Learning

Saturday, April 26th: "Spring Has Sprung"  Hands-On Open Day at House of Knowledge！
As the pioneering Reggio Emilia-inspired Kindergarten in Beijing for the past 18 years, House of Knowledge's inspiring and innovative learning environment is distinguished among many other first-class international schools. 

To help you better get to know us in your preparations for choosing kindergartens for your child(ren) for the new school year - on April 26th (Saturday), we will hold a very spring-tuned OPEN DAY at House of Knowledge. 

You will not only get to see our campus and classrooms in person, but also your child(ren) can participate in our "Spring Has Sprung" hands-on activities in our well-designed Reggio inspired classrooms, while having lots of interactions and fun with our teaching team (Foreign Lead Teachers and Chinese Teachers).

This ia a yearly spring-time Open Day event at House of Knowledge facing all external families and we highly recommend you to grab this great opportunity to get to learn about our education philosophy / multi-language learning programs / project-based teaching approach; while meeting our principals and teachers, as well as experiencing our Reggio inspired learning environment in person. 

In this wonderful spring season, House of Knowledge looks forward to meeting you very soon! 

ABOUT THE EVENT:

With gripping detail and deep insight, authors Odd Arne Westad and Chen Jian will discuss their new book "The Great Transformation: China's Road from Revolution to Reform". Focused on the tumultuous events of the long 1970's and their impact, the authors will show how understanding this period in Chinese history is key to understanding what China has become today. In conversation with Melinda Liu, they'll reveal how they unearthed the revealing, granular details which make the book memorable – and why the book they published is not exactly the book they envisaged at the beginning of the project – a story behind the story. (Westad will be livestreamed; other participants and the audience will be in-person at the Yale Center Beijing; this event is co-organized by RASBJ and YCB.)

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS



Odd Arne Westad is a Norwegian scholar of modern international and global history, with a specialization in the history of Eastern Asia since the 18th century. Arne Westad won the Bancroft Prize for "The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times". "Restless Empire: China and the World since 1750", was released in the US and UK in 2012 and made two Top 100 lists for that year. He is the Elihu Professor of History at Yale. Arne Westad joined the faculty at Yale after teaching at the London School of Economics, where he was School Professor of International History, and at Harvard University, where he was the S.T. Lee Professor of US-Asia Relations. He is a fellow of the British Academy and of several other national academies.

Chen Jian is Distinguished Global Network Professor of History at NYU and NYU Shanghai and Hu Shih Professor of History Emeritus at Cornell University. His books include "China’s Road to the Korean War", "Mao’s China and the Cold War", and "Zhou Enlai: A Life". Prior to joining NYU Shanghai, he was the Michael J. Zak Professor of History for US-China Relations at Cornell University, Global Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson Center, the Philippe Roman Chair in History and International Affairs at the London School of Economics, and visiting research professor at the University of Hong Kong (2009-2013). Chen Jian holds a PhD from Southern Illinois University and an MA from Fudan University and East China Normal University in Shanghai.

Located in the heart of downtown Beijing, La Maison Montessori de Pékin (LMMP HG) was founded in 2013 to initially cater to the needs of French-speaking families in Beijing seeking a kindergarten for their children aged 1.5 to 6 years. Over the years, LMMP has expanded to offer a bilingual French-Chinese and English-Chinese environment following the Montessori pedagogy.

Are you looking for a nurturing and values-driven educational environment for your child? Join us at The Family Learning House Parents Information Session to discover how our holistic approach to education fosters academic excellence, character development, and a love for learning.

Families with little ones aged 1-2 years old are invited to join our Free Infant Care Trial on Thursday mornings at YCIS Beijing.

Come and meet our academic team of Early Chilhood Education. Experience the concept of learning through play!

Date and Time: Thursday 9.30 am -10.45 am

Location: YCIS Beijing

RSVP required: Please scan QR code in the poster below to sign up as space is limited.

Hello!

Join us next week for a free Chinese class about HSK5 上. This class will be a condensed version of the first lesson, covering vocabulary about relationships.

Feel free to add us on Wechat to get the Zoom link. 

Get ready for the Chinese Corner this Thursday afternoon! Gather your friend, family or colleagues.

Let's talk freely and enjoy a fun-filled afternoon!

BSB Sanlitun is holding an Early Years Open Morning event on Wednesday 26 March, from 9am to 11.30am, for foreign passport holders with children aged 0-4 years old.

