Communication Skills

Naomi - Junseo Park

1. How would you rate your communication skills? (Extending, Proficient,

Developing, Emerging) Why? USE DETAILED EXAMPLES FROM THE ACTIVITIES WE
HAVE DONE IN CLASS TO SUPPORT YOUR RATING!!!!

- I would rate my communication skills between proficient and developing.

Looking back on the activities I have done in the class, my communication skill
was proficient in back-to-back drawing and escape the boom but developing in
mock interviews. In the first two activities, even though I still lacked in some
areas, such as speed of my communication and how I reacted to unexpected
problems during a conversation, clearly conveying my opinions/thoughts and
proper attitude while listening to others were well displayed during those times.
For example, when my partner was explaining about the picture that I have to
draw in back-to-back drawing activity, the first few parts were not that difficult
but when there was a confusing part in which I had no clue how and where to
draw, I tried to ask questions to make sure what I was doing wrong but as more
questions were asked, the problem got more confusing and I started feeling
disconcerted, which made me unable to handle the situation well. However,
throughout the activity, I tried my best to listen to my partner carefully and
actively cooperated, although there were some language barriers and confusion.
In addition, I faced a similar problem while doing escape the boom, which was
that I had to explain what the bomb looked like and was confused about what to
describe. Because this was my first time playing this activity, I did not know
where to start explaining so eventually I had to skip my turn and watch how
others did. However, as I got used to the game, I became better at explaining and
was able to clearly convey my opinions to my group members so that they could
disjoint the bomb. In the last activity, which was the mock interviews with grade
10 students, it was done in a group of two people and I could immediately realize
the difference between the communication skills of my partner and myself. I
thought I was confident at first as I had a list of example questions in front of me
and all I had to do was asking questions and providing feedback for the
interviewee. Once we sat with our interviewee, my partner started the interview
with skillful communication skills, such as leading the natural flow of the
conversation and changing the structures or words in a question depending on
the situation, whereas I mostly relied on the instructions the teacher gave us.
This was the time where I was overwhelmed by the other people’s
 communication skills and experienced a huge difference so I rated mine as
developing for this activity.

2. How can you improve your communication skills?

- I can improve my skills through participating in more communication activities

inside and outside the school. The biggest reason for having difficulties in
communication is lack of experiences. I do not use my communication skills that
often unless it is necessary or required to do so. Thus, I need to try getting used
to more techniques and actively engage in various activities. To give more
specific solutions, I need to care more about my body languages and word
choices so that I can improve the quality of my overall communication skills.

3. Do you feel confident to market yourself in an Interview? Why or why not? Use
detailed examples.

- I am still lacking in many areas in regard to an interview, so I need more time to

practice my skills in order to be confident to market myself. As mentioned in the
first question, I have difficulties leading the natural flow of the conversation and
dealing with unexpected situations flexibly. In addition, when I have a formal
conversation, like an interview, it gets even harder to organize my thoughts and I
tend to stutter as I get nervous. Therefore, considering some of my biggest
weaknesses in communication skills, it seems that it will take more effort and
practice to perform well in an interview.