Practical
Topic of Speech
The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Education
Audience Analysis
My target audience will be our very own UUM students. I feel that this is indeed appropriate as I will be delivering a speech with respect to how the COVID-19 pandemic has shaped the current education. The venue of the event will be located in the university hall, as starting from October 2021, students are allowed to go back to the main campus. The timing of the speech will be from 8.30 p.m. to 8.45 p.m. as most of the university students are relatively free during that period of time. Regarding the size of my audience, there will be 100 students in a big hall. Of course, they will be separated physically, following the standard operating procedure (SOP) by the government. The expected age range of the audience is from 19 years old to 22 years old comprising of both males and females from various courses. I am sure that university students are interested on current issues especially issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought a drastic impact on everyone’s life. However, I will choose a presentation style which is tailored to their level of understanding. With respect to religious beliefs, there will be different races with different religious beliefs. Thus, I will be more careful and thoughtful when delivering my speech to avoid any unwanted sensitive issues.
Speech
Before I start my speech, I would like to pose a question to all of you, is there anyone here who has never once heard of COVID-19? No? I’m sure that everyone here should at least know a thing or two about COVID-19, and what is happening around the world. Well, thank you for responding to my question. My name is Wang Jing Lin, today I am going to present on my topic, namely “The Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Education”. As all of us know, this health crisis has greatly impacted our lives and the economy. Apart from that, it must be noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has done a number on education system as well. Previously, there were many countries that had decided to close down schools, colleges and universities to curb the spread of the disease. These closures have impacted more than 94 percent of the world’s student population. Social distancing and restrictive movement policies have disrupted the traditional educational methods. Hence today, I’m going to talk about the three main impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on education.
First and foremost, I would like to talk to you about home schooling. I am sure that every one of you has experienced home schooling before coming back to campus. Even now, home schooling has not been ruled out since it greatly depends on the severity of the pandemic. I am sure that after a long time of studying at home, some of you prefer physical classes instead of the opposite right? Not only because of our friends, but also an appropriate environment for us to study in. Due to the pandemic, we were forced to study at home by having online classes. Some might argue that they can’t even focus on their lessons when they are studying at home due to interruptions from siblings or even neighbours. This may potentially result in a phenomenon known as learning loss. Plus, it is not possible for every student to have the appropriate facilities at their home for the purpose of having an online class. Some students might face difficulties as they can’t afford the expenses of a laptop, or even a phone. Parents will have to spend more money for the sake of buying gadgets for their children to study at home.
Moving on, education is moving online on an unprecedented and untested scale. Students’ assessments are now being completed online, which has resulted in a lot of trial and error as well as uncertainty for all parties involved. Now, I would like to talk to you regarding students’ assessment. As we all know, a lot of assessments especially examinations have been cancelled during the outbreak. The traditional examinations were replaced with online assessment tools subsequently. However, these methods are likely to be inaccurate and will affect the students holistically. Those who are living in an urban area and are well off will be at an advantage whereas those who are less fortunate will be at a disadvantage. For instance, students who live in rural areas will face difficulties to access online assessment due to poor connection. This is not their fault, but this will affect their grades to certain extent even if they are well-prepared. Other than that, there might a possibility that there will be server crash which affects all students who are going to have their online examinations or assessment tasks. To draw an example, a major server crash happened in the testing system in Denmark. This has affected many students who were about to take their test.
Next, apart from students’ perspective, how about the teachers and lecturers? It cannot be denied that there are some changes on the teachers’ preparedness to support online learning. This is because during the pandemic, technology is vital as it is the only tool for teachers and students to have access to specialized information beyond textbooks, in a variety of media, and in methods that span time and location. Thus, apart from students, teachers and lecturers are required to be trained in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). They need to be familiar with the systems that tailor the learning experience to suit students’ personal learning styles with extreme granularity and precision. This is of utmost importance not only for the students’ learning purpose, but also for the long run if online learning were to be continued. Undoubtedly, younger teachers will use technology more frequently in the classroom, but currently even older teachers need to learn about it in order to teach their students, to educate them when physical classes are not permitted. As a small conclusion, teachers must regularly update their skills to innovate their practices and adapt to the rapid changes inherent in the 21st century. This is even more important in our current situation where we must adapt due to the COVID-19 health crisis.
In conclusion, real changes often happen during severe crisis, at which we are unlikely to return to the status quo where everything is “normal”. There is no doubt that this pandemic has extremely devastating consequences, including on education, but there are no pre-determined consequences. Our collective and systematic response to these disruptions will determine how they impacted us. Anyways, we still need to renew our lifestyle and adapt to this new environment in order to develop our knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that will allow us to contribute to society. I believe that it is also one of the goals of the global agenda in order to create a better future of all. That’s all from me, thank you.
The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Education
Audience Analysis
My target audience will be our very own UUM students. I feel that this is indeed appropriate as I will be delivering a speech with respect to how the COVID-19 pandemic has shaped the current education. The venue of the event will be located in the university hall, as starting from October 2021, students are allowed to go back to the main campus. The timing of the speech will be from 8.30 p.m. to 8.45 p.m. as most of the university students are relatively free during that period of time. Regarding the size of my audience, there will be 100 students in a big hall. Of course, they will be separated physically, following the standard operating procedure (SOP) by the government. The expected age range of the audience is from 19 years old to 22 years old comprising of both males and females from various courses. I am sure that university students are interested on current issues especially issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought a drastic impact on everyone’s life. However, I will choose a presentation style which is tailored to their level of understanding. With respect to religious beliefs, there will be different races with different religious beliefs. Thus, I will be more careful and thoughtful when delivering my speech to avoid any unwanted sensitive issues.
Speech
Before I start my speech, I would like to pose a question to all of you, is there anyone here who has never once heard of COVID-19? No? I’m sure that everyone here should at least know a thing or two about COVID-19, and what is happening around the world. Well, thank you for responding to my question. My name is Wang Jing Lin, today I am going to present on my topic, namely “The Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Education”. As all of us know, this health crisis has greatly impacted our lives and the economy. Apart from that, it must be noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has done a number on education system as well. Previously, there were many countries that had decided to close down schools, colleges and universities to curb the spread of the disease. These closures have impacted more than 94 percent of the world’s student population. Social distancing and restrictive movement policies have disrupted the traditional educational methods. Hence today, I’m going to talk about the three main impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on education.
