It's time for Goodbye

How time flies. I can't believe 13 weeks have passed, and this module is coming to an end soon.

I've heard alot about this module from my peers before deciding to take it. Reviews had been pretty good and I must say they were all right. I have indeed learnt alot in this 13 weeks which will prove useful for the rest of my life. I believe I would never have learnt as much if I did not take up ES2007.

I can now proudly say that I've prepared for and taught a class on business letters, do up my very own professional cover letter and resume, draft up a proposal and present an idea to an audience of higher authority. All these have truly prepared and equipped me with the necessary skills I need for stepping into the workforce.

The peer teaching gave me the opportunity to come up with creative ways to make a class interesting and it was really useful since I might consider going into teaching.

I never knew that cover letter and resume writing required such professionalism and I indeed learnt quite a deal from these lessons. The writing of the cover letter made me thought through my strengths and weaknesses and it was really beneficial since I am graduating soon and will soon need to write my own cover letter and resume to apply for my very first permanent job.

The interview also gave me an opportunity to experience how it is like to be in an actual interview scenario for I've never been to one before. The proposal writing and oral presentation were definitely the most memorable ones as my group mates and I spent lots of time on it. I now know what is important in a proposal and also importance of the 7Cs as well as non verbal cues.


Class was always interesting with the different comments made every now and then. I think my classmates came from different walks of life and it was indeed fun to see everyone share experiences every now and then. It had been quite a while since I've been to a class where everyone in class knows each other. It just goes to show we did interact during ES classes unlike the normal tutorials where everyone just sits through the tutorial without any interaction. I would definitely miss the classes.

I would here by want to take this opportunity to thank Miss Lim for her guidance along the way. And also wish my dearest classmates good luck for exams. It had been great knowing you all. :)

Reflection on Oral Presentation

I want to take this opportunity here to applaud the team members of J.A.V for their hard work and effort. The whole team definitely put in lots of effort to pull everything off. I must say it was no easy feat to complete all these.

We spent quite a bit of time settling on the theme and look of our presentation, hoping to make it look as professional as possible. I must say I was really pleased with how the whole presentation slides turned out. There was a major revamp on the slides layout and we did lots of editing to all of our slides too. The slides I thought were informative together with the speeches we delivered. Neither too wordy nor lacking in information.

However, if I could do it all over again, I would have spoken louder and calmed myself down during the presentation to better deliver what I had to. When I knew at the 18th minute that I was only left with two minutes to finish up whatever I had to say, I panicked and definitely cut short my intended speech. And that also made me sound rather panicky I felt. I definitely could have calmed myself down and presented myself in a more confident manner. The volume was not to my advantage too. I guess it was because I was too nervous and hence spoke in a slightly lower volume. I truly regret that and if I had a chance, I would certainly spoke louder.

As for the non verbals, all I could say is I knew I had no eye contact, or minimal eye contact with the audience. As I was too nervous, I blanked out quite a few times during the presentation, making me had to look at my cue cards constantly. A good presenter ought to have good eye contact with the audience, and I failed terribly at that. It all boiled down to the nervousness and I’m sure I would do an even better job if I had prepared myself to the max beforehand.

This oral presentation was absolutely nerve wrecking and had me worrying over it for quite some time. But, I’m glad it’s all over now.

Evaluating Intercultural Behaviour

Hello classmates! I apologise for this late posting of blog post #5 for I had misread the announcement that was posted.

I could not exactly recall any particular incident where a intercultural conflict took place. However, I did remember reading up on a piece of news about this Taiwanese girl studying in Paris who went on her own "quest" to kiss 100 men while still in Paris.


I went on to her personal blog to read more on her "quest" which I found rather interesting.

This girl started on her "quest" in July and as of now, she has kissed a total of 54 men. She has made headlines since her quest was posted on her blog and many (mainly Asians) questioned her motive for going on this "quest". Many also scorn her for embarking on this journey. But none of these deterred her from continuing on her “quest”.

A quick scan through her blog will show you that she has indeed gone around Paris to ask for a kiss from different men, all whom are Caucasians.

This has led me to ponder about one thing. Would she have done the same thing if she was in Taiwan and not Paris? Or rather if she was in another Asian country and not a Western country.

