Feeling grateful & hopeful

Woke up in the middle of night feeling grateful & hopeful. <3


It was an incredible feeling to feel like being truly alive again because I started to have dreams -

Things I want to do




Thank you to people surrounding me who are making me feel this way again.  :)


Will be really busy!

But I'll try to come here and update when I have time.


Til then,

xoxo

Done for week 1 & 2 GER1000 Quiz!!

Woke up when my mum and sis were already going to head back to their own home. Mum bought some groceries for me.

Spent 5 very stressful hours in watching week 2's webcast for GER1000, understanding the concepts there, analysing the problems given, summarizing the the entire content and also did quiz 1 & 2.

After studying for GER1000, I felt like going to the bar, listen to music and wind down my brain processes.

Even my Korean drama can't save me today.


I'll try doing some yoga now! Maybe that might help. >:(

I got invited to speak!!!!

I can't really describe my feelings with regards to this e-mail... My emotion has been a roller coaster ever since I read it. From feelings of shock, to extreme irrational fear, to happiness and then to excitement. And this roller coaster type of feeling has been randomly repeating in different intensities every now and then!!!!

It has been silly for me to ask some of my friends for affirmations because I felt like I was inadequate enough to undertake this... when at the end of the day.. I know it is really important to be believe in yourself no matter what others say and go for the good things in life!

I am so so so so honoured and thankful for this opportunity.



This means so much for me.



"Don't die without embracing the daring adventure your life is meant to be. You may go broke. You may experience failure and rejection repeatedly... But these are all milestones along the path of a life lived courageously. They are your private victories, carving a deeper space within you to be filled with an abundance of joy, happiness and fulfilment. So go ahead and feel the fear - then summon the courage to follow your dreams anyway. That is strength undefeatable" -Steve Pavlina

"Remember the cost of fear is less than the cost of regret" 
-Christopher Gergen

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
-Mark Twain

“所谓勇敢， 并非毫无恐惧， 二十尽管恐惧，却仍然行动。”
-Mark Twain


对的，我们最需要克服的恐惧就是恐惧本身。 我们最大的敌人不是别人，而是自己。

加油May!!!!你可以的。


---



Times like this, makes me want to listen to one of my favourite songs of all times -



"Yellow"

Look at the stars,
Look how they shine for you,
And everything you do,
Yeah, they were all yellow.

I came along,
I wrote a song for you,
And all the things you do,
And it was called "Yellow".

So then I took my turn,
Oh what a thing to have done,
And it was all yellow.

Your skin,
Oh yeah your skin and bones,
Turn into
Something beautiful,
Do you know,
You know I love you so,
You know I love you so.

I swam across,
I jumped across for you,
Oh what a thing to do.
'Cause you were all yellow,

I drew a line,
I drew a line for you,
Oh what a thing to do,
And it was all yellow.

Your skin,
Oh yeah your skin and bones,
Turn into
Something beautiful,
Do you know,
For you I'd bleed myself dry,
For you I'd bleed myself dry.

It's true,
Look how they shine for you,
Look how they shine for you,
Look how they shine for,
Look how they shine for you,
Look how they shine for you,
Look how they shine.

Look at the stars,
Look how they shine for you,
And all the things that you do.

Sweetheart, sweetheart~
I feel happy because I know you will be happy for me
Thank you for leaving me so much of your loving, sincere encouragements before you have been gone. That's the legacy you left behind.  

Last day of tuition with Kayvier

Today marks the last day of tuition with Kayvier, a student whom I have been teaching for up to 2 years now. I didn't expect him to hug me before I leave! He also gave me a small box of chocolates.

I thought we didn't have much attachment with each other because I had been adopting the kind of  "straight-to-business"  stance during all the tuitions with him. (Cos his mum has very, very high expectations for his results) Also, he was mostly cantankerous in lessons. Paradoxically... there seems to be a type of lingering feeling between us when we said our "last words" to each other.

----


Returned home to do my CL2280 translation assignment. (English -> Chinese) An article reporting on the world's economy. It was very tricky... Thanks to a friend who guided me quite a bit since he has some experience on that. Took me about 5.5 hours to finish it although the article was a short one. It was because I wasn't very familiar with all the Chinese economic jargon so I had to research related Chinese articles to get a "feel" for it before I start doing.