First and foremost, I would like to talk to you about home schooling. I am sure that every one of you has experienced home schooling before coming back to campus. Even now, home schooling has not been ruled out since it greatly depends on the severity of the pandemic. I am sure that after a long time of studying at home, some of you prefer physical classes instead of the opposite right? Not only because of our friends, but also an appropriate environment for us to study in. Due to the pandemic, we were forced to study at home by having online classes. Some might argue that they can’t even focus on their lessons when they are studying at home due to interruptions from siblings or even neighbours. This may potentially result in a phenomenon known as learning loss. Plus, it is not possible for every student to have the appropriate facilities at their home for the purpose of having an online class. Some students might face difficulties as they can’t afford the expenses of a laptop, or even a phone. Parents will have to spend more money for the sake of buying gadgets for their children to study at home.
Moving on, education is moving online on an unprecedented and untested scale. Students’ assessments are now being completed online, which has resulted in a lot of trial and error as well as uncertainty for all parties involved. Now, I would like to talk to you regarding students’ assessment. As we all know, a lot of assessments especially examinations have been cancelled during the outbreak. The traditional examinations were replaced with online assessment tools subsequently. However, these methods are likely to be inaccurate and will affect the students holistically. Those who are living in an urban area and are well off will be at an advantage whereas those who are less fortunate will be at a disadvantage. For instance, students who live in rural areas will face difficulties to access online assessment due to poor connection. This is not their fault, but this will affect their grades to certain extent even if they are well-prepared. Other than that, there might a possibility that there will be server crash which affects all students who are going to have their online examinations or assessment tasks. To draw an example, a major server crash happened in the testing system in Denmark. This has affected many students who were about to take their test.
Next, apart from students’ perspective, how about the teachers and lecturers? It cannot be denied that there are some changes on the teachers’ preparedness to support online learning. This is because during the pandemic, technology is vital as it is the only tool for teachers and students to have access to specialized information beyond textbooks, in a variety of media, and in methods that span time and location. Thus, apart from students, teachers and lecturers are required to be trained in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). They need to be familiar with the systems that tailor the learning experience to suit students’ personal learning styles with extreme granularity and precision. This is of utmost importance not only for the students’ learning purpose, but also for the long run if online learning were to be continued. Undoubtedly, younger teachers will use technology more frequently in the classroom, but currently even older teachers need to learn about it in order to teach their students, to educate them when physical classes are not permitted. As a small conclusion, teachers must regularly update their skills to innovate their practices and adapt to the rapid changes inherent in the 21st century. This is even more important in our current situation where we must adapt due to the COVID-19 health crisis.
In conclusion, real changes often happen during severe crisis, at which we are unlikely to return to the status quo where everything is “normal”. There is no doubt that this pandemic has extremely devastating consequences, including on education, but there are no pre-determined consequences. Our collective and systematic response to these disruptions will determine how they impacted us. Anyways, we still need to renew our lifestyle and adapt to this new environment in order to develop our knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that will allow us to contribute to society. I believe that it is also one of the goals of the global agenda in order to create a better future of all. That’s all from me, thank you.
![Picture](/uploads/1/3/7/1/137194102/editor/screenshot-2021-12-01-210658.png?1638364043)
Individual Speech Video
Name: WANG JING LIN
Matric No.: 280767
Link for Individual Speech Video: youtu.be/VpQvi1DoGak
Name: WANG JING LIN
Matric No.: 280767
Link for Individual Speech Video: youtu.be/VpQvi1DoGak
Classes Reflection
16/10/2021
Today is the first day of taking co-curricular classes in my third semester. As what we did in the previous semester, we were conducting our class via online as the Covid-19 virus is still continuing to spread around our country, and even the world. However, honestly, since yesterday, I can hardly wait for the first public speaking class on the next day at 10.30 a.m. I felt excited to learn different skills and gain new experience in public speaking class. Apart from that, I wonder what kind of knowledge I will expose myself to, and what changes will appear inside myself regarding my competency in this particular. On the first day, our first thing to do, undoubtedly, is to scan the QR code as usual. While scanning the QR code, our lovely lecturer, Madam Noor Aida chat with us in the Webex's chat box, asking about our current situation, since some haven’t gone to the class yet. After that, our first session in the class is the election. I believe that all of us are actually familiar with the election, as we have conducted it in our last semester. Then, all of us began to nominate our friends to be the positions’ candidates, and vote one of the candidates under each and every particular position.
However, there are some technical problems where some of my classmates did not realize that they have already held positions in the last semester. From here, I noticed that it is important to enhance our communication, teamwork and also problem-solving skills. Not to mention particular persons only, but all of us have to take it as an experience or a lesson to improve ourselves in order to become a better person. Moreover, our lecturer has also asked us what we want to improve compared to the previous semester. For me, I would say I want to become a firm decision maker. This is because in my last semester, I used to take quite a long time to decide things, such as what character do I want to choose to act in my presentation video, President of the United States or Company’s CEO. Being a firm decision maker not only can save a lot of time in deciding matters, but also can improve ourselves in decision making, which is extremely significant in the future. Always put trust in ourselves. With respect to public speaking, I feel that sometimes I might lack confidence as well as easily get nervous while I’m delivering a speech. To improve this, I plan to practice more in order to train my stability and fluency. As the saying goes, ‘practice makes perfect’. I strongly believe that this will be a great way for me to show improvement.
