Having commented on a few of my classmates work, I've decided to share two of my comment contents here! They can be found on Hui Qi and Jo's comments section!
Firstly, Hui Qi mentioned her apprehension towards public presentation. I've dedicated the song called No Fear from Disney's Swan Princess to her!
Video: No Fear from Disney's Swan Princess
Note that I've placed a different version on Hui Qi's comment link
On a more serious note, here's a Chinese character written in its older form for 'listen' (听) which was placed on Jo's blog comment.
There, I wrote about how this character has a very interesting relationship to the meanings of its components. It has a ear (耳), a pair of eyes (目), and undivided (一) attention (心 ). The beauty of language don't you agree?
Communication involves a two-way exchange whereby participants
make use of different tools to share ideas. I feel that communication skills
are not innate, but it is an acquired behaviour. From young, we observe
how one ‘talks’ to another and mimic them. Interestingly, many non-verbal forms of
communication usually go unnoticed in life. The two videos below on
autism and animals illustrates 2 forms of communication that I have learnt about in university over the past two years!
Video: Autistic communication
Video: Bees using vector calculus to communicate the location of nectar
Communication is
therefore a reciprocal act; one conveys, the other digests. It enables and allows for a mutual agreement and
understanding. We as individuals communicate on different platforms for
differing purposes — to pitch an idea, to express emotions and thoughts, to
build social relations, etc. Communication is thus key the fabrication of societal
relations (see Ken’s tip #48 on communication).
Video: Ken's dating tips - Communication
So what then defines
an effective communication? I
suppose that’s when one’s intended meaning is translated accurately in other’s
received interpretation. As living beings, we communicate, we convey, and we relate
our idea(l)s. I’m sure most of my readers here would concur that it occurs in
every part of daily life, even in the slightest way. A failure to communicate
would impair one’s empathetic awareness. People engage in their senses –
visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile and gustatory - for meaningful exchanges.
More importantly, as a
current tutor and a future educator, it is essential (and required?) for me to
be equipped with such interpersonal skills as I am and will be dealing with
people. My present experiences with these little ones made me realise that I take students beyond their academia and also play an actor role in
their lives. It is no wonder why people say that 'a teacher is for life'. It is therefore important to know the rules of the game on having
effective exchanges and how my perceptions, judgement, etc could construct
barriers to communicating effectively, therefore aiding or deteriorating
relationships.
Video: Priorities of life - The multiple roles an individual plays
That's not all. I am not just a teacher to my students, but I also take on multiple roles in life alike everyone else - a student, a sibling, a daughter, granddaughter, friend, close friend, buddy, colleagues, teammates, etc. A person has only 24 hours every day. Communication hence needs to be effective for us to maximize our time spent on subjects and objects. We need (and should) allocate enough time to the various engagements we have for fulfilling sharing sessions to happen.
Photo: The importance of pacing
Lastly, communication
is not just a monologue where one rattles. We listen and pace with others in
terms of the content, posture and language with empathy. This thus creates a
harmonious setting for individuals to ease into a situation where they could be
open with you and to you.
In all, it is my wish
for everyone in this ES class to learn and grow together as we hail the beautiful
times, support with constructive criticism and build rapport as classmates
before we venture into our next milestone in life!
