interviewed

Today we had the last chance to correct our presentation and perform it. Of course we didn't want to do it, because János has not prepared yet (and me neither), but Jesus and his group presented it and in my opinion they did it quite well. There wasn't anything special in their presentation, but it was totally ok.
After this I have been interviewed, because I had not done it before. I just had to answer a few questions, like an employee of a company. It was hard to do it like an employee, because it was me (a student) and the teacher, so I could not feel this situation enough, that is why I had to change my non-verbal communication.
Next Tuesday we are going to present our project in the auditorium of building B and in my opinion it will be the last task we have to do for passing this subject.

nothing

Nowadays we don't do anything during the lessons. I arrived late to the class and Javier was explaining to János, what is his turn in the presentation and we discussed it together again, but it was just 5 minutes from the 90, so the rest 85 minutes was totally useless. I think this course is absolutely over, we just have to present our project next week and finished.

working on

Today the secretary missed the class, so the usual first part of the lesson has been cancelled. This way we were able to work on our final project all lesson long. From our group just me and Javier participated on the lesson, but we could compile the slides for the presentation. We just made five or six slides, but in my opinion they are very good and clear, so now we have to practice for the presentation and everything will be perfect. Me and János will present, so I think in the following weekend we should think about our speech. I mean, the main points, we should talk about, so I hope we will be able to work together in the following days, it would be really useful and it could help a lot for us.

surprise secretary

Today I was the secretary. I just had one problem with it, that I heard it form the guys sitting around me in the class. I arrived later today morning and my classmates began whispering around me, then they let me know I am the secretary today, but the teacher was in the middle of her speech, so I had to wait. After her minutes, it was my turn to start the lesson as a secretary. There wasn't anything special in today's agenda, so I just had to do my job like the secretaries always.
After the usual secretary part of the lesson Javier informed us about the project, we will work on and I asked him sending us the report of it, after writing this blogpost I am going to read it and tomorrow we will compile the slides for the presentation. I hope we will finish this preoject on time.

correcting

Today, after the usual secretary part of the lession, the teacher announced that we won't get any more activities, we just have to correct our tasks, we have done before and work on our final project. We asked in wich group we had been refered and she said we will work with Javier on his project, but Javier missed the lession on Thursday, so we will discuss the details with him on Tuesday. I hope we will be able to develope his project, but now I don't have any idea what it is about. In the end of the lession, we had to correct our activities, but I haven't gottten my swot analysis yet, so I will do it at home.

written communication

Today, the last 3 oral presentations were presented (I missed the class yesterday, but I know the others were performed yesterday). In my opinion, they were quite good, but I think, that a presentation can be much more understandable, if just one person speaks. I believe, it is easier, because the presentor doesn't have to connect his/her ideas to the others' ideas and maybe it is better for the audience as well, since this way they just have to follow the ideas of one person. After every presentation, we were able to comment and give advices to the groups, what they should improve. I think, none of the groups made any big mistake. Maybe Javier and his group should have made one or two slides with the most important points of their presentation, but it was totally understandable this way as well, so they also worked very well.
After the presentations, we collected the main points of the technical writing, then we got a new activity and two of us were interviewed by the teacher.

technical writing

On Thursday we got a new activity. In the next lessons we will talk about technical writing, so now we have to work in groups and read a chapter of an article, which is about the technical writing. We have to compile a presentation and by this presentation we will be able to explain the other groups, what our chapter was about. I just started reading it, but it seemed to be a bit boring, so I think the presentation won't be interesting too much. In the second half of the lesson, the teacher continued the interviews, so we were alone in the classroom, this way it was a bit hard to be motivated enough for working.

final project

On Wednesday, the teacher talked about how we can compose a correct presentation, because it will be the final project of this course. We will work in groups, but yesterday she didn't tell anything, in which group I will work, so now I am a bit curious, with whom I will work together and what this presentation will be about. After that the teacher started interviewing the students.I would need to have the swot analysis, which is written about me, but Janos can not do it until next week, so this way I think I will be interviewed just on next Tuesday or Wednesday.

swot

Today we tried to fill an online-test about something interesting (the teacher said it will be interesting for us, so for sure it will be). But there was a problem, when we tried to open the page, it wasn't available for everybody, because it can be opened only with Internet Explorer, so maybe we will be able work with it next week. The teacher also said it will be in spanish, so I am not sure, that we could understand everything and answer all the questions. After that we talked about the activity of next week. Each of us will be interviewed by the teacher and now we have to finish all the activities, we have done before, so I have to work hard this weekend. We also have to evaluate the tasks of one of my classmates, so after writing this blogpost I have to begin working.