23/10/2021
A fresh morning kickstarted my second public speaking class with my lovely lecturer, Madam Noor Aida! When I entered the class, I found out that Madam was already inside and opened the QR code for us to scan. From Madam Noor Aida, I really can see her responsibility and punctuality. And, she has always been energetic throughout our class! Our first session of today's class was revising the previous tasks that have been assigned by Madam to us which are, editing Weebly portfolios, writing reflection, and also writing video summary from the video uploaded on the Portal by Madam. Madam requested volunteers to share about the contents of the videos accordingly. Talking about video summaries, everyone was so energetic and has actively participated in the sharing session. There are a few people who have managed to grab the chance to share their summary on the video and also their thoughts. For me, I was extremely comfortable with this session, as it involved the participation of my fellow classmates, communication between students and the lecturer, and also a very engaging session! I was also able to gain more insights on what is communication, the barriers of communication, audience analysis, organization of a speech, speech purpose and development of a central idea in a speech. After the sharing session, Madam has expressed her appreciation and praise to those who volunteered to share the contents to all of us. I am very proud of my classmates who did this well and they deserve the praise. I also wish that I will be able to be like them one day to bravely voice out in front of others as well.
The second session for today's class was a teaching session. Madam shared her PowerPoint slides and started teaching us about events and protocols. It can be considered as something new to me as I have never learnt this either in my previous schools or my university lectures. Throughout the explanation and elaboration by Madam, I was able to understand more about the topic. For instance, protocols are vital such as health protocols, SOP to be followed by citizens, dress codes and so on. To put it another way, they act as a guideline for us to follow and obey. For example, the dress codes in universities are to make sure that university students are always wearing suitable and proper attire, and so as when they go to work after graduating, presenting in a company, dealing with colleagues and customers, and so on. People will judge us by looking at our image and that is what called first impression. Moving on, deep inside the topic, I have also learnt about event protocols. I realized that to organize an event, there are many things that need to be considered and prepared, such as invitations, timing, checklist, precedence, budgets, staffing and so on. Subsequently, Madam has also explained to us about the importance of our image to others. Eye conduct, attire, behaviour, posture, ability of presenting and so on, all these are the factors that will be influencing our first impression to others. When we are communicating to someone, we have to learn to listen, bear in mind what we should or shouldn’t talk about, what we should do, and also what we should avoid, to ensure that good image is revealed. Do handshake with others when required as it is a form of communication and an ultimate greeting as well. Last but not least, I have also learnt the formula for introductions and also social introductions.
In conclusion, today was another fruitful public speaking class with my lecturer, and I strongly believe that the knowledge that I have gained today will be useful and helpful in the near future.
30/10/2021
Today is the third class of public speaking by Madam Noor Aida. As usual, we scanned the QR code before starting class. At the beginning, Madam requested one of our classmates to briefly explain about previous class's topic namely, "Event protocols, Greetings and Titles". She was trying to recap what she has taught during last lesson. I felt comfortable in her teaching way, as I understand that, some people including me, might forget about the information passed by lectures to us. Revising in class by asking one people to briefly explain will definitely help us to recap the lessons.
Moving on, today's main task is to think a topic which we will be giving speech later on, and write an audience analysis. Regarding the topic of speech, Madam said that we possess our freedom to choose whatever topic that we intend to present. I really appreciate this as I think this gives an opportunity to all of us to speak out whatever topics that we are interested in, rather than limitating us to choose certain topics that we might not interested or not familiar with. For the audience analysis, Madam has attached her PowerPoint slides and a YouTube video in the OL for us to have a look on them, for our better understanding on audience analysis, and the importance of analyzing our audience. After reading the slides and watching the video, I have gained a better insight on them and started writing my audience analysis.
Furthermore, Madam requested us to start drafting our speech as well in accordance with the topic we chose. I have done some research through websites and finally, I have done my first script and it has already been uploaded in Weebly for Madam's review purpose. For this, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Madam as I felt that it improved my writing skills along the way of producing my script. I definitely know that this will be very helpful and useful in my future career. Last but not least, I would like to say that I felt really excited for the next coming public speaking class!
06/11/2021
Today is the fourth public speaking class with my lovely classmates and lecturer, Madam Noor Aida. Basically, Madam just received instructions on our public speaking class's group and individual projects and distributed them to us during class. With respect to the group project, me and my groupmates need to prepare a video presentation regarding public speaking etiquette. This video presentation will be covering topics such as, methods of correct voice projection, methods of controlling and overcoming fears, rules and regulations, appropriateness of language as well as taboo and obstacles. Apart from the video presentation, we need to come out an infographic poster for public speaking etiquette with our groupmates as well. Madam specifically reminded us that each and everyone of us in our group must take part in the video presentation, speaking and delivering our own ideas. I understand that the purpose of this reminder is to ensure all of us play our roles and not escape our own responsibilities in finishing the task given.
For the individual task, we will need to write an inflection individually after finishing the group task. The aim of this reflection is to evaluate our groupmates' behaviour, to display our teamwork skills, how we dealt with our group conflicts (if any), our responsibilities and so on. It also aims to help developing our communication, listening and problem-solving skills. Personally, I think that this task is indeed good as we will be able to get to know ourselves from others' perspective, instead of only ourselves. This is to discover our own weaknesses and strength, and improve ourselves in different aspects, so that we all can become better not only in the near future in university, but also when we are working in our own career.
Furthermore, it is worth to mention that, one of my classmates suggested that we can do the individual evaluation/reflection task in table form. Madam also agreed with that, saying that it will be more systematic. I was amazed with my classmate's idea, where she could come out a better way within a short period. We can see that, she is an organized and disciplined person, and we definitely need to learn this personality from her!
It is obvious that until now, all tasks given in our public speaking class involved writing, speaking and communicating. Previously, I am kind of person who is extremely scared of talking in front of others. However, it cannot be denied that I have learnt a lot from public speaking classes where now, I am able to produce a speech draft within a day, and I am also able to speak out even in front of all of my classmates. However, I still wish that I will be able to become more confident and calm when I am presenting ideas and delivering speeches.
13/11/2021
It's a rainy and cold morning when I woke up today. However, it does not obstruct me from preparing myself for an excited coming public speaking class! After scanning the QR code portrayed by Madam, Madam requested us to switch on our cameras and take a photo of our class for school magazine purpose. Although it's merely a simple and short photo session with my classmates, but honestly, I'm quite appreciate that moment as this is a good opportunity for us to see our friends' face, because along one year-online classes, we did not even meet physically before! We get to know each other better, and it's definitely a more engaging session, as everyone had have their cameras opened up!