I believe that she was spurred on to continue because of the spontaneous responses she received from the Parisians. Taken off from a blog, “As a francophone, let me say that smooching isn’t really an issue for us. Sure, kissing on the lips a bit more intimate, but not that much.” It’s apparent that kissing is not an issue in Paris, but the whole situation would probably differ if it was in her native country.

With this, I would like to ask the guys in class who are all Asians, should this girl approach you to help her on her “quest”, would you agree to help her out? ;)

PS: you can visit her blog to read more about her quest if you’re interested. :)

Personal statement

“Random acts of kindness make the world go round.” – Anonymous

I chanced upon this meaningful quote while I was watching the movie “Evan Almighty”. It taught me a valuable lesson which I thought that everyone should learn. I feel that the world is in a devastated state now. With all the wars and natural disasters happening, it’s really hard to find peace that once settled on this planet.

Though I have never been interested in politics, humane issues have always bothered and appalled me. I most certainly cannot do anything to solve issues like such, but I definitely can do something to make the world a better one. Like the quote above, random acts of kindness make the world go round.

Since then, I have made the quote my personal motto. During my term of studies in the National University of Singapore, I joined the NUS Students Science Club as a management committee member, taking the role of Science Volunteer Corps Director. I shared my motto with the committee and we came to a consensus that it was an appropriate motto for our committee. Hence I planned events with that motto in mind and strove to help the adopted beneficiaries in whatever ways we could. Besides helping the needy like the elderly, the physically disabled and children, I also placed focus on animals.

a picture of the "ark" my committee member for an event.
A Random Kindness.

There are certainly many acts of kindness that we can perform to different groups of individuals, and my aim in life is to help those in need while I can.

Studying Biology will allow me to help the nature and animals, and volunteering as a curriculum allows me to help people in need.

Quoted from the late Hans Christian Anderson, “Just living is not enough... one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.” I believe that living for oneself is not enough. To me, the sunshine that gives me happiness would probably be derived from the joy of helping. The freedom to be able to cast aside all prejudices and discrimination and lend a helping hand with no lines drawn will give me the strength to achieve my aim.

Job Application Letter

Pow Audrey
Block 128 Pasir Ris Street 11
#04-341 Singapore 510128
Mobile: (+65) 96449807

6 September 2009

Wildlife Reserves Singapore Pte Ltd
80 Mandai Lake Road
Singapore Zoological Gardens
Singapore 729826

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing in to express my interest in the position of a Research and Conservation Officer offered on the Singapore Zoo website (http://recruit.zoo.com.sg/wrs/). I am currently an undergraduate of the National University of Singapore, expecting to receive my Bachelor of Science in Life Sciences in 2010.

During my course of undergraduate studies, I attended many field trips to nature reserves, parks and the zoo and learnt much about the nature and wildlife. I have also taken courses on academic writing and communication skills which enhanced my writing skills as well as communicating skills, which are both essential for the position of a Research and Conservation Officer. Also, having volunteered as the conservation ambassador at the Singapore Zoo in my JC years, I possess the skills that will prepare me for the challenges that I may face in animal-related jobs. Furthermore, I had collaborated with the education department of the Singapore Zoo as the Science Volunteer Corps director to hold a mini animal exhibition in campus to spread the awareness for animals.

I am passionate about the nature and wildlife and I would love to be able to work in a renowned wildlife institute in the world. The strengths that I possess, together with the passion that I share for the nature and wildlife will allow me to make a strong and immediate impact at Wildlife Reserves Singapore.

I would appreciate the opportunity to meet with you to discuss my qualifications and the possibility of joining the wildlife team. Please find enclosed my resume for your review. I will follow up this letter with a phone call on Friday, 11th September to ensure that my resume has reached you and I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your time.

Yours sincerely,




Pow Audrey

What Conflicts Can Lead To

Interpersonal conflicts are so common in our lives that we will never need to fear the lack of them to “hype up” our lives. Since they are such a common sight, we need to know how to resolve them effectively.


If we were to fight and battle to resolve every single conflict we have, we would be battered before we even reach adulthood.

I’ve been involved in countless of conflicts with people around me, but this particular conflict left a rather deep impression in me.

This incident happened while I was in JC and it was between me and an "ex-good friend" whom I shall name Ellen. I belonged to a clique of 5 with 4 other friends (inclusive of Ellen) and I shall name the 3 other friends Fion, Gina and Helen.