I've got a long day at work tomorrow!

Ending off with my favourite picture of the day haha

Nights >:)

Good weather today!:D

The weather is really good today - the sun is not intense and the air is so breezy. It was a joy to ride my baby honda pcx today :P

Had tuitions that spanned from around 4 to 11 (Including travelling time) and I was so physically tired by the time I reach home.

I didn't have enough time to eat much during my short break at 6pm and I starved til I reach home at 11 :(

The consoling thing is that I got to eat my favourite twister fries as my sis and I decided to walk to nearby macdonalds to buy those to eat tgt :D

I'm just done studying for about 2 hours. There are so many studying workload & assignments I have to clear!!!! 

For now I'm mentally too tired to continue. 

* I wanna watch my korean drama before I sleep now *

Cheese in a Trap, here I come!!

Totally loving that drama now - it depicts the life of a female university student who has to juggle with the demands of her studies, financial woes, and relationships with her friends 

Relates to me so much.

This is a picture of my mom and her friend at her annual company dinner. My mum is so cute in white specs, white dress and white handbag and showing a two sign lololol

Love this picture so much haha my mum looks so happy

My sis always sleeps when she is being asked to study.

*Shakes head* Every time I ask her to study, she will fall sleep.

Best is she can sleep with her hands holding the book upright like that for so long, haha!!

Don't know to laugh or to cry.

Today I went for school for the 2nd week of NM2220 (Introduction to Media Writing) lecture at 8am - I thoroughly enjoyed the insights that the lecturer has provided and expounded on what the textbook teaches us. She provides many relevant and up-to-date news to illustrate her points. She gave a few really interesting perceptions on which angle we can approach on writing an article catered for different kinds of audience.

For my first assignment, I have to choose a news article from the past month and do a reaction piece to it. Upon rummaging the stack of Straits Times' newspaper I have at home, I found one article that particularly interests me - the rising price of COE for motorcycles (Or the decreasing price of COE for cars). I have cut out the article and thought about the possible angles and ways to do this - to make my write-up seems more "balanced" but I'm having difficulties analysing the numerous data from LTA to convert them into more relatable format to express in the articles for the moment. 

Hopefully the tutor in my next week's tutorial could guide me on that.  Ahhh yes, I'm also having worries on how to find the contacts of the relevant stakeholders and approach them for interviews. I hope the lecturer can guide more on that next week instead of focusing on the way we can write our news articles. 

Just an hour ago, I finished watching the webcasted lecture of NM2101 (Theories of communication) and man, was I so enraptured by the concepts and content taught there. I heard from reviews that this module is a pretty theoretical and dry module, which can be pretty obvious from the name of this module as well... But this lecturer really made every concept seems so enthralling! >:D

I'm someone who always falls asleep when it comes to historical stuff. (In the previous sem, I took up EU1101 (European History) and I slept in every lecture uncontrollably) 

But this time round, it's different. I am so intrigued by how history shapes communication this discipline as a major of study - how communication discipline started from the World War.

The way Nazis utilized the various propaganda techniques was absolutely fascinating and mind-blowing that I can't help but to think, wow, so this was how they manage to convince people to sacrifice their lives for the country. And the "people" referred here, is an EXTREMELY large number of people involved in the world war. 

The lecturer also showed us a speech done by Steve Jobs when he was very much younger and in that short 4 minutes speech, he used almost all the most effective propaganda techniques -

If I were to listen to this speech matter-of-factly, I would have never realised how elusive these powerful persuasion tactics can be so easily overshadowed by the overall content of his speech.

\

Okay so I'm also currently taking a Psychology module (PL1101E) and the things taught there somehow really matches well with the things taught in NM2101E. There are connections everywhere. I can now understand why communication is actually a discipline developed from other social sciences disciplines including psychology XD

The previous module I have taken in sem 1 (NM1101 - Intro to Communication and new media) has some content that overlaps with NM2101 though -  I'm expecting a more detailed analysis of the content since NM2101 is a higher level module than that. So we'll see as the lessons come along. 

I'm pretty much enjoying every module that I am taking now (including GER1000 and CL2280) 

and  I really, really think...