assertive situations

Today we talked about different situations, when we should be assertive. Firstly, we had to envision the last situation, when we were criticized. I just remembered, when last time during an experiment of my physics class my teacher criticized the way, how I do it, but he showed me, how I can do it well, so I think it was a really assertive conversation between us. But as a conclusion of this task, we realized again, that many things depend on the details of the situation (like the other person, the mood of you/the other person, etc...). After that we solved some situations, when it is not easy to be assertive. I chose the situation, where one of my friends got money from me, but he/she has forgotten it and doesn't pay it back. In a situation like this, at first I made him/her remember the moment, when I gave him/her the money, then I would say that I need it back. But for example if I knew, that my friend is not able to pay it back, because of financial problems, I wouldn't ask him paying back, so all in all the solution always depends on a lot of detail.

useful advices

Today the half of our classmates arrived to the classroom fifteen minutes after the lesson had begun. Carlos was the secretary of the day, but he also came late, so the teacher had to start the lesson. After the usual tasks, today we did not get any new activity, but the teacher told about the common mistakes, we have made before. This way, now we have to improve our exercises, we finished before. I just realized, that I have forgotten writing a conclusion about the activities, I have done, several times. But it wasn't the only one mistake I made, I am sure, so I have to spy on them, because now I don't know, which one of my activities is right and which one is wrong. So this weekend I am going to develop my statements, I have uploaded before and write them in a better way. In the end of the lesson, we get a few minutes to finish the activity from yesterday, but the half of our group missed the opportunity to work with us today and we (me, János and Carlos) were not motivated enough, so the task will be finished in the weekend by us, but of course we improved it as much, as we could.

types of assertive communication

Today we worked in groups again. I was in a group with János, Béla, Javier and Carlos. We had to search for videos in the internet, because the teacher reviewed with us the different types of assertive communication, so in the second half of the lesson we could search for examples of these different types. These types were the "Broken record", the "Fogging", the "Basic assertion", the "Empathic assertion", the "Consequence assertion", the "Discrepancy assertion" and the "Negative feeling assertion". So we had to find a good example from a movie scene. Firstly, I though it will be a very easy task, but after a few miuntes long casting, I realized it is much harder to find a scene, which is suitable in every aspect. More or less we were able to solve the problem, but couldn't finish the exercise in the class, so we should work at home. We divided the task and each of us got a type to find a perfect example for it.

how to say no

Today Javier was the secretary and he did it very well. I liked very much the way, how he does his wiki. After that the teacher made a short presentation about assertivity and how we can be not too aggressive or not too passive during a conversation. The last part of the presentation was about, how we can say no in a polite way and we got an activity to this topic. After that we worked in pairs for 15 or 20 minutes and some of the groups performed their dialogues and we gave them suggestions, corrected their mistakes. In my opinion the pairs, who shared their dialogues with us, worked quite well and they just made a few mistakes. In the end of the lessen we were able to finish our activity.

Today we had to solve the activity in pairs. The purpose of the task was to practice, how we can say no in a correct way. I worked with János and we wrote a dialogue. I was the manager of János and I asked him to submit a report in a very short time, but he refused me. His reason was, that his wife is in the hospital, because she will give birth to their child and he asked me if I would like to get a report or a good report. After that we came to an understanding, that he will do it in a correct way, if I give him more time.
In my opinion our dialogue was perfect, because the employee had reasonable excuses and the manager wasn't too aggressive, so in the end both of them could be satisfied.
I believe that more or less the groups, who performed their dialogues, solved the task quite well. There were just a few mistakes, for example one of the employees was too aggressive and in the real life he would be fired in a short time because of this behavior and an other one, that the managers always had said how important is to submit the report until 15th and after that they agreed easily to get the reports later.
All in all it was a very useful activity again.

asertivity

On the lesson of Thursday, we talked about how to be assertive.
At first we watched a video on youtube. In the first half of the video there were a boss and an employee, the tune of the video was hardly understandable because of the wrong quality, so I just could get a few words, but it was obvious, that the boss was very angry and aggressive with the employee after he had made some mistakes. After that we wrote dialogues in pairs between the boss and the employee, but in these dialogues the boss had to be assertive. Firstly I had to search for this word "assertive", because I had never heard it before, but now I know. It means, that you know, what you want and you are able to convince the others not in an aggressive way, but in a polite, clear, understandable way without any breach. So 3 of the pairs performed their dialogues, but in my opinion just one of them was good enough and the others were either too passive or too aggressive. The teacher said that next time she will tell us some solutions, how we can be assertive in a perfect way, so on next Tuesday we will study it correctly.

the presentation

As I wrote, we had to compile a presentation with four slides on Tuesday and on Wednesday we finished the work in the first half of the lession. There was only one problem, just me and Javier participated in this lesson from our group and because one day before we decided, that János will be the presenter of us, we had to search for the new one. Finally, Javier undertook this task and I just changed the slides on the screen. I think, that we did a very good job, especially if we see, that the second half of the exercise, was solved by just two of us.
After the presentations, we commented each of every group's performance and I can say, the main problem was, that people wanted to communicate too much informations in these four slides, but they were just the opening and the closing of the presentation. In these parts of the presentation, our message has to be short and clear, we are not able to say long sentences. Moreover, we should make the audience sure of the opportunity to ask questions. In the last slide, we have to say "thank You" and it is important to tell them our e-mail address of phone number, if they are interested in anything, what is connected to our presentation, this way they will be able to contact us.

