A chapter of our lives

Photo: The smiling faces post-interview

The classroom activities that we have done for this module are aplenty and for this last post, I shall focus on my learning in terms of what I have gained from the activities that I have participated in this communications class. I believe for many teachers, the course of the lessons like a process where classroom interaction and relationship building take place. However, what determines the actual change in the attitude towards the class, I feel would be the start and end impression that is created by and left upon by all the actors in a setting. Here, I'll just delve into the most impressionable ones that took place right at the beginning and at the end of this module.

The start - writing our first impression on the card stuck onto others' backs, arranging ourselves by birth order, island personal branding activity, drawing a diagram with one describing the picture - all of which hinged upon verbal and non-verbal communication skills. It was especially a very unusual experience for me as I enrolled in this class without knowing anyone. I must particularly highlight the island personal branding activity that I paired with Alvin. For me, standing before the class to brand myself through acting or various comedic moves was definitely outside my comfort zone. The extra effort put in by Chee Kian, Hui Qi, Josephine and Terence tickled us pink and showed me to a very different way of entertaining in a classroom setting. This, I believe has directly, or indirectly shaped the way I present myself to my kids in class - to be more than just a teacher.

The end - personality test, peer assessment of personality and the role stripping exercise were very introspective activities. The challenge for the personality test was really to shortlist 10 qualities to describe myself (10 is too big a number?). The role stripping exercise was however the one that I enjoyed the most for the concluding lesson as it got me thinking about my life priorities at this moment. I find it especially meaningful and I would love to re-evaluate my goals in life one day after I step out into the working force.

所谓"天下无不散之宴席，有聚必有散" 
As the saying goes, all parties must come to an end, when there is a meeting, there is separation. It has been my pleasure to meet and work with each and everyone in our class of 12, and Ms Lim. We have learnt a lot, shared the pain, cried for joy, and finally overcome this arduous journey together - each being very integral to this whole ES experience. I hereby express my deepest appreciation towards everybody for this phenomenal adventure! Cheers everyone! (:

Video: Graduation by Vitamin C

The last swan song

You might wish to play the video below as you read my post :D

---

The world's (our) oyster
- The Merry Wives of Windsor (II, ii, 2-5)
Being the third and last team to present, my team had the luxury of time and wealth of sights from the presentations of Team Bookies and Fizahuilegang. Knowing the need for details and experience from the peer teaching sessions helped to expedite and streamline our thought process during our meeting to consolidate the presentation material.

For many of us, I believe that we have benefited tremendously from the recent weeks of intensive content lessons on oral presentation. Things we learnt like the progressive disclosure technique, parallelism, and the 6 by 7 slide theories are perhaps things that we may have seen or have a gut feeling about through our accumulated years of presentation background, but lack a formal expression to ground them to.

"I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano,
A stage where every man must play a part,
And mine's a sad one."
- The Merchant of Venice (I, i, 77-79)
My slides weren't too many. I kept a mental note to not fall into the previous peer teaching situation of speaking too quickly. Practices clocked timings of approximately 4:20 indicated ample buffer time too. With everything set in place, it was just up to the actual showtime. I consciously made the effort to remain engaged throughout my teammates' presentation - something I learnt from peer teaching review too.

Albeit the voluminous amount of effort put in to ensure proper visuals and a relatively formulated speech text, my performance was indeed regrettable. I stumbled and fumbled upon my words. Perhaps due to the ill condition I was in, my mind was actually at point-blank. Deep within me, there was a momentarily feeling of a lost cause. Disregarding the fact that the presentation was worth 20%, it was upsetting to know that I've never performed this way before. I didn't like to see the dismayed faces in my audience seated below, not at all.

Fortunately, maybe? The concluding half of the presentation with the 'dragonboat' illustration and rounding off statement helped turn the tides around a little. I particularly liked how I ended off the presentation by giving thanks, welcomed my team back to the centre and opened the floor for questions. The unscripted question and answer session tested my awareness of the subject matter. I believe that I delivered my answers to Hui Qi's and Malathi's questions to the best of my ability then.

"What's gone and what's past help
Should be past grief"
- The Winter's Tale (III, ii, 223-234)
All that's said and done cannot be reversed. Overall, I feel that my presentation merits in the way it was conveyed through very useful visuals. Metaphors, acronyms (initialisms), and audience involvement are strategies that I have actually adopted for my presentation.

However, my state of health then probably couldn't express my intended tone and other non-verbal cues as much as I would have wanted it to be. I do not blame my illness however, and in fact I thank it for giving me an opportunity to learn how I may actually perform in poor health.

Once again, I would like to thank my readers who formed my audience group on Monday. Thank you for being so gracious towards my non-stop coughing. And friends, we have finally overcome what we once thought of as the impossible! :D Here's a celebratory classical piece for everyone!

Video: Canon in D major