From idea to reality: students develop social projects at RUDN Volunteer School
2 days for rallying, training and brainstorming. What is a volunteer and is the team important? How to motivate yourself and others? How to organize the flow of ideas in a structured project that will work? Students received answers to these questions at master classes by experts.
At the training, Olga Vasilyeva, an MBA lecturer at RUDN told the participants about the concept of “soft skills”, paid attention to aspects of self-motivation, synergy and mechanisms of successful communication.
“It seems to me that the most important skills are leadership, time management, responsibility and the ability to correctly get out of conflict. You also need to be a team player,” said Polina Popova, a member of the School of Volunteers.
Edgard Grand, head of the Ohana volunteer center, introduced the features of international communication and the main problems of students at the Faculty of the Russian language (FRL), and Kirill Bogatyrev, Chairman of the Student Council of the RUDN University, shared his experience in project activities, teamwork, and brainstorming techniques.
After training, the teams began to work out their own projects. The project "Rating system for FRL volunteers" provides for the development of criteria for evaluating the work of a volunteer and a system for encouraging the most active ones: for their work a volunteer receives points that are transformed into a kind of bonus or prize.
"Courses to improve the Russian language" are designed to solve one of the main language difficulties of all foreign students who come to Russia - understanding the spoken Russian language, its idioms, sayings and traditional songs. The project is a two-month course that will familiarize foreigners with everyday colloquial words of Russians.
The third project is the “Creation of the “Ohana” stand at RUDN Open Day”. What does anyone who enters the RUDN want? Of course - language practice with foreign students. The project aims to inform applicants about the possibility of combining language practice and volunteering already in their first year at the Ohana Volunteer Department.
When studying at the preparatory department, each homework is a serious challenge for a foreign student. The project "Creating a Platform for Assistance with Homework" is designed to help the student successfully cope with learning difficulties.
"The school of volunteers allowed the students to show their creative and intellectual potential. Together we can make the life of foreigners easier, and learning the language - more interesting!" - Polina Kotova, Deputy Chairman of the Student Committee of the Faculty of Economics.
