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End of Year Reflection

Mona Malekimehraban End of Year Reflection This year, I learned; the art of persuasion, the different patterns of human behavior (especially regarding social situations), and the importance of re-evaluating your identity. Firstly, throughout the individual presentations from the second term, I learned how to persuade people and how the three types of persuasion can be applied to such situations. Specifically, preparing for my presentation, I often faced difficulties on how to make mediocre characteristics sound appealing,ー since talking about your hometown which has nothing particularly distinctive in it, can be a tough challenge. However, throughout the assignment, I learned to incorporate the three types of persuasion; Logos, Pathos, and Ethos. This is the theory created by the great Aristotle centuries ago, each of them representing; Appealing to logic, Appealing to emotions, and Appealing to ethics/morals/character. I especially embodied these when talking about activities for Lo...
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Pechakucha Presentation last day

 2021-11-30     Today was the last day for Pecha Kucha presentations, and I was honestly a bit sad it came to an end. I think the presenters did a great job but there were three points that I thought could still be improved and three points I thought helped stand their presentation out from the rest. Points of improvement 1. Not looking at the screen 2. Facing your shoulders towards the audience 3. Placing the hands in front of the body Good points 1. Maintained eye contact 2. Joked around here and there (released the tension for the presenters following) 3. Timing of the talk and the slides changing     In the last twenty minutes, Mr. Paterson talked about the Book Trailor Contest, which I am planning on joining (not sure yet). I think it would be a great opportunity to read Japanese books (which I definitely need to do to improve my comprehension skills) and a great opportunity to work again with Kotone (most probably).
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Pechakucha Presentation

 (I was absent on October 26th) 2021-11-09     In today's presentation, I noticed three points the presenters could improve on, and two points I thought enhanced their presentation.     The first point they could maybe improve on was their voice, more specifically, the volume of their voice, and the tone of their voice. In some parts of the presentation, I found it hard to hear their voice and this may be just me because I don't have very good ears but I believe this is another reason why speaking loud and clear is important (taking into consideration that there are people like me with bad ears). I understand this would be easier without masks but since masks are required for the time being, I believe taking measures such as drinking plenty of water and incorporating vocal practices can open up the vocal cords and help with talking louder. Another factor I believe could be improved on regarding "voice", is using intonations to emphasize certain points of your pr...
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Pechakucha Presentation Day 1

2021-12-10      Today, four people presented, which was slightly under the planned number (due to technical difficultiesーno brainer). Anyways, looking at the four presenters, I noticed there were three main points I believe could be improved.     The first point I believe could be improved about the presenters, is the lack of facial expressions. Specifically, I understand this is hard to do as we are required to wear masks right now, but at the same time, I also believe this is one of the most important factors to incorporate in our presentations. Generally speaking, we rely a lot of our communication on facial expressions, through reading the person's eyes, eyebrows, mouth, cheeks, and so on. And so having that factor taken away (due to masks) definitely does make it hard to enhance our facial expressions. However, the face is somewhere audiences look at the most, and so enhancing the use of facial expressions will help them stay engaged in us throughout the pr...
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Reflection on my PK presentation

 Two weeks ago (October 19th), I presented my PK. Looking back at the video of myself presenting, I found three major problems as well as three good points. The first problem I noticed was that I was looking at the screen a lot. I believe I was doing this as a way to cope with the stares you get as a presenterーby completely shutting them out of your visibility. By doing this, you not only look unconfident in yourself, but you are also cutting off the connection with the audience, which makes the audience not pay attention to your presentation. The second problem was that I was using a lot of filler wordsーespesially "um"s. This was something I didn't notice until I watched the video afterward, meaning that I was saying it unconsciously. In addition, I realized I was saying it when I had finished talking for the part and was waiting for the next slide to pop up meaning that I need to work on my pacing skills as well. The third problem was that I was blinking too much. This ...
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June 8 reflection

     Throughout doing a quick speech practice during class the last two weeks, I’ve learnt many things, not only through presenting myself but also by being a part of the audience. The first point I learnt about being an audience and watching other people present, is that it’s hard to control the breathing points when speaking. Just like singing, I find that breathing points are important to keep everything on a nice tempo or rhythm. For example, it’s a nice time to breathe in and take maybe 2-3 seconds to do so, when changing a topic. However, when you are talking about something that requires you to talk in a continuous manner, it could break the tempo. I also find that taking moments to breathe also allows people to calm down. After seeing some people take deep breaths, I could tell their shoulders sat lower and not so stiff, giving off the impression that they were confident—one of the most important elements to a presentation. However, one thing that I notice...
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Reflection on my presentation

So approximately two months ago, I presented about my book review on “The Book Thief”, and I finally got the courage to look back at the video today (ahahah). Starting off, there are six main points I need to reconsider and be more careful about when presenting from now on. The first point is to speak slower. Looking back at the video, I notice how fast I was talking, and no, it’s not that I didn’t notice that when presenting, I did. However, I couldn’t help myself at all and honestly, I still don’t understand why I was speaking at such a fast pace. And so I researched, and according to inc.com, a fast tone may indicate that the person is experiencing nervousness or a lack of self confidence.—Which I didn’t think I would show that kind of response because I had practiced a fair amount time and whenever I did, I was able to talk much slower. I guess the only way I can get over this is to practice until you are super confident, and to just experience presentations on a daily basis. Also,...
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