Programs

On September 20th 2017, 10 students from MF17 participated in their first ELSA volunteer event of the new semester. Though raining heavily, it did not temper their enthusiasm for helping the children with their homework. There were about 20 primary school students from Grade 2 to Grade 5. Each of the MF students tutored 2 to 3 of them for around 3 hours. Volunteers worked with children and helped them understand their assignments, prepare for classes, and improve their study skills. At first, the children were shy and not so talkative. However, they were willing to share their ideas with the volunteers after a few minutes. The volunteers answered their questions patiently and tried to know more about them. Both volunteers and children had a great time. The event was meaningful for the MF students as it allowed them to give back to the community. "When we were leaving, some children even asked whether we would come back tomorrow. We also learned a lot from this event, actually if you look around and you'll see communities in need in many ways. We believe even the minor effort will make an impact."

On June 7th, Mr. Norman Yen and his partner Amanda were invited to give a workshop on how to raise individual and interpersonal interaction effectiveness through mindful EQ. As a consultant and professional trainer, Mr. Yen has over 25 years of combined consulting and executive level experience in the US & Asia. The effectiveness of EQ in work This introductory lecture covers the basic knowledge of EQ and some interpretation on it. Participants assessed their own style of handling daily interactions through a little test on EQ at the beginning of lecture. He introduced of 4 dimensions in terms of EQ: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. He gave students detailed information on each category, and stressed on the self-awareness and self-management particularly. As for self-awareness, it is all about how you understand yourself. Norman told students a way to better understand themselves from two dimensions: Outgoing VS Reserved; Task-oriented VS People-oriented. These two dimensions can help separate people’s characters into four types: D, I, S, C, which represent dominance, influence, steadiness and compliance styles. Every style has its own special skills, weaknesses and motivations. For example, a dominant person tends to be more aggressive and focuses more on the results while a compliant person focuses more on the doing things right. The key is to help oneself better understand himself while in the meantime, better understand the people around him (e.g. his boss, colleagues etc.). Whenever there is a conflict between them, one can adopt different tactics based on which style the other person is, thus helping them better communicate with each other. Norman also emphasized on the importance of selecting the right working environment. Sometimes it is the working place of your choice that decides the self-fulfillment you gain. He gave students suggestions that one can talk to his boss and colleagues to know whether one fits the company’s culture. In the interview, one can also ask question such as how the company trains interns and how the company makes decision to gain an indepth understanding about firm culture and environment. As for self-management, Norman mentioned an interesting word: cortisol. It is a type of hormone that is active when we feel stressed. Amanda and Norman gave students some tips on how to deal with stress. We can reduce stress, or in another way, cortisol through meditation, laughter (which is the best medicine to body and emotion) and food like natural sweeteners (e.g. bananas, dark chocolate, nuts, black tea etc.) At last, Norman shared another story with us in terms of how to deal with tough situations with people in negotiations. He suggested two ways: Listen more than speak to judge whether there is truly a negative emotion or just a trick and show appreciation of other’s views. Sometimes, you can even use appropriate physical touch to show friendliness (in most cases, touching elbow will not seem rude).

On May 10th, Lecturer Angela Qian was invited to give a lecture on “NGOs in China & Fundraising”. She shared the China Charity Trust Development Report and showed some characteristics of fundraising in China. She also introduced several fundraising organizations and events. At the end of the lecture, she raised a discussion on emotional fundraising VS rational donation. There are many characteristics of fundraising in China. According to Public Fundraising Qualifications, Chinese NGOs can apply for the Charity Organization Qualifications. Charity organizations can apply for Public Fundraising Qualification 2 years after they receive the Charity Organization Qualification. Only charity organizations who have the Public-Fundraising Qualification can raise funds from the public. Foreign NGOs are not allowed to conduct any type of fundraising in China. As for online fundraising platforms, they should obtain certain qualifications from the Chinese government. Currently in China, only 13 online fundraising platforms are authorized to raise funds from the public, including Alibaba, Ant Love, Tencent Charity, and Sina Charity. There are many fundraising organizations in China. The most famous one is Hope Project. It was initiated by Mr. Yongguang XU in 1989, with 100,000 RMB registered capital. It raises funds by mails, tax training books, ads on newspaper, tour concerts, documentaries, TV shows and one-to-one subsidy. Angela also introduced other organizations such as Narada Foundation, NPI, Shanghai United Foundation, Western Sunshine, Adream and so on. People usually donate because of mission/vision, duty, peer pressure, tax planning, personal appeal, invitations and so on. However, most people choose to donate to individuals, especially children, instead of groups as a whole. Just as Kivi Miller, a fundraising expert, said “There is no such thing as the general public. No matter how much you try, you will not reach everyone. In fact, if you try to do so, odds are good that you will reach no one.”

On April 24th 2017, ELSA Team organized a special “Snack Night” for MF 16 students during their preparation for Module 3 final exams. The activity not only satisfied the students with tasty food, but also created a relaxing atmosphere during the busy final review week. The snacks included fruits and pizza. The fruits were sliced and served with dishes, including strawberries, mangoes, pitayas, papayas, cantaloupes and watermelons. Pizzas had various tastes with Super Deluxe, BBQ Chicken, Pepperoni, Hawaiian, French Truffle Sauce and Beef, etc. The snack time began at 8:10 p.m. Students came to enjoy the food after long review sessions, and spent some relaxing time chatting with their friends. They said this “Snack Night” did relax their anxiety and fill them with more energy in reviewing more diligently to get better grades in the exams.