The problem with having a clique of odd number is that one will always be left out because the others will always be in pairs. Say for eg, taking a bus and going for lab sessions. So needless to say, I was the one who often got left out. To add on, E, F, G and H were considered high-profiled in school. So obviously being the low profiled one, I often felt left out while I was with them.

So the incident happened when Ellen who was attached then, had a crush on this guy from another class, whom had a thing going on for Ellen too. Not wanting the guy to lose interest in her, she decided that it was best not to say anything about her boyfriend then, and that included not letting him know that she was attached.

On that fateful day, I was chatting with a dance mate over some random stuff and chanced upon the topic on Ellen and the guy. I had a slip of tongue and leaked out Ellen's status. It was only then did I realise I had just done something "dreadful". I instantly "begged" my friend to not breathe a word out because that guy happened to be her friend as well.

Feeling guilty, I confessed to Ellen later that night about the incident and apologised profusely. She got angry even though I had apologised and assured her that my dance mate would not breathe a word out. She hung up on me and refused to talk to me. I didn’t join the clique the next day in school because I knew I would be out casted. Fion, Gina and Helen did not make any effort to get me to join them. I know things would be different if it was either F, G or H who spilled the beans. They're after all the high profiled ones in school.

So that's all our friendship was worth.

I did not bother to confront her because I knew there was no use. I made no attempts to salvage the friendship either because I knew she did not cherish the friendship we had. It may be my fault on my end, but I did not feel that there wasn’t a need to go to the extremes.

However, I did question myself about whether I made the right choice by confessing to her. If I had just pretended that nothing happened, would we still be friends now? On the other hand, if something as trivial as this can break up the friendship, would some other event break up the friendship if not for the former?

And to end off, here’s an interesting quote. “You cannot say you've lost a friend. If a friendship is capable of ending, it is because it never existed." How true is this?

Effective Communication - The Key to Success

Effective communication. There is so much that one can talk about with regards to that topic but yet as this is not an essay that's to be written, it's best that I focus on just a few points of effective communication.

For that, I went online to do some research about effective communication and miscommunication and then came across this rather interesting shot that I would like to share with the class.

(click to enlarge)

Effective communication? No. Miscommunication? Definitely.

Communication has made its stand as an important process since the ancient times and so has it in this 21st century. The only difference now between now and then is the means of communication. Through communication, we transfer information to another party through various means.

In this era, we practise communication through our verbal means such as speaking, singing and even by the tone of voice as well as non verbal physical means, such as body language, eye contact, sign language and even writing.

So why is it so important that we need to know about effective communication? It isn't just any form of communication but rather, a two-way process - sending the right message that is also being correctly received and understood by the other person.

It may seem like an easy process that every one of us practice every day but it is precisely because it is seen as a easy task to do, that we often underestimate the importance and difficulty of effective communication.

Take the above image for example, a message that was full of different points was eventually toned down to a completely distorted one with no existence of the actual meaning. We can see how important it is for us to practise effective communication in order to avoid situations like these.

In my perspective, I think that the one important aspect that contributes to effective communication is the right tone that is being used when communicating. Other than the process of transmitting the right message word for word, I think that the tone that is used when speaking plays a rather huge role in effective communication.

I have this problem of not being able to control my emotions and feelings well and that really affects the way I speak to people sometimes. For example, I may just want to ask a very casual and harmless question like “What are you doing later?” but that that may turn out to be a hostile question if I were to ask it in an irritated tone just because I wasn’t feeling good at that point of time. I know that this is a huge problem because I am really sensitive to emotions expressed by the people around me. Though I know that they may be feeling down or moody, the tone of their speech will still affect me if it’s a negative tone. Knowing how it may affect people, all the more I ought to change and overcome this weakness of mine.

Having taken a module “Dynamics of Interpersonal Effectiveness” 2 semesters back, I have learnt a lot more on effective communication, but still, changes takes time and though I have toned down quite a bit with regards to the problem above, I’m still working on it to fully overcome the weakness.

No one likes miscommunications. I believe that effective communication makes one a successful person. There may be barriers to effective communication, but by overcoming them, I’m sure we'll all be one step closer to being successful persons.