I made the right choice to major in communication :)

Can't imagine if I am studying something else and studying that thing for the sake of studying only... and even have to study a long 4 years in uni.. That idea stinks. :P

 

Tired, tired, tired

Went for two tuition today - Celine's & Jovan's.

And then head back home. Showered, eaten, done some household chores and then studied.
Eczema on my face is getting worse :(

Just a really mundane day today

Days like this make me miss sweetheart even more.
My mundane days were never mundane when he was around.

I feel like I'm breathing but I'm not living.

Everyday this mantra keeps repeating in my head: tomorrow will be better, tomorrow will be better, tomorrow will be better. Emotions come and go. Emotions come and go. Emotions come and go.




Some days I work passionately thinking that I can make a huge difference in my students' lives - being so enthusiastic, full of energy and cheery.

Some days parents' expectations push me beyond the realms of my passion and I have to unleash that really austere, aloof sides in me towards my students.

It has been years that I have been wondering... can there ever be a balance?

I don't like to be a fierce teacher that my students will hate, but it can't be helped that the parents are pushing me too much. If there is anything that I dislike the most about my job, this must be it.


I believe there is something bigger in life waiting for me to reach them rather than indulging in this conflicting career crisis I am facing.

 Where are you and what are you, the bigger thing in my life?

15/1/2016 - Bought my first most expensive bag from Samsonite

Since a very very long time ago, although I like to buy things, I have always been a very "cheapskate" person who always buy very cheap things only. Cheap bags, cheap shoes, cheap jeans etc. But as time passes by, I got annoyed by the fact that these cheap things are not durable in the long term. 

With a leap of faith, I bought my first more expensive pair of heels three years ago from Ecco (cost about $300++) and I have been a really contented purchaser! The heels were the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn and they look great. 

So.... recently I was really tempted to buy a new bag and a pair of new shoes since there is a saying that when it is new year, it is time to buy new things, right? xD

I thought that I wanted a bag that I am going to use for a very very long time - A bag with a good quality + with a price that is not too extravagant. In the end.. I decided to buy a bag from Samsonite! 

This bag cost $2XX (Ouch, my heart pain!) but provided that I won't be carelessly spending my money on cheap bags and throwing them away from time to time, I guess this is quite a good investment. 

 I chose Samsonite over other brands because of two main reasons.

First, their products are of really good quality but not extremely overpriced.

Secondly and perhaps a more overarching reason - its brand gives a really modest yet stylish vibe compared to other brands. 

And one thing that stands out from Samsonite is the numerous compartments that are present in most of their products! So accessible for users to organize their stuff in there~

Okay!!! Enough of fantasizing the things I have bought. Haha. Get back to studying~ Ciaos. 

Look forward to Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays the most because my mother and sister will come to my place to accompany me >:D

Aiming for these two Samsonite bag next... Hehe... :P

NM2104 NUS module review; Qualitative Communication Research Methods; First year; Sem 1 2015/2016

Hello! School has started and I'm having a difficult time adapting back to a working student lifestyle. Before school begins to get busier, I'll guess I'd better be more efficient in posting my reviews on the modules! I made a promise to myself that I will always review all the modules I have taken for the betterment of the prospective NUS students who would be taking up these modules in the future just like how some other NUS students provided very insightful reviews which enabled me to make wiser decisions in my choice of modules so here I am! :)

P.S I saw a few reviews that have completely different perspectives about this module and I guess it really depends on each individual since everyone is essentially, different.
It is up to you to choose to follow your heart and mind and believe whoever you think is more accurate on the review. :P

NM2104 - Qualitative Communication Research Methods

Based on what I know, from my batch onwards, this module will be a mandatory module to students who would like to major in CNM. 

Comments about the teaching style:

For my batch, my lecturer is Dr Iccha Basnyat and my tutor for my tutorials is Dr Shobha Vadrevu.

Dr Iccha has a tendency of deliberately leaving numerous inconspicuous blanks in the lecture notes and they are to be filled up in her lectures! You could hear the expeditious typing sounds in the lectures as Dr Iccha always gives very insightful examples that students couldn't bear to leave it out from their notes. I missed one lecture as I was sick and about 60/300 marks of the Mid-terms came out on questions based on that lecture. :'( :'( :'( 

Even though I have read the textbook on that topic of the particular lecture I have missed out, some of the technical jargon used in the textbook differ from what she wrote in her lecture notes and hence missing her lecture disabled me to understand the questions fully and give accurate answers. Personally I think her lectures are really useful to understand the various concepts in a simplified manner. These various concepts are explained in such a convoluted manner in the textbook that I recommend you to attend her lectures before you start reading the textbook so it will save you more of your brain-processing time on trying to understand the content inside.