After that, Madam started her lecture on how to arrange speech. I am always comfortable with this structured and organized teaching schedules, as I realized that Madam taught us step-by-step in order for us to easily understand the flow. For example, speech. During last lessons, we have drafted out our main points or outline of our own speech, and this week, Madam taught us on the arrangement of the speech. Then, after we grasp all of them, we can proceed to write and even polish or amend our own speech before recording. Furthermore, Madam has also uploaded relevant slides in Online Learning Portal for every different topics, for us to revise or revisit the topics that she has been taught us during our class.
The next class session was an in-class activity which is according the speech given by Madam, we have to determine the thesis statement, topic sentence, supporting details and so on in a speech. This is fun as this is the very first time I have the chance to learn on how to determine them in a speech. By doing so, Madam was able to make sure that we're fully understand on how to do so, in order to ease our work later on when we will be drafting, writing, and finalizing our own speech.
Last but not least, this is also an interesting session as well in public speaking class, namely sharing session. There were some public speaking bad experiences that has been shared throughout the session. We were not only listening to others' bad experiences, but we were also learning from their experiences to improve ourselves as well. Madam has also answered our questions regarding problems that we faced previously when we were doing public speaking. I am pretty sure that this session has cleared our doubts with respect to that, and we will be figuring out on how to improve ourselves by correcting our weaknesses such as nervous or awkwardness.
20/11/2021
Today is a little bit special compared to the usual one. This is because we did not have an usual public speaking class with Madam Noor Aida. Instead, we were all required to attend the OnCE with the theme of "UUM Menghargai Ibu & Ayah (UMI) melalui Seni: Kasih Keramat Sejati". This made me very excited, as I have never been watching such a Facebook Live with family theme. In the beginning of the live show, there was a short video which made me feeling touched. From the video, I have learnt that we must appreciate the time and chance to be with our parents, as we must know that there is always someone who is still being obstructed by Covid-19 pandemic, and they could not meet with their family members for a long time. Next, from the "Mereka Syurga Dunia" session, I have learnt the ettique that we should always have when we are with our parents, as their children. We ought always to improve ourselves in different aspects in order to become a better person, not only for our own good, but also for our family and the society.
Throughout the live show, there are many short videos, concerts, band show, and poetry that have been performed in between. These are really good because they have made the live show more interesting. Plus, I found that they were meaningful indeed as they brought certain values that should be understood and appreciated by us. For instance, the poems namely "Kasih Sayang Keramat Sejati" and "Pengorbanan Ayah dan Ibu" reminds of appreciating and caring on our parents as we are their children, and it cannot be denied that they sacrificed a lot for us.
In short, although today we did not have usual class, but it does not prevent us from learning. I really appreciate this kind of school live show that brings us moral values, where we should not ignore those values as they are extremely important in reflecting our inner self and personality. Most importantly, they are practical. For instance, we really need to love our parents and express our heartfelt thanks to them no matter what.
27/11/2021
Today was the last public speaking class. As usual, we scanned the QR code for the purpose of recording our attendance. But, what is different from the usual is the feeling. Feeling sad and touched, we started our class. Today's only task was to polish and finish our script, and we are allowed to start recording our speech from today. Madam has gave us a due date which is on 2nd of December. I really appreciate this decision, as actually, I'll be having an event tonight and I'm going to be the moderator of that event. Before that, I'll be having rehearsal for that as well. So my worries are that I can't manage to record my speech video within today. However, when Madam told me regarding we are allowed to hand in our task latest by 2nd of December, I really appreciate and intended to thank Madam for that.
Next, there are a few questions posed by us to Madam to get better clarity on our task. Our lovely and kind Madam always answers our questions patiently, to make sure that we have really understood what we are going to do and the instructions. I really like Madam's patience and I think that this should be learnt by me as I always lose my patience on something. Madam is definitely my role model. Subsequently, we continued our session by asking Madam for her comments on our group's infographic posters. Our group was the first who asked Madam regarding that. Here, I want to thank our group leader, Kai Sheng for doing that on behalf of our group. With respect to Madam's comments, they are positive one! Just that we need to add our group members' details in the bottom part of the poster. I really felt happy because our hard work has born fruits. Feeling happy and delightful, I appreciate the comments by Madam at the same time.
Lastly, Madam reminded us again on the due date of our task, and also required us to take a screenshot and send it in our WhatsApp group by 12.30p.m. in order to show her our task progress and what we have done within the class period. Then, all of us express our heartfelt thanks to Madam as she really taught us a lot! Although we are all reluctant to leave, we know that definitely we will meet again in the next semester. So, till we meet again! Here, I would also like to express my thanks again to Madam Noor Aida, thank you for teaching me on public speaking along this semester. I have learnt many such as public speaking etiquette, the way of writing a speech, be confident in my delivery and many more. I know that thank you is definitely not enough to express my gratitude, but anyways, thank you so much, my lovely Madam!
Today is the first day of taking co-curricular classes in my third semester. As what we did in the previous semester, we were conducting our class via online as the Covid-19 virus is still continuing to spread around our country, and even the world. However, honestly, since yesterday, I can hardly wait for the first public speaking class on the next day at 10.30 a.m. I felt excited to learn different skills and gain new experience in public speaking class. Apart from that, I wonder what kind of knowledge I will expose myself to, and what changes will appear inside myself regarding my competency in this particular. On the first day, our first thing to do, undoubtedly, is to scan the QR code as usual. While scanning the QR code, our lovely lecturer, Madam Noor Aida chat with us in the Webex's chat box, asking about our current situation, since some haven’t gone to the class yet. After that, our first session in the class is the election. I believe that all of us are actually familiar with the election, as we have conducted it in our last semester. Then, all of us began to nominate our friends to be the positions’ candidates, and vote one of the candidates under each and every particular position.
