extremes.