ES2007S: Professional Communications

Barenaked Saturday, November 14, 2009 8:32 AM

ES2007S is painful. Brad could see my agony plain as day. But nothing is painless in this world and I've learnt that it is always the painful experiences that change you for the better. For example, kids have to fall in order to learn that it hurts. Point is, it always teaches you something. This module has taught me alot --- definitely more than the skills we have listed in class on Friday.

Let me begin with the lesson I learnt even before I came to Group 9. Previously, I was in Group 7, and by the third lesson, I've learnt that life never goes the way I want it to. Even if CORS misleads me into thinking so. I thought I had the perfect timetable when I got the timeslot I wanted for this course. But no, life hates me. My class was reduced to a meager eight by the third lesson. Then, we had the option to switch classes. But we all held on and begged for it to continue. It did. Then someone else dropped out. And there were seven left (I'm inspired to sing the song Ten Green Bottles). But CORS had sealed our fate and we were stuck. Trust me, seven people in a class in which you have to learn communication skills can be boring and awkward. Eventually, I felt the need to approach the tutor, Ms. Happy Goh, to request for a switch thus resulting in the cancellation of the entire class. It wasn't a collective decision. It was just me and I still feel a little guilty for uprooting everyone from our cosy group. But what had to be done has to be done. Sometimes, that's life - it's painful. This ends my little tale on how I got to join you guys!

Well, I'm really glad I did. Because I get to meet all of you and be part of the wonderful WonderWomen! Despite the project being incredibly labour and time-intensive, we had fun and still got the job done.The only glaring blemish I felt we had was the lack of high-quality paper. Haha.

Overall, this module has forced me to reflect on my personality, my skills and everything else about myself. It was literally like this:

It made me re-evaluate myself. I had a chance to sit back and think about my approach with people in different settings --- home, school, work etc. I also had a chance to learn the correct EQ and communication skills that should be applied in my daily life, in presentations, in various forms of writing and so on. It has succeeded in making me conscious of the things I never stopped to think about or notice. ES2007S has forced me in front, and even into, the mirror to see myself barenaked (not literally here!) for every detail --- desirable or otherwise.

Being an engineering major, this module is a breath of fresh air. Someone actually cares about my verbs and tenses; someone finally notices my language. Hooray. Frankly, I quite miss it. The last time I had anything close to this was General Paper back in my junior college days. Most importantly, this module helped me to brush up on the essential skills such as writing resumes and acing at job interviews. I cannot stress enough just how valuable these skills are to a final year student like myself. ES2007S has made me more prepared to enter the working world. And so, no matter how many times I had to draft my resume and application letter, I'd do so all over again if I had to.

Now, enough of the painful bits. Blogging was fun. (Personal note to Brad: It's not that painful LAH! Not when I'm in the mood.) It made this module cool. Totally. Who gets to blog and earn credits for it? I bet Xiaxue is envious of us right now. Haha. Even mass communication-major friends of mine in NTU were so impressed with the whole idea of blogging being incorporated into a module. Now boys, you know what to talk about on your first date with the girls, don't you?

Looking back, the painfully early classes on Tuesdays and Fridays, the tormenting project with endless updates on Wiki and the blogging was all worthwhile. I've learnt so much and I've met some very incredible individuals like Mr. Brad Franklin Blackstone (Note to Brad: Clearly, I did the module evaulation!) and our foreign friends who make me very ashamed of my paltry range of languages. I'm sure you'd all agree that most of Brad's lessons were very interesting and thought-provoking, to say the least. If only he had taught me thermodyanmics.

Finally, this being the last and final post, thank you all for being part of my experience. See you all around campus! Remember to wave! And Brad, I really do appreciate all the lessons learnt. Even if they were learnt the hard (and painful) way. (:

By the way, good luck to all for the upcoming exams!

★Posted by g.

There are 15 comments!

sherlynn commented at November 14, 2009 at 9:33 PM :

This comment has been removed by the author.

sherlynn commented at November 14, 2009 at 9:34 PM :

HEY GWEN! (:

Yes I have to agree with you that ES2007S was a module sooo different from Science and Engineering ones! It has definitely helped us in areas which our major can't.

And yupp, the whole workload was painful. Hahah. And I will always remember all of us cursing and pulling our hairs while doing up the proposal! :D But I guess it's such experiences that make us grow in terms of time management ain't it? There always must be some time set aside per week just to complete ES2007S assignments like blogposts and others.

But nonetheless, I am truly happy to have known you (and the rest of the Wonderwomen), we made such a great team and I will certainly miss working with you girls. I would always remember you as the vocabulary guru/saviour! (Is that a good thing? :D)

Let's all meet up for lunch someday after the exams yes? (: As for now, study hard! And of course, ACE YOUR EXAMS GIRL!