Dr Shobha is a really humorous and intelligent tutor who would patiently guide you on your project and provide VERY insightful knowledge. You know, she is one of those teachers who speak so intelligently that sometimes when she is teaching I will drift into wandering thoughts on really irrelevant things like "I wonder how high her IQ is. Her IQ must be genius-level!! How can her brain think of all these perspectives in such an acute manner that I would never have thought of?!" Lol!

Comments on project:

The project was a really challenging one for me. Our topic for qualitative research was on "Inequality in Communication" and collectively as a group, we based our research on "Exploration of how communication of the elderly beneficiaries’ needs are being administered with the NGOs and how their needs are being met within the context of their relationship."

Personally, the entire process of the project was really excruciating from the start to the end.

I kept getting rejected by the NGOs whom I sent out emails or calls to request for permission on our research and I became so desperate at one point that I decided to make trips down to the various NGOs myself. (None of my group members said they were free to do this with me sadly :( )I was so worried that they would reject me personally that I even rehearsed numerous times how I was going to persuade the stakeholders to allow them to give me permission on my research! On hindsight, I guess one important part of this module is really about this - going out of your comfort zone and to really translate what you have learned in lessons to apply them in real life.

 My group got stuck at this stage for many weeks and hence was only able to start on the project very late. With regards to the writing up of research paper, It was very challenging at every section. It is very easy to get stuck at one section for very long and be unable to continue it.

My project mates rushed through the editing of the parts they were in charge of and together with me, we helped the last member to finish her part at the very last-minute leaving virtually not enough time for a final check at all. When I say very last-minute, I really mean that we tried to do until the very minute we had to hand in our assignment. I remembered our assignment was due on 5 p.m. at a particular Friday and we finished the project at around 4 plus nearing 5 p.m. on that day, quickly printed and rushed to put our hard copy into the assigned collection place. 

Overall comments about this module:

Content-wise, I enjoyed it thoroughly. There were many soft skills taught that are needed in communications field. I truly understood why NUS places this module as one of its CORE modules after taking it. Many concepts were intriguing to me and I loved studying them. But when it comes to applying what we have learnt in the real field, it was painful for me. 

Would I recommend people from other faculties to take this module?

I honestly think any person from any faculty should take this although the project work can be very daunting. After all, what doesn't challenge you won't make you better, isn't it? ;)

This module will mold you to become a more analytical thinker, observant and introspective person and learn the practical skills of communication.

To get a glimpse of a small section we learn in this module, you can view this video :)

Tips:
1. DO NOT MISS LECTURES. If you do, better not be shy and ask your friends for help. It would really matter a lot.

2. START EARLY FOR EVERY COMPONENT. You can perform very well in the interviews, ethnography, focus groups etc and get very satisfactory results relevant for your research. But as long as you don't start early on your write-up and leave it to the last minute, your research can be shoddy and it really would waste all your efforts in doing all the time-consuming interviews, ethnography, focus groups etc.

3. DO NOT TAKE THIS MODULE IF YOU HAVE NOT TAKEN NM2101 (Theories of Communication) & HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO TAKE THIS MODULE THE SEMESTER AFTER YOU HAVE TAKEN NM2101.
One of the section in this project was about choosing a theory and apply it into our research. I was really lost about this because I didn't take NM2101 before I took this module. I have 2 other group mates who had taken NM2101 before but they took it so long ago that they have forgotten about it. This particular section about theory constitutes quite a weightage in the overall marks of the project...so... better be wise!

I do hope that the school would state that NM2101 is a prerequisite to take this module so that it would give a fairer advantage to the students who had not taken NM2101 before they take NM2104.

4. READ ALL THE EXTRA READINGS THEY ASSIGN FOR YOU DILIGENTLY OTHER THAN THE LECTURE NOTES! 
Some questions from the finals were from the extra readings and because there were so many thick readings, I only generally skim through them. At the time when I was doing my exam, some parts in my brain remember vaguely that I read about it yet I couldn't remember the exact answer.

