A Final Reflection on My Sojourn in ES2007S

Sometimes, perhaps, we are allowed to get lost that 

we may find the right person to ask directions of.  

~Robert Brault

On 23rd August 2010, Wan Ting and I had decided to drop a physics module after struggling with the module for two weeks. I still remember how lost we were back then, not knowing which module to choose from a long list of modules. Recalling a senior once told us that there was this module called ES2007S which can benefit us greatly especially during job hunting, we decided to give it a try. He told us he was under the guidance of a teacher called Ms Lim and he recommended us to go for her class but Wan Ting and I have no idea of how to trace which tutorial group is conducted by Ms Lim. Running out of time, we decided to randomly go to a class to express our interest to take the module. Sometimes, I can't help but to believe in fate. I couldn't believe that we have actually registered for Ms Lim's class. I can still remember vividly how Ms Lim "warned" Wan Ting and I about the heavy workload that ES2007S can impose on us. But we just nodded our heads and determined to give it a try. On the same day, 23rd August 2010, we have become the family member of ES2007s Tutorial Group 5 and as we wish, under Ms Lim's guidance.


Even before our first lesson, we were tasked to make up for the blog post that we have missed out for the previous week. Back in hall, I quickly set up my first ever blog and was excited to write for my first blog post. I still can remember how I rack my brain for ideas to write for my first blog post and I have spent nearly two hours writing it! Gosh, this shouldn't be the way! For succeeding blog entry, I changed my way of writing . I will let my thought run free and make a draft out of it. Working on the draft, I will join fragments of sentences together and craft my blog entry into a nice, little story of my production. Every time after making a blog entry, I look forward to read comments left by Ms Lim and classmates. Now, I start to develop a liking in writing blog. I feel happy when I am blogging as I can pour out my thoughts and feelings and transform them into words. In the song Words sang by Boyzone, there is this line that says, it's only words, and words are all I have, to take your heart away. Writing blog makes me starts to appreciate the beauty of words in capturing people's heart.  


I am more at ease with the idea of rehearsing now. Last time, I was afraid of the idea of having rehearsal as I preferred rehearsing to myself instead of embarrassing myself in front of people. Now, I approach my friends to be my audience and the more, the merrier! =) My skill in preparation of slides has also improved tremendously. Before taking ES2007S, I feel bogged down whenever I need to prepare slides for presentation. I do not know how to begin and how to design my slides to guide me and the audience along the presentation. After taking this module, I can now prepare my presentation slides within a day and make full use of the slides to add value to my presentation. 


Friendship is what I cherish most. Never had I attended a class that make me become so bonded with fellow classmates. We have lunch together after lessons; we have fun together and nevertheless, we work hard for the projects and homeworks. I thank all the projects and assignments for making us meet more and grow bonded. I thank all the homeworks for making me learn wisdom and better manage my time.  I thank everyone and everything that happen in my life that make my sojourn in ES2007S tutorial group 5 such a memorable one.   


I must say that this is the most beautiful decision that I have made in this semester, having taken the module that imparts me life skills and knowledge that are beneficial in my life, and having met with all the wonderful people in the class. Sometimes, perhaps, we are allowed to get lost that we may find the right person to ask directions of. If not for the lost moment, I wouldn't have the chance to meet with the right persons, i.e. ES2007S, Ms Lim and all classmates of ES2007S, to ask directions of.

A Reflection on Oral Presentation

4th November marks my BIG day together with team Cap5.0. Any form of presentation in front of people is always a BIG thing to me as I am not a great speaker and tend to become nervous and forget my lines. Realizing this, I know that I will need to work doubly hard to make my presentation to be at least passable. Therefore, preparation IS crucial. I still remember what Ms Lim said during last Thursday class, if you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail. No, I do not want to see myself and our group fail and one more thing for sure, we are not going to regret after the oral presentation just because we have not given our best in preparation. With this common goal in mind, we have practiced together as a group everyday since Monday. Along the way, we comment on each other's slides and oral presentation and we see improvements each day. I can still remember how I  stumbled again and again over my presentation lines during our first rehearsal as I was still pretty unprepared but my team mates kept cheering me on. This makes me determined to practice hard on my own thus back in hall, I make it a point to ask my friends to be my audience and practice in front of them. Each and every single practice is a boost to my confidence and I must say that, practice makes perfect!

As for my oral presentation slides, I scrimp and save on words and invest heavily on diagrams and graphic to enhance my presentation so that the audience will not be bored by slides dotted with plenty words. Doing so makes my slides look colorful with very few words which might not be able to guide the audience if they miss out what I have said.

Turning back the clock to fifteen past twelve this noon to reflect on my oral presentation, I remember vividly how my hand is shaking when using the laser pointer. So my number one point on the list of weaknesses still, is to CONQUER FEAR. Second point to note, I think I was slightly fast in my speaking pace as I was too focused on delivering my presentation in the given time. Point number three, I still need to work more on facial expression and gesture, especially when today I was holding mouse on one hand and laser pointer on the other hand and thus, I appeared clumsy when gesturing. However, there are a few encouraging improvements compared to my previous presentation. I did vary my tone when emphasizing a few important points and have more eye contacts with the audience given the feedbacks from peer teaching. My resolution for presentation in the future: I want to amuse my audience with my presentation. Hopefully I can develop a great sense of humor so that next time when I were to give a presentation again, I can entice my audience with jokes and have their smiles plastered on their faces. =)