However, there are some technical problems where some of my classmates did not realize that they have already held positions in the last semester. From here, I noticed that it is important to enhance our communication, teamwork and also problem-solving skills. Not to mention particular persons only, but all of us have to take it as an experience or a lesson to improve ourselves in order to become a better person. Moreover, our lecturer has also asked us what we want to improve compared to the previous semester. For me, I would say I want to become a firm decision maker. This is because in my last semester, I used to take quite a long time to decide things, such as what character do I want to choose to act in my presentation video, President of the United States or Company’s CEO. Being a firm decision maker not only can save a lot of time in deciding matters, but also can improve ourselves in decision making, which is extremely significant in the future. Always put trust in ourselves. With respect to public speaking, I feel that sometimes I might lack confidence as well as easily get nervous while I’m delivering a speech. To improve this, I plan to practice more in order to train my stability and fluency. As the saying goes, ‘practice makes perfect’. I strongly believe that this will be a great way for me to show improvement.
23/10/2021
A fresh morning kickstarted my second public speaking class with my lovely lecturer, Madam Noor Aida! When I entered the class, I found out that Madam was already inside and opened the QR code for us to scan. From Madam Noor Aida, I really can see her responsibility and punctuality. And, she has always been energetic throughout our class! Our first session of today's class was revising the previous tasks that have been assigned by Madam to us which are, editing Weebly portfolios, writing reflection, and also writing video summary from the video uploaded on the Portal by Madam. Madam requested volunteers to share about the contents of the videos accordingly. Talking about video summaries, everyone was so energetic and has actively participated in the sharing session. There are a few people who have managed to grab the chance to share their summary on the video and also their thoughts. For me, I was extremely comfortable with this session, as it involved the participation of my fellow classmates, communication between students and the lecturer, and also a very engaging session! I was also able to gain more insights on what is communication, the barriers of communication, audience analysis, organization of a speech, speech purpose and development of a central idea in a speech. After the sharing session, Madam has expressed her appreciation and praise to those who volunteered to share the contents to all of us. I am very proud of my classmates who did this well and they deserve the praise. I also wish that I will be able to be like them one day to bravely voice out in front of others as well.
The second session for today's class was a teaching session. Madam shared her PowerPoint slides and started teaching us about events and protocols. It can be considered as something new to me as I have never learnt this either in my previous schools or my university lectures. Throughout the explanation and elaboration by Madam, I was able to understand more about the topic. For instance, protocols are vital such as health protocols, SOP to be followed by citizens, dress codes and so on. To put it another way, they act as a guideline for us to follow and obey. For example, the dress codes in universities are to make sure that university students are always wearing suitable and proper attire, and so as when they go to work after graduating, presenting in a company, dealing with colleagues and customers, and so on. People will judge us by looking at our image and that is what called first impression. Moving on, deep inside the topic, I have also learnt about event protocols. I realized that to organize an event, there are many things that need to be considered and prepared, such as invitations, timing, checklist, precedence, budgets, staffing and so on. Subsequently, Madam has also explained to us about the importance of our image to others. Eye conduct, attire, behaviour, posture, ability of presenting and so on, all these are the factors that will be influencing our first impression to others. When we are communicating to someone, we have to learn to listen, bear in mind what we should or shouldn’t talk about, what we should do, and also what we should avoid, to ensure that good image is revealed. Do handshake with others when required as it is a form of communication and an ultimate greeting as well. Last but not least, I have also learnt the formula for introductions and also social introductions.
In conclusion, today was another fruitful public speaking class with my lecturer, and I strongly believe that the knowledge that I have gained today will be useful and helpful in the near future.
30/10/2021
Today is the third class of public speaking by Madam Noor Aida. As usual, we scanned the QR code before starting class. At the beginning, Madam requested one of our classmates to briefly explain about previous class's topic namely, "Event protocols, Greetings and Titles". She was trying to recap what she has taught during last lesson. I felt comfortable in her teaching way, as I understand that, some people including me, might forget about the information passed by lectures to us. Revising in class by asking one people to briefly explain will definitely help us to recap the lessons.
Moving on, today's main task is to think a topic which we will be giving speech later on, and write an audience analysis. Regarding the topic of speech, Madam said that we possess our freedom to choose whatever topic that we intend to present. I really appreciate this as I think this gives an opportunity to all of us to speak out whatever topics that we are interested in, rather than limitating us to choose certain topics that we might not interested or not familiar with. For the audience analysis, Madam has attached her PowerPoint slides and a YouTube video in the OL for us to have a look on them, for our better understanding on audience analysis, and the importance of analyzing our audience. After reading the slides and watching the video, I have gained a better insight on them and started writing my audience analysis.
Furthermore, Madam requested us to start drafting our speech as well in accordance with the topic we chose. I have done some research through websites and finally, I have done my first script and it has already been uploaded in Weebly for Madam's review purpose. For this, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Madam as I felt that it improved my writing skills along the way of producing my script. I definitely know that this will be very helpful and useful in my future career. Last but not least, I would like to say that I felt really excited for the next coming public speaking class!
06/11/2021
Today is the fourth public speaking class with my lovely classmates and lecturer, Madam Noor Aida. Basically, Madam just received instructions on our public speaking class's group and individual projects and distributed them to us during class. With respect to the group project, me and my groupmates need to prepare a video presentation regarding public speaking etiquette. This video presentation will be covering topics such as, methods of correct voice projection, methods of controlling and overcoming fears, rules and regulations, appropriateness of language as well as taboo and obstacles. Apart from the video presentation, we need to come out an infographic poster for public speaking etiquette with our groupmates as well. Madam specifically reminded us that each and everyone of us in our group must take part in the video presentation, speaking and delivering our own ideas. I understand that the purpose of this reminder is to ensure all of us play our roles and not escape our own responsibilities in finishing the task given.
For the individual task, we will need to write an inflection individually after finishing the group task. The aim of this reflection is to evaluate our groupmates' behaviour, to display our teamwork skills, how we dealt with our group conflicts (if any), our responsibilities and so on. It also aims to help developing our communication, listening and problem-solving skills. Personally, I think that this task is indeed good as we will be able to get to know ourselves from others' perspective, instead of only ourselves. This is to discover our own weaknesses and strength, and improve ourselves in different aspects, so that we all can become better not only in the near future in university, but also when we are working in our own career.
Furthermore, it is worth to mention that, one of my classmates suggested that we can do the individual evaluation/reflection task in table form. Madam also agreed with that, saying that it will be more systematic. I was amazed with my classmate's idea, where she could come out a better way within a short period. We can see that, she is an organized and disciplined person, and we definitely need to learn this personality from her!