Much Love!

sherlynn commented at November 14, 2009 at 9:47 PM :

Oh by the way, you were previously in Group 9 not Group 7! You are now in Group 7! :D Minor error!

g. commented at November 14, 2009 at 10:35 PM :

Hi Sherlynn!

Oh yes, I'm so confused! Group 7 it is! Thanks for pointing that out and commenting on my post so quickly!

We will meet for lunch. Until then, please take care and rock the exam halls! Haha.

Cheers
Gwen

Dongfang commented at November 15, 2009 at 7:03 AM :

Hi Gwen,

I always enjoyed your presentation in the class.You have the idea to dress up and good sense of humor when you did it.At least i did not feel painful when listening to your presentation and reading your posts. And on the contrary,they are interesting and enjoyable!

I won't forget how we did the mock interviews to others.Working with you was so fun!Glad to know you in this module!

g. commented at November 15, 2009 at 7:15 AM :

Hi Dongfang!

Yes! We had alot of fun during those interviews, didn't we? Haha.

Thank you for your flattering comments. Now I know I'm fun! Yay.

Cheers
Gwen

Michelle commented at November 15, 2009 at 8:43 AM :

Hello Gwen,

I agree with Dong Fang that your posts are always interesting and a pleasure to read. You always write in a clear and neat fashion, with good grammar, perfect tenses, and whatnots (interesting verbs, maybe?) :) Oh, I like the slides you've created too! haha

This module is certainly one that we will all remember, for it is one course that equips us with the skills needed to take on the working world.

I am glad you're part of my ES2007S experience :) good luck for your exams too!

BOBAG commented at November 15, 2009 at 7:49 PM :

Hey Gwen,
I do feel that breath of fresh air that this course brought, certainly makes classes less dry. I have always thought courses by CBLC are interesting to take. Maybe should consider taking more. ha.

I felt you did bring a level of language ability to the class from the start, and it did help all of us in some way through the semester.

cheers

Joel Chin commented at November 16, 2009 at 12:35 AM :

Hey Gwen,

Painful as it was, I'm sure all of us enjoyed the module one way or another! It seems all the engineers feel this module was worth taking! I'm glad I did!

Thanks for your honest evaluation of yourself! It is true that ES2007S covers so much more than just textbook materials, I too found myself think about EQ and how I can apply these in my daily life.

All the best for your exams!

g. commented at November 16, 2009 at 10:33 AM :

Hi Michelle, Feodor and Joel,

It sure looks like we've all learnt alot in this module. Hopefully, we'll remember everything Brad taught us and bring it to good use. (:

Thank you all for a wonderful ES2007S experience.

Gwen

Jake Nguyen Thanh Long commented at November 17, 2009 at 5:39 AM :

Hey Gwen,

For me, you are very confident. Moreover, I also like the way to talk, very open and natural. There should be no barrier when we were talking at the first time.

Your performance during the course was really good, I think. I have participated a lot in class and you should be very active in your teamwork, I believe.

I am happy to know you and here's me wishing you all the best.

Cheers,

Jake

Brad Blackstone commented at November 17, 2009 at 7:36 AM :

This is truly an excellent reflection, Gwen, and not just for all the accolades. I like the way you dig into your ES experience as far back as when you were in Happy's group (Wasn't it 6?). I like the way you put a human face to the old adage, "no pain no gain." I really like hearing how you were forced to question so many aspects of your self and your behaviors via the topics we covered and our analytical style.

Of course, a communication course that is very much a workshop is no more effective than the characters involved. You guys all rocked on that front, willing and open to explore personality and culture and communication techniques and all sorts of interesting areas of NUS where we could dig up problems.... That's what made this thing special. YOU YOU and YOU!

I cae along for the ride, and very much enjoyed the scenery: Wonderwomen bonding like sisters. JamFep carrying on like a funky married couple. RADS giving us another Asian female perspective, and Rocks getting into the "boy thing" (oh so techy!).

It was fun learning, really, pain and all. You captured that in your post. Well done!

g. commented at November 17, 2009 at 7:56 AM :

Brad

Thank you for your elaborate comments! It must have taken alot of energy to post that given your long day today. (:

Well, I'm glad you came along with us on this rollercoaster ride. It was really nice knowing you.

Gwen

g. commented at November 17, 2009 at 8:09 AM :

Oh, and I'm really really confused which group I was in. :(

Best Website Hosting commented at May 25, 2011 at 3:32 AM :

Thank you for brief explanation for this topic. its fun learning and really painful story. i am interesting to read this blog each and every time.

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