5. READ THE TEXTBOOK TO REINFORCE YOUR UNDERSTANDING AND TRY YOUR BEST TO DO THE REVIEW QUESTIONS AT THE BACK OF EVERY CHAPTER.
Some concepts in the review questions appeared in exams and these concepts were only briefly discussed in lectures. Hence I think it is rather imperative to read the textbook to reinforce your understanding. The review questions serve as important guides on what are the things you should focus on since there are so much content inside that sometimes you can easily get drifted away from the important things to be learnt.


6. EVERY SINGLE DETAIL IN YOUR LECTURE NOTES IS VERY IMPORTANT
Mid-terms: Be very sure you know how to differentiate among terms like "universalism", "situation ethics", "overt ethnography", "covert ethnography", different types of interview questions such as "leading questions", "loaded questions", "bipolar trap questions" etc, "objectivism", "collectivism", "positivism", "constructivism" and the list goes on.
Mid-terms were quite easy as the terms taught are very straight-forward.

Finals: Be very sure you know how to differentiate among terms like "analytic induction", "discourse analysis", "critical discourse analysis", "narrative analysis" because almost 50% of the questions in the finals revolve on testing if you really understand what they are about.
Finals were hard for me because there are very subtle differences and also similarities among all these terms and the way they phrase in the exams can be so abstract that even if you think you really know how to differentiate them, you may not know the answer to the questions.


7. ON YOUR VERY FIRST TUTORIAL, BE VERY CLEAR ON WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS AND SET THE STAGE FOR THE UPCOMING RESEARCH PROJECT. THEREAFTER, DON'T BE AFRAID TO TAKE THE LEAD FOR THE PROJECT + CONSTANTLY REFLECT ON THE GROUP SKILLS LEARNT AND APPLY THEM
If your primary aim is to score well, sometimes you have to be very assertive and be the one to provide leadership and establish a good working climate. 

I was relatively reserved in the beginning as it was my first semester and I thought I should let the seniors take the lead. Unfortunately there wasn't anyone who was doing so and group was not progressing for a very long time. Eventually I became the assertive one and things progressed a lot faster. 

Talking about this, I think GET1008 (read my review on GET1008 here) taught me a lot about the skills needed in group work. I remembered hearing the peers around me complaining that they wasted their time listening to Miss Cardoza teaching about the tips on small-group communication on lecture 10 as they think the things taught were pretty common sense. But trust me, listen to her with an open mind and heart and reflect on what she has taught before you begin any group work/is in the midst of doing group work.

You might realise things that are common sense are usually things you know you should be doing them when the right time comes but when the right time really comes, you might be ruled by your emotions not your rational mind or be affected by other factors that cause you to unknowingly go with the flow and not do them.

8. PLAN OUT REGULARLY THE TASKS OF EVERY INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS THEY ARE SUPPOSE TO DO BY A SPECIFIED DEADLINE.

To be fair to everyone, I think this is the best way. There will definitely be passive members who would rely on the active members to do work if they are not given any instructed tasks. Hence, to avoid social loafing taking place in your group, this is a very crucial thing to do.


However, I also think that there will also definitely be passive and also irresponsible members who will miss most of the tutorials and be very slow in their responses when you contact them. They also may not have the urgency to finish the assigned tasks by the deadline. If that is the case, then it is really unlucky on your part and the best way I think that can avoid this happening is to find reliable friends/buddies to take this module with you and be in the same group as them since the tutor allows the freedom of choice of choosing members in your group. 

As everyone did not know each other in my tutorial, we were randomly chosen to be assigned to groups. I had a really negative experience in this module's project work and it was really exasperating. I never want this happen again. >:(


So...!

My final grade:
 B+

Was expecting at least A- but well... :'( I guess the project really pulled me down as my project marks were below average. 


Oh yes! Before I end, I would like to share a very useful feedback that the teacher has shared to us based on our projects. Hope it is useful for those of you who would be embarking on this research! :)

Dear Class,
I hope everyone’s semester has ended well. I wanted to give you some feedback on your final project. Every group had different strengths and weakness but overall good job J  Remember quality and rigor is reflected in the writing. Unfortunately, research is judged by the output and not so much on the effort. We know it takes time and a lot of hard work. In life, that is just is but this is part of your learning journey so I did take your effort into consideration.
Below, I will outline some of the issues that you want to keep in mind for next time. These are places where you lost your points because these are essential parts of qualitative research writing.