It is obvious that until now, all tasks given in our public speaking class involved writing, speaking and communicating. Previously, I am kind of person who is extremely scared of talking in front of others. However, it cannot be denied that I have learnt a lot from public speaking classes where now, I am able to produce a speech draft within a day, and I am also able to speak out even in front of all of my classmates. However, I still wish that I will be able to become more confident and calm when I am presenting ideas and delivering speeches.
13/11/2021
It's a rainy and cold morning when I woke up today. However, it does not obstruct me from preparing myself for an excited coming public speaking class! After scanning the QR code portrayed by Madam, Madam requested us to switch on our cameras and take a photo of our class for school magazine purpose. Although it's merely a simple and short photo session with my classmates, but honestly, I'm quite appreciate that moment as this is a good opportunity for us to see our friends' face, because along one year-online classes, we did not even meet physically before! We get to know each other better, and it's definitely a more engaging session, as everyone had have their cameras opened up!
After that, Madam started her lecture on how to arrange speech. I am always comfortable with this structured and organized teaching schedules, as I realized that Madam taught us step-by-step in order for us to easily understand the flow. For example, speech. During last lessons, we have drafted out our main points or outline of our own speech, and this week, Madam taught us on the arrangement of the speech. Then, after we grasp all of them, we can proceed to write and even polish or amend our own speech before recording. Furthermore, Madam has also uploaded relevant slides in Online Learning Portal for every different topics, for us to revise or revisit the topics that she has been taught us during our class.
The next class session was an in-class activity which is according the speech given by Madam, we have to determine the thesis statement, topic sentence, supporting details and so on in a speech. This is fun as this is the very first time I have the chance to learn on how to determine them in a speech. By doing so, Madam was able to make sure that we're fully understand on how to do so, in order to ease our work later on when we will be drafting, writing, and finalizing our own speech.
Last but not least, this is also an interesting session as well in public speaking class, namely sharing session. There were some public speaking bad experiences that has been shared throughout the session. We were not only listening to others' bad experiences, but we were also learning from their experiences to improve ourselves as well. Madam has also answered our questions regarding problems that we faced previously when we were doing public speaking. I am pretty sure that this session has cleared our doubts with respect to that, and we will be figuring out on how to improve ourselves by correcting our weaknesses such as nervous or awkwardness.
20/11/2021
Today is a little bit special compared to the usual one. This is because we did not have an usual public speaking class with Madam Noor Aida. Instead, we were all required to attend the OnCE with the theme of "UUM Menghargai Ibu & Ayah (UMI) melalui Seni: Kasih Keramat Sejati". This made me very excited, as I have never been watching such a Facebook Live with family theme. In the beginning of the live show, there was a short video which made me feeling touched. From the video, I have learnt that we must appreciate the time and chance to be with our parents, as we must know that there is always someone who is still being obstructed by Covid-19 pandemic, and they could not meet with their family members for a long time. Next, from the "Mereka Syurga Dunia" session, I have learnt the ettique that we should always have when we are with our parents, as their children. We ought always to improve ourselves in different aspects in order to become a better person, not only for our own good, but also for our family and the society.
Throughout the live show, there are many short videos, concerts, band show, and poetry that have been performed in between. These are really good because they have made the live show more interesting. Plus, I found that they were meaningful indeed as they brought certain values that should be understood and appreciated by us. For instance, the poems namely "Kasih Sayang Keramat Sejati" and "Pengorbanan Ayah dan Ibu" reminds of appreciating and caring on our parents as we are their children, and it cannot be denied that they sacrificed a lot for us.
In short, although today we did not have usual class, but it does not prevent us from learning. I really appreciate this kind of school live show that brings us moral values, where we should not ignore those values as they are extremely important in reflecting our inner self and personality. Most importantly, they are practical. For instance, we really need to love our parents and express our heartfelt thanks to them no matter what.
27/11/2021
Today was the last public speaking class. As usual, we scanned the QR code for the purpose of recording our attendance. But, what is different from the usual is the feeling. Feeling sad and touched, we started our class. Today's only task was to polish and finish our script, and we are allowed to start recording our speech from today. Madam has gave us a due date which is on 2nd of December. I really appreciate this decision, as actually, I'll be having an event tonight and I'm going to be the moderator of that event. Before that, I'll be having rehearsal for that as well. So my worries are that I can't manage to record my speech video within today. However, when Madam told me regarding we are allowed to hand in our task latest by 2nd of December, I really appreciate and intended to thank Madam for that.
Next, there are a few questions posed by us to Madam to get better clarity on our task. Our lovely and kind Madam always answers our questions patiently, to make sure that we have really understood what we are going to do and the instructions. I really like Madam's patience and I think that this should be learnt by me as I always lose my patience on something. Madam is definitely my role model. Subsequently, we continued our session by asking Madam for her comments on our group's infographic posters. Our group was the first who asked Madam regarding that. Here, I want to thank our group leader, Kai Sheng for doing that on behalf of our group. With respect to Madam's comments, they are positive one! Just that we need to add our group members' details in the bottom part of the poster. I really felt happy because our hard work has born fruits. Feeling happy and delightful, I appreciate the comments by Madam at the same time.
Lastly, Madam reminded us again on the due date of our task, and also required us to take a screenshot and send it in our WhatsApp group by 12.30p.m. in order to show her our task progress and what we have done within the class period. Then, all of us express our heartfelt thanks to Madam as she really taught us a lot! Although we are all reluctant to leave, we know that definitely we will meet again in the next semester. So, till we meet again! Here, I would also like to express my thanks again to Madam Noor Aida, thank you for teaching me on public speaking along this semester. I have learnt many such as public speaking etiquette, the way of writing a speech, be confident in my delivery and many more. I know that thank you is definitely not enough to express my gratitude, but anyways, thank you so much, my lovely Madam!
