2009 News Releases

Hong Kong - Manulife staff have volunteered to spend some of their Saturday mornings helping kids with special learning needs develop a basic grasp of English.

Manulife Centre for Children with Specific Learning Disabilities (MCCSLD) ran an eight-week English-literacy course called the “Family Support Programme” during mid-May to early-July 2009. The programme was designed to help children aged between seven and nine who are facing greater problems than most of their peers would do in dealing with a second language because of their innate cognitive weakness.

Some 10 staff from different departments in Manulife visited the MCCSLD to provide guidance and ‘tutoring’ to a class of MCCSLD children and their parents every weekend. These Manulife ‘tutors’ played scrambled-sentence games with the children, in an attempt to help the children expand their vocabulary. They also acted as facilitators in class by encouraging interactions between the children and the educational psychologist.

Commented Michael Huddart, Manulife’s Executive Vice President & Chief Executive Officer, Hong Kong: “The enthusiastic response of our staff to this call for volunteers illustrates the spirit of community commitment that is such a vital part of the corporate culture at Manulife — I am very proud of them.”

“There is no reason why these children with learning difficulties shouldn’t enjoy the opportunities opened up by knowledge of such a globally important language as English. They have the potential, all they need is some guidance and a little extra attention, which our volunteers are happy to give them.”

Manulife has sponsored the MCCSLD at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University since 1999. MCCSLD has a mandate to identify and assist children with specific learning difficulties, as well as empowering their parents and teachers to enable their charges to develop to their fullest potential.

MCCSLD’s “Family Support Programme” aims at assisting parents to create a conducive language learning environment at home for their children, as well as offering practical lessons in reading, writing and comprehension. It is conducted by Canadian educational psychologist Ms Andrea MacKenzie and supervised by Dr. Alice Lai who heads up the MCCSLD.

Dr. Alice Lai thanked Manulife for its ongoing support for the MCCSLD and added: “The children will find the programme more interactive and fun with the additional guidance of the Manulife volunteers, and I would like to express my deepest gratitude to them. It is heart-warming to know that there are people in our society prepared to make such an effort to help those kids on their journey of enhancing their language learning capabilities.”

About Manulife Charitable Foundation
The Manulife Charitable Foundation is a non-profit organization set up by Manulife (International) Limited in 1998 to support and promote educational, health and children programs for the betterment of public welfare in Hong Kong. It has sponsored the Manulife Centre for Children with Specific Learning Disabilities at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University since 1999 with a mandate to assist children with specific learning difficulties, and their parents and teachers, by studying how to identify children in need of assistance and help them develop to their full potential.

About Manulife (International) Limited
Manulife (International) Limited is a member of the Manulife Financial group of companies. Manulife Financial is a leading Canadian-based financial services group serving millions of customers in 19 countries and territories worldwide. Operating as Manulife Financial in Canada and Asia, and primarily through John Hancock in the United States, the Company offers clients a diverse range of financial protection products and wealth management services through its extensive network of employees, agents and distribution partners. Funds under management by Manulife Financial and its subsidiaries were Cdn$405 billion (approximately HK$2,492.7 billion) as at March 31, 2009.

Manulife Financial Corporation trades as ‘MFC’ on the TSX, NYSE and PSE, and under ‘945’ on the SEHK. Manulife Financial can be found on the Internet at www.manulife.com.

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Media Contact:

Lily Chan / Vicky Leung
Manulife (International) Limited
Tel: (852) 2202 1284 / 2510 3397
Fax: (852) 2234 6875
E-mail: lily_wk_chan@manulife.com / vicky_py_leung@manulife.com