Great Experiences From Communication Skills Class

Dear friends! Have you ever taken a course on communication skills?

At first I thought communication was very simple, but after participating in the 3-day communication skills course, organized by Caritas Dalat at the Dalat Pastoral Center, with the guidance of Teacher Stephano Tran Thien Kinh SJ, I gained a lot of knowledge and wonderful experiences that the course brought me.

Useful knowledge that the course brings.

First, I was most impressed when you mentioned the concept of communication originating from the Trinity or that communication is the transmission of life. I had never heard this before. After Teacher explained it, it was left as an imprint in my heart. And yet, the key sentence about the purpose of communication is to help people achieve salvation - for me, just memorizing this sentence is enough to inspire you to do communication.

Furthermore, regarding photography techniques, before coming to the course, I was quite self-conscious about my photography skills. When I hear the concepts of aperture, ISO, shooting speed, image composition, golden point... it all feels very strange. But after only the first day of class, I grasped the main content about how to take photos, as well as the above parameters. In the practice session, divided into groups to take photos, we took photos according to the requirements of the exercise, under the support of the Teacher and teaching assistant - something that I previously thought I could not do, even though the photos were not really beautiful. To me, that's amazing.

On the second day, the teacher also guided the class on how to write articles with the content and layout of an article including: introduction, body, and conclusion,...; The process, structure, content of the article, word choice, message conveyance, leadership style, etc. are all demonstrated very specifically and vividly by the teacher by analyzing example articles. Groups also practiced writing articles on the spot and discussed the content of their group's articles together very enthusiastically.

Experience working together as a team

Coming to the course, there are many different people from monks, lay people, young people, middle-aged people, people from Dalat, people from lower districts, people from Saigon, Kinh people, and Koho people. But when participating in the course, we all got along well and worked together very naturally. I also made many new friends.

Although everyone is different, they are all committed and do their best for the group's common work, that is what I felt when attending this course. Like my group, some people really hate taking pictures, but when they need a model to take pictures, they are willing to sacrifice so that the group can have pictures that meet the assignment requirements. Then how everyone comes together to come up with ideas for photos, write content or support each other as much as possible to have beautiful photos. All were very happy and unforgettable moments for me.

Interesting activities

When taking photos outdoors or when taking long exposure photos. The first time I picked up a camera to take photos according to the assignment's requirements, I felt very confused even though I had taken photos before (by feeling), but I was not alone but with the whole group. Everyone discussed together. If they didn't know anything, they asked the teacher for guidance and the group took many meaningful photos. In the evening, we were instructed by the teacher to take long exposure photos, one of the unforgettable activities that I experienced to have pictures like online photos. At first we didn't think we could take pictures, but the whole group worked well together to create our own unique photos.

Early in the morning, we attended a cozy Mass together in a beautiful small chapel at the Dalat Pastoral Center. The misty setting of the morning and the cold weather make this place even more sacred. In that spirit, we attend Mass together, pray for each other and for others to thank God for the blessings He has bestowed upon us and this course.

After participating in the course, I felt the course was very useful. Although the 3-day period was short, it left a beautiful mark, gained a lot of knowledge and positive energy, and gave me confidence to write media articles in the future.

Hopefully there will be many other courses, for young people who want to develop themselves, to help the community and the Parish spread the fire of faith, and help the media develop more and more.

Thi Hoa