Why effective communication is important to me?

If you can understand the picture without further explanations, you have heard of Singlish (English spoken by Singaporeans) and are probably quite an expert in it. No doubt, Singlish, as amusing as it can get, is commonly agreed to be a barrier to effective communication. This mindset is shared by Singapore’s government as they implemented the Speak Good English Movement (SGEM) in 2000 to eradicate the usage of Singlish in society.  

Being a Singaporean, I am, like many of you, not infallible to Singlish phrases slipping in my daily conversations. ‘Old habits die hard’. Even though I constantly stress upon myself the importance of Standard English during formal presentations, certain suffixes, like ‘lah’, ‘loh’ to name a few, have even creep into the end of my sentences. This has occurred one times too many to be a cause of worry for me. Living in a rapidly developing city, one cannot escape making formal presentations, whether your audience is your superior or our overseas friends. Being able to communicate effectively with them has never been more important.

Besides being able to communicate effectively in formal occasions as mentioned earlier, the need to communicate effectively is also critical in a classroom. My mentor teacher once mentioned to me before, ‘it is pointless to hold the knowledge of a hundred books and to not be able to impart the knowledge of a single book to your students’.  This statement succinctly summed up the importance of effective communication between a teacher and her students in a classroom. Not only the teacher has to pass on her information, she needs to be able to determine if the knowledge has been passed on effectively. 

In conclusion, the ability to communicate effectively is not only crucial for me currently (to do well in ES2007) but also as the roles I will play as in the future.