Start of My Learning Journey

Mindy Ong
5 Sunny Avenue
#05-05
Singapore 123456

12 September 2017

Ms. Lim Lay Hoon
Professor
Singapore Institute of Technology
10 Dover Drive
Singapore 138682

Dear Ms. Lim,

My Strengths and Weaknesses in Communicating

I am Mindy Ong, an undergraduate from Sustainable Infrastructure Engineering (Building Services), a student from your Effective Communication Class. This letter is to share my strengths and weaknesses in communicating with you.

I have understood the importance of communication against the technical knowledge we have. Without communication, we could not even share the technical knowledge we have. 

Since young, I have neglected the importance of language as I have never enjoyed reading. The only books I read were books with colourful pictures and of little texts, and I could never concentrate in finish reading long passages. This lead to me having a limited vocabulary which I now truly regret.

This has therefore affected my confidence in speaking and expressing myself especially in front of a crowd, for instance, my peers during a presentation. I have never had the courage to raise my hands to speak up in class, or to be able to confidently present a presentation.  

“A fear of weakness only strengthens weakness” by Criss Jami.

Determined not to be consumed by my weakness, I plan to provide constructive comments while listening actively to my peers and reading daily.

On the other hand, my insecurities in conversations over time have instead brought me strengths of being a good listener and observer. During a conversation, I tend to listen more than I speak and I actually enjoy that. I have realised that I can actually learn a lot by being a listener, such as being able to empathise someone and learn from their experiences.

What I hope to achieve by this journey of 12 weeks is to able to confidently present myself in front of my peers.

Yours Sincerely,
Mindy
Mindy Ong
SIE2016, SEM06

Comments

  1. WinfredSeptember 14, 2017 at 6:25 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. WinfredSeptember 14, 2017 at 6:50 AM

    Hi Mindy

    Winfred here, I am writing to evaluating your letter. (Wonderful Job)
    I have spotted some sentencing issue, nothing a few Effective Communication lessons can't fix.
    Love the use of the quote in the letter. Excellent work!

    Thanks

    Winfred
    Fellow Student

    ReplyDelete
  3. Rachel KHYSeptember 16, 2017 at 11:45 PM

    Hi Mindy,

    Rachel here. Your letter is well structured and neatly written. Probably share on one more goal to be achieved during this module? (Stated on the task)
    Great job and well done! Thank you for sharing! (:

    ReplyDelete
  4. ArabellaSeptember 17, 2017 at 1:56 AM

    Hello Mindy,

    Arabella here. Your letter is neatly structured and the overall flow is good. I love how you used the quote in the letter, it helped to reinforce your point. I also like how you don't directly write "My strength" or "My weakness", it made your writing style more consistent and gave it more life. I think that you are a great listener too! Be more confident and believe in yourself. I believe that by listening, you can also expand your vocabulary pool. Would be great if you could elaborated more on your goals.

    All in all, great job! Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownSeptember 17, 2017 at 5:08 AM

    Hi Mindy,

    Amelia here. I like that you added that quote by Criss Jami. Quite an inspirational one at that too. One issue that stood out was "This letter is to share my strengths and weaknesses in communicating with you." which most would interpret to be discussing 'communicating with the professor' instead of your intent to discuss with the professor about 'communication skills'. Sentences may require different arrangements in letters due to the lack of tone.
    Other than that, great job! Straight forward and good use of examples!

    Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Reflection - Mock Presentation

I have never had enough confidence to carry out a presentation fluently. Through this mock presentation, I have learnt that ample preparation is very important as it will affect one’s confidence to deliver. With that, one will be familiarised with the content and would be able to present smoothly without any glitch. In addition, the biggest take away from the mock presentation will be the value of teamwork. It would not be possible without the help of one another’s constant support and contributions. It is insufficient to only have a good grasp of our own slides, but to also know what our teammates are presenting and so to cover for each other’s oversight. Through this mock presentation, I have a better understanding of my flaws in delivery, such as the lack of passion and eye contacts with the audience. With multiple rehearsals on my own as well as with my team, I hope to overcome my shortcomings and to deliver confidently during the upcoming presentation. Moreover, ...
Read more

My Reader's Response - Use of Cladding in Singapore

From the article "Use of cladding in buildings here have grown in recent times: Experts", Mokhtar (17 June 2017) reported that use of cladding has increased recently in Singapore with strict observation especially after the tragic incident of Grenfell Tower in Kensington. Furthermore, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) is gathering more information on the event to improve on their rules regulating the use of cladding. Cladding has its many uses, such as for the purpose of noise reduction, for aesthetic appeal, as well as to provide insulation to reduce the energy needed to cool a building. Buildings such as Asia Square Tower and The Cathay use cladding for these reasons. However, cladding poses a hazard when it comes to fires, it is due from the ventilation gaps that keeps the building cool but ended up allowing the fire to go up to other levels. Nonetheless, Singapore still adopts the use of cladding but follow strict safety standards on the materials used to ...
Read more