1. Citations: These ARE make or break. Without citations it appears just as assumptions on your part rather than backed on evidence. It also means you are not giving credit to the original work you took the information from.
2. Clarity/Organization: Often when you jump from one idea to other without transition, it is hard for the reader to follow. It then becomes just words rather than conveying something. Similarly, the reader shouldn’t be left wondering “what was the point in this paragraph?”
3. Literature: Although we gave you points, many of you used the literature as a continuation of the introduction. The literature provided background information of the topic rather than engaging in an academic discussion about the topic, concepts, and arguments using existing studies to do so.
4. Literature: Remember literature review is not an evaluation of individual studies and/or theories. The literature is not a review of theories. You need to focus on the key concepts, ideas, arguments and findings.
5. Literature: When you use terms such as “few scholars” “many studies” and so on, please add the relevant citations (citations as in more than one) at the end. It should not be just a sweeping generalized statement.
6. Theory: You should use ONLY one theory and/or theoretical framework to guide/frame your study.
7. Research question: Is NEVER a yes or no question in qualitative research.
8. Method: Please include ALL the information such as procedure, recruitment, data collection (where/when/how long), interview questions and how you analyzed your data. These things helps us assess the rigor of your work.
9. Results: The quotes must be analyzed. Do not make interpretations rather focus on the analysis of your quotes. Analysis focuses on helping you connect the individual quotes to build a bigger picture. The bigger picture being what the theme is really about.
10. Please ensure you answer your research question.
11. Please don’t end your themes/sub-themes in a quote.
12. Discussion: Overall, everyone did ok on the discussion.
13. Please follow APA. This is the part of being trained into your field. Communication lives and dies by APA and you should learn how to cite properly, how to write your reference list, how to use quotes especially block quotes.
14. Please read through each other’s work. It is not a good sign when we can tell that different parts were written by different people (and maybe even at different times).

Like I said, for the first attempt a great start. If you have any concerns after you see your marks, you can come by and see me for a discussion specific to your projects. Or stop by anytime if you have questions about qualitative research.

Oh yes! The question everyone wants to know: the average is around 210 for the project.
Enjoy your break. See you.
Dr. Iccha

3 more days to starting of school

4.51a.m. now. Couldn't sleep. Have been tossing around on my bed for hours.
 Lying on the bed with my laptop now. My room is illuminated with a dark orange tint by my bedside lamp.

Feeling so emotional and missing sweetheart lots.
Wondering how is he doing in other world.

There's a saying that there needs to be sadness in order for happiness to exist. Because only when we can feel sadness, then we would be able to feel happiness.

Feelings will come and go
So just indulge in whatever feeling that you have and feel it deeply.


Is heartbroken a type of feeling
If it is, when would this feeling go away
Because it has been lingering for too long
Ever since the day you had been gone

I miss you everyday


It has been 1 year and 1 month and 17 days.

GEM2027/GET1008 NUS module review - Public Speaking and Critical Reasoning; First year, sem 1 2015/2016

GEM2027/GET1008

Previously, this module was named as "Introduction to Public Speaking" but from my batch onward, it has revamped its name to "Public Speaking and Critical Reasoning." Just like the change in name, the format of grading in this module has slight changes. Instead of needing to come up with a video presentation that showcase all the things you have learnt in the module (15%), you would need to do up a reflective assignment with your group mates.

I think the theme of the reflective assignment might differ in different cohorts but for my cohort, it was about finding a partisan speech which is at least 20 minutes in duration. We would then critique the various aspects of the speech using all the concepts we have learnt within 1000-1200 words. It was straightforward - no frills and easier to score compared to the previous type of graded video assignment in my opinion.

The title of the textbook that is to be used for self-study and is compulsory would be "The Art of Public Speaking" by Stephen E. Lucas. I can't stress how important it is to buy this and use this as a guiding aid for all your assignments. It helped me a lot. Miss Cardoza stressed a lot in tutorials that we need to buy this and as the head of teaching department for this module, she is absolutely right - Believe her!