Group Task Reflection
After two weeks of discussing, preparing and executing, our group has finally finalized all things regarding the group task. First and foremost, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to my groupmates who assisted each other and finished the task together throughout the whole process. Indeed, we really exposed to those collaboration and teamwork skills that are extremely valuable. We never left someone alone in doing any task by his or her own. Instead, we discussed with each other before finalizing the outline and proceeding with our work. It is worth to say that the most important things in a team, in order to finish tasks timely and properly, are responsibility and communication. These are exactly the two things that has been displayed from my group. I really glad that I have a very good team and also proud to be one of the team.
To assess my own group dynamics and group discussion, there is no doubt that I have learnt a lot from our group discussion as I grasp more on how to effectively and efficiently discuss among our group members. For example, when I'm discussing a certain topic, I'll provide some examples to ease my group mates' understanding on what I'm referring to. I found that this really facilitates our group progress as everyone was on the right track. Next, it must be admitted that there will be some group conflicts among group members. For us, we actually did not have any, but of course, we faced a problem where two persons were holding different opinions and did not know which idea would do. Ultimately, we solved our problems by patiently explaining each other’s idea and slowly reaching consensus, and finally we came out the decision. No quarrelling at all. This is one of the skills that I have learnt as well where we should always communicate and discuss, instead of scolding or shouting to others who were holding different opinions with us. Thirdly, I found that I have the responsibility to listen more carefully when Madam was teaching or giving important reminders regarding our group task. Not only for my own good, but also for my group members so that I’m not the one who left out and this will probably our group work result. I believe that not only me, other group members as well, they played their role to jot down the important things in class. Next, going back to group discussion, I was aware that questioning is really vital in helping group talk or discussion. This is to ensure everyone understands on what others are saying and facilitate our group progress as well. Throughout the process, when I did not understand something provided by my group members, I would pose questions to him or her to keep myself on the right track. During our group oral discussion, I have also realized that it's important to listen to others' opinions and ideas, to get ourselves exposed to more suggestions instead of sticking on our own. I always paid my full attention in listening to them during the discussion.
Moving on, I would like to examine my group members' behaviours as part of the discussion group, as well as their communication skills as required by the instruction given. For the group behaviour, first, I would like to start with Kai Sheng. Kai Sheng is indeed a good leader who led us throughout the process. He always led us in our discussion and his way of discussion always got positive results from us. He always has an idea on what would be the best solution to solve the problems or conflicts among us if any. Also, he was really responsible in every task throughout this journey. Similarly, he also understood the questioning technique where when he did not understand, he'll straight ask to gain better understanding on that. He is also a good listener when other members were presenting their ideas. Next will be Cecelia. She was an idea provider throughout our group discussion. Undoubtedly, with her, our progress can be facilitated because we have many ideas at hand! She was a really considerate girl and always caring on us. Plus, she has jotted down a lot of important points concerning the group task during class and sent to us. Also, she was good in listening to our ideas and posing pointful questions to us so that we would be able to know where we can improve on that.
Next, I will talk about Fatin. She was also good in discussing ideas as she would also provide some website links to us via our WhatsApp group so that we would be able to gain some insights on that topic. Furthermore, she was very soft in communicating with us, always explaining patiently so that conflicts can be effectively avoided. Fatin was also very responsible in recording what has been taught by Madam during class, and she did remind us about the details after class. Similarly, when she did not understand on particular thing, she will ask. She was also a good listener, and she would provide her own opinions after listening to us. Subsequently, I’ll talk about Carmen. Carmen was always active in our group discussion, and she was also an idea provider. She was good in solving problems regarding “different opinions” because she would not bias to any side, instead, she would try to explain from the perspective of both sides. She would also jot down some notes and send us for our reference. Carmen was good in questing, answering and also listening to us. Lastly, I’ll talk about Zi Qing. Similar with Carmen, she always provides ideas to us in order to facilitate our group discussion progress. Zi Qing is very nice and always patient in presenting her opinions to us. There’s no conflict occurs. She always good in grasping class lessons, and later if any of us did not understand regarding certain topics, she would explain to us. When she did not understand something, she was not afraid of asking questions, as only by that way, she could get herself gaining the understanding. During oral discussion, she never interrupted anyone who’s talking or presenting, instead, she listened to them.
There is no doubt that we have communicated together for the purpose of finishing our group task and achieving common goal. This helps us a lot in gaining and improving our interpersonal communication skills, acquiring an awareness of and skill in dealing with interpersonal conflicts, and developing our listening skills. Overall, I would say from the group members’ behaviours that I have explained above, it is obvious that all of us possess extremely excellent communicating skills, where we realised the importance of communicating. If not, there might be misunderstanding, or ineffective communication occurs. We did execute it throughout this process of completing our task such as communicating through various platforms like WhatsApp and Google Meet. Everyone shares his or her thoughts regarding some certain task or contents through these platforms. Ultimately, we managed to achieve successful outcome through communication of ideas and opinions.
In fact, it’s not merely completing task, we are also able to get to know each other through effective communication among each other. It’s not that hard, but it’s also not easy in achieving this as proper and well communication only will be conducted if there’s people who are considerate, patient and active. Therefore, again, I would like to thank my group members, for finishing task together with me, and also for their devotion of time and effort throughout this journey. Really appreciate them, thank you.
To assess my own group dynamics and group discussion, there is no doubt that I have learnt a lot from our group discussion as I grasp more on how to effectively and efficiently discuss among our group members. For example, when I'm discussing a certain topic, I'll provide some examples to ease my group mates' understanding on what I'm referring to. I found that this really facilitates our group progress as everyone was on the right track. Next, it must be admitted that there will be some group conflicts among group members. For us, we actually did not have any, but of course, we faced a problem where two persons were holding different opinions and did not know which idea would do. Ultimately, we solved our problems by patiently explaining each other’s idea and slowly reaching consensus, and finally we came out the decision. No quarrelling at all. This is one of the skills that I have learnt as well where we should always communicate and discuss, instead of scolding or shouting to others who were holding different opinions with us. Thirdly, I found that I have the responsibility to listen more carefully when Madam was teaching or giving important reminders regarding our group task. Not only for my own good, but also for my group members so that I’m not the one who left out and this will probably our group work result. I believe that not only me, other group members as well, they played their role to jot down the important things in class. Next, going back to group discussion, I was aware that questioning is really vital in helping group talk or discussion. This is to ensure everyone understands on what others are saying and facilitate our group progress as well. Throughout the process, when I did not understand something provided by my group members, I would pose questions to him or her to keep myself on the right track. During our group oral discussion, I have also realized that it's important to listen to others' opinions and ideas, to get ourselves exposed to more suggestions instead of sticking on our own. I always paid my full attention in listening to them during the discussion.
