Stage Fright

We often come across numerous presentations in our schooling which requires us to give a speech on the stage. Some of us will feel anxious and fear to give a speech in front of the audience. Before stepping up to the stage, there are some minor changes for some of the people, such as the heart is beating very fast, the palms are sweating, stomach upset and others. Thus, they are most likely suffering from stage fright. Stage fright is a kind of phobia which is known as gloss phobia. This phobia is happening frequently to some of us. In fact, it may bring some negative effects to people who are over nervous. Therefore, have you ever thought of overcoming it? Will you be brave enough to take the first step to overcome stage fright?

Now, I would like to share some ways to overcome this stage fright. Firstly, you must be prepared for your presentation by doing some research through any sources. You must know and understand the topics of your presentation at your finger tips. In addition, you must be prepared that the audience may ask some questions during your presentation. So, you may need to do some extra readings to enable you to answer their questions.

Secondly, you must always be focused and avoid being distracted. You should not think that the speech is going to take a long time. You can just assume it to be an 8 minutes presentation. You can try to be more comfortable at the beginning of the speech. In doing so, it will minimize your anxiety on the stage.

Subsequently, you can take some deep breaths to calm yourself down. In this way, it can relieve your stress and keep you relaxed. Besides, you should be self-motivated and always in a positive mind that you are able to give a proper speech on the stage. You should not take public speaking as something which is bad for you. You must be aware that every one of us has the probability of making mistakes at any situation. Therefore, you should not be overly worried that you had made a mistake. You also can try to make some jokes to attract the attention of the audience, so that the audience will listen to you.


Compiled by,

Lai Shu Tiing

Common Mistakes in a Job Interview

Job plays an important role in our life, especially for those who are the breadwinners in their families. They need a job to earn money, so that they are able to support their family members by providing them with sufficient comestibles, shelter and daily needs. To obtain a job, we must always go through an interview session. Interview is so important because it is the first impression to the boss. Thus, we always try to give our best and show the most presentable appearance to the interviewer. However, we are all human, so it is highly possible that we may make some mistakes in our job interviews.

After completing a job interview, will you try to figure out what mistakes you have made during the interview session? Now, I would like to talk about some of the common mistakes that some of us have made. In a job interview, time management is very crucial, but some of us always late for an interview without prior notice to the person who in charge. Thus, this will give a bad impression to the interviewer.

Talking too much is also considered a mistake in a job interview. It is advisable that not to talk too much, but instead listening to the question being asked and give a proper answer which is clear and precise. When answering the question, it is important to mind your language and do not be racist.

As we know, body language speaks louder than words because it is considered nonverbal communication. However, some of our body language is contradicting to what we had just said. This incident will make the interviewer wonder and doubt to hire you as his employee. In addition, some of us always repeat some minor mistakes in body language, such as too weak or strong handshakes or no eye contact with the interviewer. We should always avoid these mistakes.

Lack of preparation and confidence will also affect the perception of the interviewer of you. Without proper preparation for your job interview one will give impression to the interviewer that this job interview is not important and you are poor in managing your job interview and did not do some proper research on the respective company.

On the other hand, inappropriate dressing code and failing to ask questions are also considered as common mistakes in your job interview. You are advice not to wear informal dressing for your interview but instead you should wear formal clothing and minimal accessories. Failing to ask questions will show that you are not interested in the job. So, you are encouraged to ask some questions of the interviewer, but do not bring up salary matter at the beginning of your interview. Furthermore, lying or concealing information should be avoided because the interviewer will view you as a dishonest person if they have found out that you are lying.

Compiled by,


Lai Shu Tiing

dear tragedy.

We were on the verge of victory, the crowd was clearly chanting the name of our team, howling and cheering for us as we continued to push our opponents into the narrow corner that would soon lead to their defeat. The push continued, we were on the brink of victory the black wordings emerged, it was almost done. All we could hear was the voices of our supporters behind us, screaming , cheering us on. Then , the only,most unexpected event occurred that was our enemies only possible saving grace , a rough 5% chance estimation of succession , a moment of confusion and the next 30 seconds were pure tragedy for us. That's how the day went for us on the 29th of september 2009. My friends and I were competing in an online gaming competition at Berjaya Times Square , the prize was a grand trip to Japan and it was fair to say that we were favourited to win it hands down. Don't you just hate it when you knew that something was well within the reach of your hands, then in a split second, everything that seems possible to go wrong does go wrong? That's how we felt, frustrated and dissapointed we started pointing fingers at one another for the day's outcome. Instead of being happy of how close we got , we were instead obssessed with the fact that we managed to lose instead of having the biggest advantage you could possibly have. That day took a toll on our friendship and perception of each other, words need not be said to show the amount of frustration and dissapointment we had felt on that day. We sat across each other as we had lunch, utter silence, not a word from any of us. These little facts of non-verbal language was seen by our supporters and friends, which then incorporated them to calming us down and cheering us up.It was pretty evident from the body language we were emitting that we were completely unhappy about the outcome. Lady luck was definitely not helping us on that day, we bit in our bitter fate and went on that day , not much to be said on the trip home , just two simple words. "**** this"
can't say we didnt try.
don't know if this can be related to human comm. :S





Kenny Lee.

Personal Listening Styles

Each of us has their own personal listening style and it is vary from each other. Have you ever thought of which type of personal listening style you often used in your daily life during communicating with your family and friends? On the other hand, knowing your own personal listening style can often help you a lot in your listening process. According to the communication researchers, there are four different types of personal listening styles, such as content-oriented, people-oriented, action-oriented and time-oriented. Each of the personal listening style has their own uniqueness and drawback.