oral presentation

On Tuesday, after the usual tasks in the beginning of the lesson, we got a new activity, which was about the oral communication. We had to work in a group, which contained 5 persons ( 3 hungarian and 2 spanish guys) and we made 4 slides for the opening and the closing of an oral presentation.
I really liked this exercise, because we got liberty from the teacher and this way we were able to decide, which company we are working for and what our project is about. We compiled this presentation about a bridge builder company, which has a slogan like "we connect people" or "the distance can not be a handicap anymore". I like working in group, because for me it is very interesting and instructive, how people can improve their ideas together in a co-operative way and I strongly believe, it is very useful for everyone to know, how can solve problems together and decide, which idea is the best for development.
Moreover, we had to detect the main ideas of our project and frame it in a short and crystal-clear way, since in the opening and the closing, we don't have enough time to talk about a lot of information, we just are able to communicate the essential keywords of the project. In the opening, we have to make the audience pay attention to us and in the closing we just summarize, what we were talking about.

education system

In the first part of the lesson Jani was the secretary, he did it really well, so in my opinion he must become a secretary in the real life too. :D
After that we talked about a video, which I watched on monday and the rest of the group during the first week. This video was about the education systems nowadays and it is called "Schools kill creativity", but I think it is not a good title for this video, because it was mostly about, how children can waste their talent, because of the wrong ecudation system. More or less I agree with the guy in the video, but I think that children must detect their ablilities and skills at first. I mean, they need to try maths, phyisics, history, etc. and of course sports and arts, too. After that they will be able to decide, what they would like to do/work in their whole life. I strongly believe that decision could be made, when they are around 15 or 16 and after this decision they could focus on the subjects, they have chosen before. But many, many things depend on their parents and teachers, too. In my opinion the conclusion is, that the education system need to be refreshed and it must be more interesting and close to the children.
In the end of the lesson, we finished our third activity about the efective e-mails, which was solved in pairs (I worked with Béla).

Thursday

In the first part of the lesson, we checked the previous secretary's wiki and blog. This way, we are able to give advices to the bloggers, how they could develop their blogs and they can correct their mistakes.
Then we talked about the conclusions of the second activity, which was about the images. For me the main conclusion was, that it is much easier to make a good first impression with a nice photo, than to remedy a bad one. And the other one is, that the most important things are the eyes in these pictures. You can become a friendly, serious, responsible, confident (… etc.) person anytime, when you want, by a suitable glance.
We also had a discussion, how we can ask questions correctly. I believe, it was really useful and important one day before the Pedro Duque interview. So we corrected some questions, which could be answered only with a 'yes' or 'no'.
In the end of the lesson, we got a new activity about how we can write e-mails in an effective way, but we were not able to end this activity, so next time we have to solve this problem.We also had a discussion, how we can ask questions correctly. I believe, it was really useful and important one day before the Pedro Duque interview. So we corrected some questions, which could be answered only with a 'yes' or 'no'.In the end of the lesson, we got a new activity about how we can write e-mails in an effective way, but we were not able to end this activity, so next time we have to solve this problem.
We also had a discussion, how we can ask questions correctly. I believe, it was really useful and important one day before the Pedro Duque interview. So we corrected some questions, which could be answered only with a 'yes' or 'no'.In the end of the lesson, we got a new activity about how we can write e-mails in an effective way, but we were not able to end this activity, so next time we have to solve this problem.

First time

I registered for the course "Communication skills in Engineering" on Tuesday and on Wednesday I had my first lesson.
I was a bit anxious, since I could not imagine how a lesson goes on. In Hungary, the education is totally different. In my opinion the spanish one is more practical. Students must participate in the lessons in a more active way. Here, we are able to explain our opinion every day and we work in groups or in pairs mostly, but on my home university we have more lectures and less practice.
In my first lesson I had to introduce myself to the others, then János was appointed to be my mentor and he gave me a lot of useful advices about the subject. In every lesson, there is a secretary, who is chosen from the students and he or she is responsible for presiding over. We checked a wiki and a blogpost, chose the best ten questions, which will be answered by Pedro Duque (a spanish astronaut) on Friday. After that we analysed profile images from the Virtual Campus and we could realize how important a good profile picture is, if we want to make a good first impression.

Communication skills in Engineering

My name is Dávid Gergő Szabó. I am a hungarian Erasmus student, who study on the Universidad Europea de Madrid from february until the end of June. I arrived to Madrid on 6th of february, so I was not able to apply to any architect courses, but I could participate in an intensive spanish course until the end of the second trimester.
During the first week of the third trimester, I realized that some of the courses, I have choosen before, are in spanish, because there were not enough students, who wanted to study them in english. After that I had to search for some other subjects in english. That is the reason, why I am studying communication now, but I strongly believe, that it will be really useful, because an architect also has meetings and conferences sometimes, so I hope I will improve my communication skills and my english too.


This is a picture of my spanish university and the website of the UEM.
www.uem.es