"Over the last nine years, I have encountered many challenges both as a facilitator and as the manager of our mental health peer support group. I’ve documented our experiences, trained our facilitators, and brought all our learnings together in creating a manual. I hope that by sharing this with others, more mental health activists can get a better start and do great work in China supporting our very own community. "

Xiaojie Qin
Director of CandleX

Training Details

• Date: 20th Apr, Sunday, 2025


• Time: 2:30pm-5:30pm


• Location: Online via Voov/Tencent


• Language: English


• Cost: 500rmb, no refund


• Registration: Please contact Summer via QR code


• Training Format: The training will be a combination of lecture, demonstration, group discussion, role-play, and hands-on activities. Participants may have the opportunity to practice their facilitation skills and receive feedback from the trainer and other participants.

Opportunity to become a CandleX Support Group Facilitator

Since 2015, we have welcomed four generations of facilitators into our program, and we provide a timeline of 1-2 years for each facilitator to develop a strong foundation of knowledge and skills. By participating in our training, attendees will be positioned to be considered as potential candidates for becoming a facilitator within our SG program. Here are some of the key benefits of becoming a mental health peer support group facilitator, listed as bullet points:

• Hands-on experience working with individuals facing mental health challenges, as a peer. Enhanced empathy and emotional intelligence through active listening and understanding of human emotions.


• Development of valuable skills in facilitation and project management, and strong foundation for future studies or work in the mental health field.


• Deeply rewarding experience of seeing the positive impact of your efforts on others. Opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to mental health awareness and support in your community.

This year marks our 10th year of running our support group in Beijing. Seeing increasing need from emerging community members for us to do more on mental health, we are now providing training to prepare individuals to get on the path of mental health advocates and group leaders. This upcoming training provides practical guidance and knowledge based on accumulated experiences from challenges our facilitators have encountered, ethical considerations, and issues we have had running the support group.

We will also go over our internal training manual that outlines the structure of CandleX’s signature program - mental health support group - and the step by step tasks of facilitation. By doing this, we hope to empower more people to get an easier start on creating their own mental health groups and projects in China.

Who Should Attend

• Mental health professionals including therapists and coaches


• Mental Health Peer support facilitators


• Community mental health advocates


• Anyone interested in get on the path of becoming a mental health professional

Learning Objectives

• Understand the principles of group facilitation and group dynamics


• Learn effective communication skills


• Develop conflict resolution skills


• Develop strategies for creating a safe and inclusive space for group members


• Learn about self-care and how to manage burnout

Certificate

You will get a certificate from us to indicate that you have completed this 3-hour training.

More About the Training Content

We created a question bank based on facilitator’s debrief, which we do and document after every session. Over the years, we have engaged in discussions and mini-trainings amongst support group program team members as well as external experts to answer these questions.

Note: Our 3-hour training does not intend to cover all topics due to limitation of time. To make sure that this training is relevant to the training participants, I’d like you to look at the questions, and pick no more than 3 as your own learning objectives.

Training Questions Bank

Facilitator’s Self Awareness and Management

• What's your style as a facilitator?


• What are the self-beliefs that could get in the way of facilitation?


• What is the skill that a facilitator needs to keep in mind when we are confronted with difficult situations?


• How to proceed with the session as a facilitator when feeling triggered by a topic that has been or is being discussed?


• What are the traps a facilitator could fall into when facilitating in a group? (Or counter-in-transference when others disclosing something triggering)


• Facilitator’s self-care: There are responsibilities in being a facilitator, as well as benefits of feeling the meaning of life by giving, learning new skills. How do you balance your responsibilities to the group without compromising your own wellbeing?

Conflict Resolution Skills

• How to deal with conflicts amongst participants when happening in session?


• How to model disagreement respectfully?


• What should we do when we disagree with our peer facilitators?

Group Dynamics Management Skills

• What general attitudes participants have towards facilitators?


• How to manage a participant who gives advices when not asked?


• What to do when a participant is in distress when sharing, intense emotional reaction during self-disclosure?


• How do respond to situations where a participant damages the progress of the session? How do we know when we need to take that person out of the room?


• What to do or not to do if there’s prolonged silence in session?


• Learn how to manage one or a few people who cannot stop talking or who interrupt others inappropriately?

Improve the Operation

• What are the risks running a mental health group, and how do you mitigate such risks?


• Should the group sessions have a topic or it’s better to offer a topic free space?


• How do we get people to give feedback more?


• What negative feedback we’ve gotten so far? how do we improve?


• How to manage the expectations of participants towards the facilitator?

About the Trainer

Xiaojie Qin

A psychotherapist, the director of CandleX, with more than a decade of experiences working with groups, as a researcher, an interviewer, a group facilitator, a group therapist, as well as designer and manager of such groups.

You can learn about her work on psychotherapy by reading Xiaojie’s therapy profile.

CandleX's Resources

Are you or a friend in crisis? | Crisis Support

Psychosocial Support | Biweekly Support Group

Mental Health | Pre-treatment Guidance

Coaching Sessions | Write Your Mental Health Story

Weekly Gathering | Silent Meditation Circle

For more stories, resources, and education visit our website | www.candlex.cn