Spring-Summer 2022

English Language

Taught by: Júlia Füredi, Júlia Nemes, Ágnes Anna Szeghy, Amin Saed,

The English program at OLIve  aims to help our students improve their skills and increase their confidence using the English language in both professional and casual situations. Our teachers use a wide range of materials  to help you develop your pronunciation, listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. Students are grouped according to their levels to help individual improvement as well. Topic and theme-based lessons help our students acquire the english-skills they need.

Introduction to Business Management

Taught by: Anass Karzazi

This course aims at offering an introduction to business management for 1) students expected to continue their studies in management related programs in the future, 2) for those who have business ideas, or 3) those who are simply interested in business and entrepreneurship. The course includes understanding the company in its economic environment, Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs, Strategy design, Operations Management, the importance of Human Resources in companies, Marketing and advertising, and the major Financial concepts. In this course, students will develop business vocabulary and critical and analytical thinking in solving business issues and acquire practical knowledge and skills that might be useful in the labor market or to start a new business.

Career Development and Job Seeking Techniques in Hungary

Taught by: Timi Sófalvi

In this course you will learn various skills that will help you in developing your job career in Hungary. The topics of discussion and the skills you will obtain are the following:

• Setting up career goals: what is your dream-job? (Long-term and short-term goals)
• Assessing your strength: how to show in your CV what you’re good at? 
• How to write an efficient CV?
• How to write a cover letter and a knocking letter?
• Three channels of finding a job: reply for the job ads – networking – direct approach.
• Setting up a LinkedIn profile
• Preparing for a job interview Information about the regulation of working in Hungary: official documents you need for work
• Elements of a job contract Any other questions related to job seeking that the participants bring will be discussed during the class.

Drawing and Animation Portraits

Taught by: Eszter Szabó

The course aims to introduce students to the basics of visual arts and animation. How to start a drawing? How to lead the viewer’s eye by intentionally composing the different elements on the image? How to relate to a portrait painted centuries ago? What can a small, animated gesture add to an image? Focusing on portraits, we will visit the classical and modern art departments in the Museum of Fine Arts and a contemporary exhibition in one of the museums or galleries. Students will also get acquainted with some basic techniques while drawing sketches, copies of some of the artworks shown in the exhibition. After the visits we will think further these sketches. Students will create their own interpretations by drawing their own versions. Students will work with these drawings by learning how to digitalise, edit and animate them with their phone and with the open source program Krita. The outcome: will be a small sized zine, a booklet that we edit together. It will contain reproductions, students drawings, texts, and we also plan to present their animations with the help of an augmented reality application.

Food and Culture

Taught by: Márton Bisztrai

Food shapes our daily lives, and religion or individual interest often regulates it. The food industry has a massive impact on global warming and the international economy. Food is an object to represent identity (from masculinity through nationalism to anti-globalism) and wealth. And YOU already know so much about these phenomenon. So bring your food stories and knowledge and teach your classmates and me about your culture. The course will offer you tools to develop an analytical perspective, so by doing your investigation, you will understand more the phenomenon connected to your favorite dish. Completing this course, you will develop your analytical skills, reflect on your own culture, and learn a holistic approach to understanding social phenomenon. In addition, students can try different ways of presenting and developing storytelling and writing skills. The course does not require any specific skills or cooking experience.

Advanced MS Excel

Taught by: Basil Hararah

MS Excel is a great tool that was and is still being used by companies and organizations on a large scale to store, analyze, and represent different types of data. MS Excel can be useful with many types of data whether it was related to finance, health, or even social sciences. In this course we will learn how to create tables efficiently, how to use Excel formulas on an advanced level to help us accomplishing different tasks, how to represent and visualize our data using different types of charts and Pivot Tables, and how to save time with reoccurring tasks by automating them with the help of macros and code writing using Visual Basic for Applications.

The Social in Science

Taught by: Mahendran Chokkalingam

We read about Mars Rovers, CERN collider, God particles and other scientific experiments in daily news. They sound exciting and fascinating to see the achievements of the scientific community. But what do these experiments mean to the rest of us?  How do we approach science and scientific experiments from a general social science point of view? This course explores the social aspect of scientific research and why it is necessary to understand the current situation.  As  beginners, how do we study a sociology of science? This course tries to achieve this objective through looking into various case studies of scientific experiments, projects and day-to-day activities. At the end of the course, you will  have an understanding and develop an idea of what is social in science? Why do we need it? And you will have an understanding of the methods used for studying the social in science.

The secret histories of Budapest

Taught by: Adrian-George Matus

The secrets of Budapest hide in many places: in the archives, in museums, even on the streets! Throughout the afternoon sessions, we will discover the meaning of the streets, the hidden documents from the archives, and the museums. 