First, I will like to talk about content-oriented listeners. A content-oriented listener is more concerned on the content of the message that the sender has send. They will like to know more in detail on the issue rather than any other type of listeners. They like to spend time to analyze and explore the issue. They are very good in analytical skill. Although it is very time consuming to analyze the issue, they are willing to do for it. However, a content-oriented listener might become overly critical.

Next, I will to turn to people-oriented listeners. A people-oriented listener is more concern with maintaining and creating a good relationship. They always like to put in other people shoes when other people facing some problem. They are very good in understanding other people. They always give full support to people who need help. On the other hand, a people-oriented listener may sometimes become over conscious of other people feelings and too emotional, which can lead to a low ability to judge the message.

Subsequently, I will like to talk about action-oriented listeners. An action-oriented listener is more concern on the task at hand. They always like to think of what kind of response they should response to the sender’s message. An action-oriented listener is more suitable to take care of business because they have fulfilled the criteria of being a good businessman and businesswoman. However, an action-oriented listener will be less concern on emotional issue as compared to the people-oriented listener.

Now, I will like to talk about the time-oriented listeners. A time-oriented listener is more concern of efficiency. They take time as a valuable and precise thing. They do not like to waste their time on unimportant issue. They are also very punctual during handing their work and assignment. However, they sometimes seem to put off others and disregard of other feelings.

Compiled by,

LAI SHU TIING

Hearing and Listening

Do you know what is the difference between listening and hearing? Is listening a natural process? Most of the people will answer that hearing and listening are the same and they also assume that the listening process is a natural process. However, they are wrong because they have misunderstood it.

First, I would like to explain that hearing and listening are not the same. Hearing is the process in which the sound waves strike the eardrum and cause vibrations that are transmitted to the brain. In contrast, listening occurs when the brain constructs these electrochemical impulses into a representation of the original sound and then gives them meaning. For example, during our primary and secondary school, our teacher always asked us this question, “boys and girls, are you all listening to what I had just said?” Most of the students will answer, “yes, teacher.” However, when the teacher asked us to recall what she had said, we often cannot recall and we always kept quiet. This incident has showed us that most of the students are not listening whereas they are just hearing. On the other hand, the hearing process cannot be stopped and that is why the student can hear but not listen to the teacher.

Next, I will also like to clarify the misconception that listening is a natural process. Actually, listening is not a natural process. Although we often listen to other people, however, not many people can do it well because the listening process requires some skill. Some of the people who went for a job interview cannot do well in their job interview because they fail to understand the instruction and they are also poor in listening. This listening process can be improved through extra training and instruction. Those who have poor listening skills are encouraged to go for extra training so that their listening skill will improve.

Compiled by,

LAI SHU TIING

EXPRESSING YOURSELF

There is nothing I can say
to make you understand,
because how can I express myself
in such a simple way as words?

A thought to your mind,
but a feeling to your soul,
and words cannot logically change
for the purpose of communication.

To convey a feeling
is not like to convey a thought,
so I’ll send out my emotions
and pray they reach your soul.

communication is process of exchanging communication and ideas. Its an active process involving encoding, transmitting and decoding intended messages. There are many means of communicating and many different language systems. Plus, there are many ways to tell stories and express our feelings such as by poem declamation.

When all about you is black with gloom,

And all you feel is pending doom.

When your bones are racked with grim despair -

When every breath is a gasp for air.

Keep on going, though you need to grope,

For around the bend is a ray of hope.

A ray of hope is perhaps all that's left,

As your will to live has been bereft.

You've lost it all, it's just no use!

You can end it all, you need no excuse.

But throw away that piece of rope,

And give yourself a chance of hope.

Just give yourself another day,

Brushing aside what your thoughts may say.

This is your life and you can make a new start,

By ignoring the brain - just follow the heart.

Taking baby steps in order to cope,

And minute by minute you'll build on your hope.

Build on your hope,. one day at a time,

Though the road be steep and hard to climb.

The hurts of the past - they should be dead.

The fears of the future are all in your head.

Just live in the present and refuse to mope

Your life will sparkle for you're living in hope.

IZYAN ARINA MAZLAN

B0901417

How We Work!!

Sometimes not everything you see is true. A person has various parts in themselves and based on the Johari Window there are 4, the open self, the blind self, the unknown self and the hidden self. We usually don’t realize all these because we just perform it. The open self is usually what we show others like our gender, our physical appearance. It is basically what you tell people and how you open up to them. The blind self is what others know about you that you don’t know or don’t realize. These may include your habits which you don’t realize about. For example sometimes when you like interfering in peoples conversations you don’t realize it but they do! And it is important to reduce this part of a person to avoid emotional upset and conflicts with people. The third is the unknown self. This is the deep side which neither you or others are aware of. This can include feelings, behavior or even personality. For example a fear someone has but is not aware about or even illnesses which is possessed but unaware about. And the last is the hidden self. This is the mysterious part where you know it but you keep it a secret from others. This includes anything that a person knows but does not reveal, for whatever reason. It's natural for very personal and private information and feelings to remain hidden. However sometimes letting out our feelings can make a person feel much better.Therefore a person should have a little of all the above characteristics but not too much of any because without realizing it can sometimes cause conflicts or even emotional problems.

-Ashreen Kaur-