Oh yes, there will be an electronic version of this book that would be introduced to the students during the 1st/2nd/3rd lecture and if I didn't remember wrongly, the price would be very much cheaper than the cost of the actual book.

Personally I do not prefer e-book so I bought the actual one from my friend instead.

What to expect:
1. Every tutorial will be either your turn to present speech or others' turns to present their speeches. There is very little room for social engagement with the peers there. Your very first tutorial will be introductory speech.  

P.S I really look up to the tutors who have to listen to so many speeches since they would be taking up a few tutorial classes a day. 

Personally, I regretted making my introductory speech so formal and inserting so quotes inside like as if I'm a motivational speaker there. On the very day of presenting introductory speech, you might realise because it is an ungraded speech and also due to the nature of this speech, your classmates might like to take it easy and try to sound as interesting as possible. And first impression really counts! I bet I have scared some people off and made them avoid making friends with me with my formal introductory speech eek.

2. Very very very very heavy workload! 
Let me explain why I say that it has such a heavy workload.

Firstly, almost every week or every other week, you are expected to choose a topic for a specific type of speech. The topic can be so wide-ranging and you have to do research to narrow down to a list of topics that interest you, are easier to score, and easier to find out information on. Just this process can be laborious enough to drain you. At least for me. 

Just like how there is a facebook post saying people spent more time on netflix choosing what show to watch than the actual time watching show, this logic applies for this scenario as well!

Next, you have to draft out your speech in the structured way the tutor expects. Topic sentence, central idea, arguments, supporting ideas, evidence, and not to forget, citations.

After which, you would have enter the editing phase. I spent about many hours editing and improvising on every single speech that I do. Words have to be limited according to the duration of the speech.

Lastly, perhaps the second most time-consuming stage - the practising phase. If you think that since cue-cards are allowed, there is not much needed on your part to memorise your speech, you are very wrong. The idea of this module is to let students master extemporaneous speech in which students only refer to the cue-cards from time-to-time for a short while with most of the time facing the audience instead of the cue-cards. Not only that, you also have to practise your facial expressions, body language, pace of speech and so on!

The tutors are very strict about the duration of the speech. You have to follow strictly to the requirements or you will be penalized. Hence, you need to practise many times to make sure you adhere to the timing.

This cycle will have to repeat for all the graded speeches that you are doing to do.


Now could you understand why I say the workload is really heavy? There are a lot of preparations on your part if you want to get something out of this module and do well!

Tips:

1. Follow the grading rubrics very carefully. The tutors mark according to these rubrics and they treat the marking scheme in the rubric very seriously. I failed my ungraded commemorative speech because I ignored the rubric and I quickly learnt my lesson after that and scored well thereafter.

2. The content of your speech matters MORE than your actual delivery.
I messed up one of my graded speech (responder-critique) because I didn't sleep well the night before and forgot all my script. Even though there were cue-cards to help me, I ended up saying sorry almost 8 times in front of everyone but to my surprise, I found out that I still scored pretty well for it when the score was published in Turnitin.

3. Don't be afraid to e-mail professor on the issues you are facing.
I was on the wrong track for persuasive speech and on hindsight, I was so glad I emailed Miss Cardoza and she told me what I was doing was totally wrong and I redid the entire thing. 

I ended up getting the highest marks for persuasive speech in the entire cohort! XD

Here is a link to a video that Miss Cardoza announced this news and I keep on repeating it like a silly girl and smile over it because I am happy about it!:D Haha!!

4. Try to prepare a visual aid for your first few speeches (introductory/commemorative/informative) to prep you up for the upcoming persuasive speech. I did one for my informative speech and it really geared me up for persuasive speech. Miss Cardoza also pinpointed out that there are page numbers lacking in my slides and I would be marked down for that if the same mistake is done for persuasive speech. I noted her feedback and made sure I do not make the same mistake again. Your tutor would not be marking you down for any error you make when handling your visual aid in all the speeches that do not include grading for visual aid in the rubric sheet. So it is a good opportunity to use the chance to practise it!

Dont forget, persuasive speech constitutes the one of the highest marks for this module (20%) and hence it is very important to be very prepared for it and one of the best ways to do so is to prepare a visual aid for your previous speeches and practise handling the visual aid in front of everyone.