Throughout our four sessions, we will explore the history of Budapest in relationship with the greater world. Among the places that we will visit, Open Society Archives will play a particular role. This archive hosts a large collection dedicated to human rights, documents, and forgotten histories. After visiting this archive, we will move to the Jewish Community Archives. This is a highly interactive module, suitable for all that want to learn a bit more about the city!

Creating Social Change

Taught by: Olga Irimias and Anna Végh

In this course we will plan and implement a social action together. What is a social action? It can be any project that aims at achieving social change in our communities: from organizing a public event, through artistic creation on topics of social relevance, to creative campaigns or community building projects. The options are endless, and It is up to the group to decide the topic and the form of the actual project, as well as its volume (it can be a mini-project if this is what the participants feel ready for)! We will start by mapping the issues that we find important to address, and look at examples of social actions that had an impact. Inspired by these, we will move forward to plan and carry out the group’s own unique project, and finally evaluate the process and draw conclusions.  No prior experience needed, we will support you throughout the process! The course is intended for young people under 30 years of age (but please contact us if you are above that and would still like to participate).

Digital Fabrication

Taught by: Olsi Dudumi and Áron Sütheő

A FabLab (Fabrication Laboratories) is an innovative space equipped with digitally controlled machines such as 3D printer, Vinyl Cutter, Laser Cutter, digital sewing machines etc, where data and designs are turned into products. A FabLab represents a methodology that is built on community-driven approaches, promoting participation and empowerment while paving the way to sustainable, durable solutions through enhancing creativity to implement their own designs and products but also strengthen digital know-how which is an important factor in any future employability. In this series of workshops we will exchange with each other, create, innovate and digitally produce products.

Visual Storytelling

Taught by: Áron Szentpéteri

Students will complete an audio-visual work of their choice: a short film up to 5 mins in length, a video clip, a photo essay, photo diary, short podcast etc. The sessions within the semester will lead up to the final project: we will find a theme for every student individually, or for groups of students working together, that is personally motivating and we will learn the basic elements of telling stories, composing and framing pictures and of editing. Smart phones and free to use editing software will be more than enough to participate. Students will complete small assignments starting from taking photos, through photo series etc. that we will discuss together as a group at the next session, while continuously developing the ideas of the final projects. Students will be encouraged to help each other and work together on the development and realization of their chosen projects. No prior technical knowledge is necessary for this course

Max number of students: 10

Space and movement relations

Taught by: Kinga Szemessy

By observing how we inhabit our spaces as well as our bodies, this interdisciplinary, practice-based course offers an introduction to contemporary choreography. Initially, we will enrich our dance and documentation skills for the sake of being able to perceive the world through the soma, the lived body. Short lectures are going to be given both on participatory installations and public space interventions e.g. parades and flashmobs. Then, as a next step, we are going to imagine/write/draw/build choreographic scores and maps together for others’ sensorial experience. In this regard, the course could be foundational for anyone who is interested in the arts, anthropology, politics, geology/cartography, or just wishes to (re-)connect with the often subordinated bodily being. Prior-experience in dance is absolutely not a requirement

English Communication Skills

Taught by: Ana da Silva & Tom Popper

This course offers students the opportunity to build confidence in their ability to communicate in English. Students will increase their ability to articulate ideas and concepts through effective communication: Listening, speaking, reading, writing, collaboration and presentation. Classes are discussion-based and students will have a chance to explore ideas, engage in debate, evaluate and build on the ideas of others. Classes cover a wide variety of topics, often generated by student interest. The classroom culture is one of inclusion and participation, with a focus on building a sense of community and a safe environment for collaborative learning

Empowerment and Skills Development

Taught by: Zoltán Somogyvári

This course is provided by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, one of the oldest human rights NGOs in Hungary. 

This is the roadmap of our 8-week-long journey: 

• We will first get to know each other and ourselves better through sharing experiences about what shaped our worldviews and our socialisation.
• Then you will be able to share which issues are bothering you in the Hungarian society, and what issues you want to change.
• We will then map the Hungarian social and political context.
• We will identify the key Hungarian and European social and political actors, and we will discuss how we can use them to achieve the changes we want to see in the society.
• We will analyse successful Hungarian and international social actions, and we will discuss why they were impactful.
• We will get to know the 5 ways to address social problems (activism, advocacy, service provision, community building and community development).
• At the end of the course we will learn how to design our own social actions and social campaigns. 

Join the course if you are happy to share your ideas and feelings with likeminded people in a safe group, and if you want to become more active in the Hungarian society! If you are interested, please write an email until 27th February to Zoltán Somogyvári here: zoltan.somogyvari@helsinki.hu

Zoltán will get in touch with you and will explain the course in more detail. We will agree on the dates of the course depending on the availability of the majority of the participants. 

Hungarian Language

Taught by: Levente Borsos

In this course we will focus on effective communication in both everyday and professional settings. Course contents will be adapted to students’ individual needs. Through learning Hungarian, students will also be introduced to Hungarian culture.