Javier's personal letter

 Subject: Self Introduction 

Dear Professor Blackstone,

I am writing this letter to share more about myself. My name is Javier Tong, and I am currently a first-year student studying Mechanical Engineering at the Singapore Institute of Technology. 

I graduated with a diploma in Aeronautical Engineering from Singapore Polytechnic, and I’m continuing my engineering journey again at SIT. I have always had a passion for cars since I was young. The amount of effort required, from planning and development to production always interests me. I enjoyed collecting model cars for years and, as I grew older, I would often modify them too. In my free time, I would fix and paint the various parts of my model cars. In order to modify, dismantling the models is often needed and sometimes, it is not that straightforward. I would search the internet, for guides on dismantling the exact models on forums to assist me. This hobby greatly contributed to my interest in engineering.

One communication strength I have is that I am an attentive listener. I am able to respond well to verbal and non-verbal cues when others speak to me. When someone is communicating, I will be focused on listening, understanding and asking questions, if I have doubts. I put in the effort when it comes to learning new things and communicating and I keep a generally positive outlook in life.

However, a weakness I could improve in communication is the confidence, required to communicate effectively. As I mainly speak Mandarin at home, I have less practice with English. As a result, sometimes I might struggle to get my point across through words or stutter. In my opinion, I feel that confidence affects the way people communicate. When you have the confidence to communicate, there would be a flow and people would understand better. 

The goals that I have in this module would be, to gain knowledge on effective communication, and clearer language use. There is a lot of critical thinking and language use, throughout this module. Learning the correct use of grammar and critical thinking, would allow for confidence when communicating, thereby enhancing overall communication.

Best regards,

Javier Tong