Moving on, I would like to examine my group members' behaviours as part of the discussion group, as well as their communication skills as required by the instruction given. For the group behaviour, first, I would like to start with Kai Sheng. Kai Sheng is indeed a good leader who led us throughout the process. He always led us in our discussion and his way of discussion always got positive results from us. He always has an idea on what would be the best solution to solve the problems or conflicts among us if any. Also, he was really responsible in every task throughout this journey. Similarly, he also understood the questioning technique where when he did not understand, he'll straight ask to gain better understanding on that. He is also a good listener when other members were presenting their ideas. Next will be Cecelia. She was an idea provider throughout our group discussion. Undoubtedly, with her, our progress can be facilitated because we have many ideas at hand! She was a really considerate girl and always caring on us. Plus, she has jotted down a lot of important points concerning the group task during class and sent to us. Also, she was good in listening to our ideas and posing pointful questions to us so that we would be able to know where we can improve on that.
Next, I will talk about Fatin. She was also good in discussing ideas as she would also provide some website links to us via our WhatsApp group so that we would be able to gain some insights on that topic. Furthermore, she was very soft in communicating with us, always explaining patiently so that conflicts can be effectively avoided. Fatin was also very responsible in recording what has been taught by Madam during class, and she did remind us about the details after class. Similarly, when she did not understand on particular thing, she will ask. She was also a good listener, and she would provide her own opinions after listening to us. Subsequently, I’ll talk about Carmen. Carmen was always active in our group discussion, and she was also an idea provider. She was good in solving problems regarding “different opinions” because she would not bias to any side, instead, she would try to explain from the perspective of both sides. She would also jot down some notes and send us for our reference. Carmen was good in questing, answering and also listening to us. Lastly, I’ll talk about Zi Qing. Similar with Carmen, she always provides ideas to us in order to facilitate our group discussion progress. Zi Qing is very nice and always patient in presenting her opinions to us. There’s no conflict occurs. She always good in grasping class lessons, and later if any of us did not understand regarding certain topics, she would explain to us. When she did not understand something, she was not afraid of asking questions, as only by that way, she could get herself gaining the understanding. During oral discussion, she never interrupted anyone who’s talking or presenting, instead, she listened to them.
There is no doubt that we have communicated together for the purpose of finishing our group task and achieving common goal. This helps us a lot in gaining and improving our interpersonal communication skills, acquiring an awareness of and skill in dealing with interpersonal conflicts, and developing our listening skills. Overall, I would say from the group members’ behaviours that I have explained above, it is obvious that all of us possess extremely excellent communicating skills, where we realised the importance of communicating. If not, there might be misunderstanding, or ineffective communication occurs. We did execute it throughout this process of completing our task such as communicating through various platforms like WhatsApp and Google Meet. Everyone shares his or her thoughts regarding some certain task or contents through these platforms. Ultimately, we managed to achieve successful outcome through communication of ideas and opinions.
In fact, it’s not merely completing task, we are also able to get to know each other through effective communication among each other. It’s not that hard, but it’s also not easy in achieving this as proper and well communication only will be conducted if there’s people who are considerate, patient and active. Therefore, again, I would like to thank my group members, for finishing task together with me, and also for their devotion of time and effort throughout this journey. Really appreciate them, thank you.
Task & Activities
Video Summary - Identifying Speech Purpose & Develop Central Idea (16/10/2021)
At the beginning of the video, the speaker enlightens us with an interesting description, which is that the speech is like driving to a vacation. It needs planning and purpose. And, we need to make sure that our contents of the speech are aligned with the purpose of the speech. Three types of statements have been discussed in this video, they are general purpose statement, specific purpose statement, and central idea statement. Firstly, deciding a general purpose statement is like deciding a basic idea of vacation. It is related to the goal of the speech, like what are we trying to accomplish with. The most common goals are to inform, to persuade, to commemorate and to mark a special occasion. Once finished with that, we can proceed to the next, which is the specific purpose statement. It is like deciding a more specific destination instead of merely vacation. In public speaking, it provides further details of the goals of the speech. The basic formula is to restate the general purpose statement, identify the specific audience for our speech, and what we want the audience to learn, do, reconsider or agree with, at the conclusion of our speech. One example is, to inform my classmates about the political career of Ronald Reagan. With both general and specific purpose statements at hand, we can now proceed to the central idea statement. For this thesis statement, it is like determining the major activities of our trip. Thus, basically, a central idea statement should identify the major stops of our speech. It should be able to summarize our speech and include a recitation of the main points of our speech. Moreover, it should be expressed in a full and proper single sentence, as well as be a declarative statement.
At the beginning of the video, the speaker enlightens us with an interesting description, which is that the speech is like driving to a vacation. It needs planning and purpose. And, we need to make sure that our contents of the speech are aligned with the purpose of the speech. Three types of statements have been discussed in this video, they are general purpose statement, specific purpose statement, and central idea statement. Firstly, deciding a general purpose statement is like deciding a basic idea of vacation. It is related to the goal of the speech, like what are we trying to accomplish with. The most common goals are to inform, to persuade, to commemorate and to mark a special occasion. Once finished with that, we can proceed to the next, which is the specific purpose statement. It is like deciding a more specific destination instead of merely vacation. In public speaking, it provides further details of the goals of the speech. The basic formula is to restate the general purpose statement, identify the specific audience for our speech, and what we want the audience to learn, do, reconsider or agree with, at the conclusion of our speech. One example is, to inform my classmates about the political career of Ronald Reagan. With both general and specific purpose statements at hand, we can now proceed to the central idea statement. For this thesis statement, it is like determining the major activities of our trip. Thus, basically, a central idea statement should identify the major stops of our speech. It should be able to summarize our speech and include a recitation of the main points of our speech. Moreover, it should be expressed in a full and proper single sentence, as well as be a declarative statement.