Back to "High School" Memories (:

Time flies and in a blink of an eye, 13 weeks passed! Looking back at our first posts where everyone was looking forward to the module with anticipation, wondering what awaits us to where we are now – a “high-school” class where everyone is comfortable of speaking up and voicing out our opinions in this little cosy class of ours. I believe everyone would agree with me that we have come a long way – from zero to hero! *a pat on our back* (:

Indeed, the reviews on the module were all right, the workload was really intensive and overwhelming! However, the immense takeaways from the module, the life skills learnt, the memories and friendships forged together with everyone have made it all worthwhile. I must say I am really glad that 13weeks back, I made this choice to take up this challenge to step out of my comfort zone, taking this module alone as the 6^th module. I have gained much life-long skills that could bring us a long way and experienced personal growth as an individual.

As I recall the first ES2007S lesson we attended, Ms lim had a hard time getting our responses as we were all cold and unresponsive especially on a Monday morning. She has to constantly say “Come on come on, I know it’s a Monday morning ~ this is an interactive class. It’s not a one way lecture class.” Yes! This is indeed very true and what makes our class so special. It does away completely from the conventional, boring lecture-styles we have attended. Instead, it focuses its attention on collaborative learning through the sharing of ideas as well as picking up the skills of effective communications along the way for our group project assignments and topics discussion in class. It is all thanks to Ms lim’s encouragements and never-dying enthusiasm that fuelled our participation. Thanks to the ice-breaker activity that warmed us up and gelled the class together. I believe we started our journey of practicing effective communication in class at the very moment that we are engaged in this activity. As little it may seemed, I felt that this little activity allowed us to utilise our skills of active listening when we listened intently to the introduction of the classmates we first met in class :)

Besides, we also practiced EQ and sensitivity where everyone wrote positive first impression of each other. This definitely builds a rapport among the classmates. :D I was caught by surprise the dynamic and interactive way in which the lesson was conducted.

There were many firsts for me in this module. First time creating a blog, blogging(to consolidate our thoughts and express our opinions through written communications), first time conducting a peer teaching session(Ao Yun, Mark and Akash *TINKKK*), first time writing a cover letter, first time using wiki(platform for us to collaborate online), first time doing proposal within such a short timespan(Team Clover rocks!<3), first time carrying out mock job interview(Terence, Kelvin, Ella, it was fun role playing and interrogating each other isn’t it?:D *laughs out loud*). It amazes me how much we have done within a short amount of time :)

Overtime, through these experiences, I have gradually improved the essential life skills of being an engaging speaker, a more active listener, and learnt how important it was for both verbal and non-verbal communications to complement each other. Peer teaching and our research project allowed us to practice what we have learnt and put them to good use as effective communications, mutual understanding(especially when everyone comes from different background and is very busy with our other modules and projects), and team work is definitely the fundamentals of a group project. These imperative skills acquired would definitely aid me in becoming a better communicator to build better interpersonal relationships.

As weeks passed, I gradually found a sense of belonging to this class. From stranger, we became classmates and friends!:D Even though, I dread waking up at 6am in the morning, I looked forward to every lesson we had and I enjoyed every bit of the interaction with my classmates(YES, YOU!:) who is reading the post now. You are part of these great memories forged that keeps my motivation for the class going)!(: I like the class dynamics and atmosphere when the class communicates. The openness and the different view point of each and everyone allowed me to view and understand things at different perspectives especially when our class has a good mix of science and engine students on top of being a multi-national one!

I especially like the lesson where we discussed about intercultural behaviour, I gained many insights on the intercultural behaviours. Different cultural backgrounds give us a different exposure to things and as a result we reacted in different ways due to the different perspectives. Thus, effective communications can only be foster when two parties put in efforts and have a mutual understanding. Thanks to Ms Lim for taking the efforts each time to mix us up in different groups such that I am lucky to have a chance to interact with everyone in class! :D

Also, I am really thankful to my peer teaching group; Mark, Ao Yun and Akash and my dear girls-power team; Xiu Qin, Doris and Chen Yan! :D I really appreciate the efforts that we have put in to cooperate with each other despite the packed schedule, to build a team with such great team spirit and rapport! :D

Every beginning has an end. It is really sad that to our “high-school” class has to come to an end. :’( I treasure the memories and friendship the class had forged thus far. I am thankful to all my dearest classmates and Ms Lim for all their constructive feedbacks during each of the lesson components and for providing so much motivation through encouragements. :)

Lastly, I would like to end off with one of the two quotes that I have shared with everyone in class:

“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough, we must do.” ~ Leonardo da vinci

Knowing the fundamentals of effective communication is definitely not enough, if we do not put the skills that we have learnt from this course, the past 13weeks would have gone to waste. The last activity that Ms Lim went through with us has greatly enlightened us. Let us all start these life skills from the ones who we hold dearest to. (: I wish everyone all the best for the final exams and future endeavours! JIAYOU! (:

I have never regretted taking this module ES2007 (:

I LOVE GROUP ONE. THE "HIGH-SCHOOL" CLASS! <3

P.S: THANKYOU EVERYONE FOR ALL THE MEMORIES! (: IWILL MISS YOU ALL! ):

Lets have a class gathering together after our exams end yea? :D Please tell me when is the last day of your exams when you are commenting on my post so that I can try to collate a common date! :D