5. Try to enroll into Miss Cardoza's class for tutorial. Her tutorials are very engaging, hilarious and useful! I think her personality is so cute that I always couldn't help but to giggle at her reactions. She is also very strict when it comes to her students' work and attire which creates the right atmosphere for students to work hard on this module. Most important of all, she would repeat the hints for the in-class quiz (20%) in the tutorials which she had given in her weekly lectures. 


6. Do not wait til the last minute to draft your PO!
I did that for my commemorative speech as I underestimated the preparation I had to do to complete a well-finished product and this was one of the important reasons I did badly for this. Luckily it was ungraded.

Final comments:

If you were to ask me, would I recommend anyone to take this module? My answer is an absolute yes! It is the most enriching module that I have taken in the first semester and the skills learnt in this module are highly transferable to other aspects of your life or future work. It pushes you out of your comfort zone and let you feel alive when all the eyes are staring at you on your speech presentation. But do make sure to plan your modules in a way that the workload is manageable. I highly recommend students to take this module in their 1st year 1st semester because the skills learnt in this module would be immensely useful for all the presentations that you might need to take up for other modules for the rest of your university education. Besides, this is the time you can choose to spend more time on the modules you want to score in and garner that distinction and SU the other modules that you have neglected in the case when your time management has not been well.



I'll be sharing my final preparation outline as well as my visual aid for the speeches that have garnered good grades in case it would be helpful to anyone who is taking this module :)

My final grade for this module: A

As you can see... I'm pretty thickskinned haha XD

Here are the resources that might be helpful :)

1.PO for persuasive speech

2.Visual aid for persuasive speech  

3.PO for informative speech 

4.Visual aid for informative speech

5.Notes for GET1008 Quiz (Would be helpful for the reflective project later on)

6. PO for Responder Critique

And.... I'll end with some pictures of my little stack of papers from this module XD

They are the cover pages that I did up myself to keep track of all the assignments and lessons in this module and to monitor my studying progress. :D

STAY TUNED TO OTHER MODULE REVIEWS THAT I WILL DO WHEN I AM FREE! 

Fourth day of 2016 - Saving money for korea trip/Last day of family staying in my house/A very useful app Diaro

Today is the last day that my mum, little bro and little sis are staying in my house after a short 1 month holidays spent here. >:(

I got woken up by my mom at 12pm today because she claimed she was hungry and told me to get up to cook. I cooked luncheon meat + egg + carrot fried rice for them and headed out to work while they got their way back to their home.

After work, I went to my mom's place to help my little bro and sis to pack their bags as tomorrow is their first day of school. I didn't have to do that but somehow there is this uneasy feeling of mine that won't go away if I don't do so.

When I got there, I checked my bro's bag and found out he actually packed all the volume A and volume B's books in his bag! Lol! Yen Tong told me that this is very typical for a secondary one who is afraid to be scolded by the teacher on the very first day of school and hence decided the safest thing to do is to bring everything.

I took out all the books that are volume B and he reluctantly accepted it after much persistence on my part.

My sis is the same as ever - blur sotong who spent almost 2 hours trying to find out where her new time table is. Lastly she gave up and just packed whatever she thought are relevant.

After that I headed to Sheng Shiong to buy some groceries to last for 1 week.
I'm pretty pumped up to try some new recipes tomorrow ;)

Oh yes!! Recently I downloaded this app called Diaro and I'm loving it so much!

I used to jot down the list of ingredients for recipes on pieces of paper and by the time I went to the supermarket, I would either have forgotten to bring those papers out or forgotten the exact ingredients that I was supposed to buy.

This app allows me the flexibility of recording the recipes either by typing out the ingredients or just by a snapshot of photo and all of them can be classified under one folder as "recipes."

Not only that, I also can create multiple folders such as the another one I have created as "Quotes" which I would record my favourite quotes in there and review them from time to time :)

I set a new year resolution this year - to save $4 per day = $28 per week = $112 per month = $2000++ in 1.5 years so that I won't feel so heart pain to use the money to go overseas. 

I made my mom, bro and sis to join me in this savings plan and we would all go korea together then >:)

These are the four "piggy banks" that I have set aside for us for this saving journey wahaha.