What is "culture"? How does one define "culture"? Is there a right or wrong definition for "culture"?
This is the first question asked by Dr. Deng Xudong and though it's an easy question to understand, it's not that straightforwardly easy to answer. That's why I like it, because I hate topics that bears only a singular answer. In fact, this is the reason why I decided to take this module as a General Education Module (GEM) because one, I want a GEM that allows me to speak up and voice my thoughts and opinions in class and also get feedback from the rest of the students in the class, be it positive or negative. Two, this is a Mode of Inquiry module where critical thinking is greatly encouraged, something I didn't have the opportunity to appreciate during my polytechnic days. In those days, you can be a "static" student and ace through the entire three-year course. Frankly, that's what I did and though it's not necessarily a bad thing per se, I felt that it would be more fun if there's an chance for me to just speak my mind and at the same time, listen to what others have to say. I think that this is one of those opportunities where I can speak my mind and learn from others' experiences and notions. Have I made the right choice by taking this module as my GEM? From the way things kicked off for the first seminar/tutorial, you bet I have.
Even before I entered the seminar room, I already like how the classroom is arranged. Why? It's reminiscent to the Japanese tutorials I have had in NUS - chairs are arranged along the walls to maximise eye contact among students and Dr. Deng for discussion and interaction. In fact, this may be even better than my Japanese tutorials because the students in GEK1036 seem to be livelier than the ones in my Japanese classes. An isolated case you may argue, but seriously, in a module where speaking up is strongly encouraged such as this, one can't expect to learn something by listening to what others have to say, without taking the first step and speak out first. Every student here seems to have a story to tell, at least pertaining to cross-cultural communication; for instance, my new friend Yong Ernn (nickname, Ernie) enlightened me on her eye-opening experience while she was in Hong Kong, while Priscilla, another new friend of mine, discussed her rude wake-up call while she was in India.
You see, this is what I've always been looking for while studying in NUS: a place for me to learn about other people. I'll tell you something: Apart from the educational values I stand to learn from this module, I also get to understand about other people's personalities. What do I mean by this? Let me ask you something simple yet thought-provoking: who are you? You can choose to tell your hobbies, likes & dislikes, etc. but I can still don't know about you at the end of the day. I understand people's character not through their personal details, but through their opinions. By listening to Priscilla's experience, I can already understand what kind of person she is, for instance. I have a number of experiences in Japan that I want to share with the rest of the people in this module, and in return, I want to know what experiences they want to share with me and the rest. I don't want to take a module just because it's a requirement or anything; I'd rather make the most of it and take a module that I know I would enjoy.
We live in a very small yet culturally-diverse country. We live in a non-monolinguistic society where there are four official languages: English, Chinese (Mandarin), Malay and Tamil, and apparently, it's important to be culturally-aware and sensitive in order to live in such an environment. Though Singapore is a multi-racial society, after my brief but enriching educational trip to a certain Asia-Pacific University (APU) in Japan, I realised that there are more culturally diverse places out there. That university boasts students from more than 80 different countries - Botswana, Bangladesh, Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia just to name a few instances - and though NUS may not be as diverse, it's all the more reason why I want to learn more about cross-cultural communication.
Based on what Dr. Deng has discussed concerning this module's requirements, nature and continual assessment, my friends and I know that there's a lot of work cut out for us for this module. Perhaps, this is the tradeoff we get for taking a module that has no examination paper. Furthermore, having a percentage of 20% for 8 entries on my blog (this one being the first), it's certainly an eye-opener for me because this is the first time where I have to create a blog for a module! Is it necessarily bad? Not really, because when I think about it, I also make comments and do some ranting for other modules. The only difference? I do so in the modules' respective forums. There isn't a forum for this module, but with the freedom I have by having my own blog, I feel that I can be more liberal with my comments.
Did I have fun in the first ever seminar for GEK1036? Sure did. Do I think Dr. Deng and the people in this module are great to be with? It really seems like it. Does it look like I have a lot of work coming right at me? No kiddin', it does. I know that since a lot of work is coming my way, like any other module, it's important to have fun along the way. I sure did during the first seminar, and I hope it continues to be like this, or even better, for the subsequent ones.
