English Speaking club - «World Book and Copyright Day»

The English Speaking Club started as usual – with the re-introductions of the members who were absent for a long time.

The topic of the session was the World Book & Copyright Day. World Book & Copyright Day was introduced by UNESCO, it is held on April 23 each year. 

T.Gavryliuk’s   slide show dedicated to this day covered several important issues – today’s challenges in book publishing & copyrighting, the symbols, etc. The audience was also informed about the Book Day activities in the USA, the 6 rights protected by the Copyright law.

In 2011 UNESCO holds a summit: “The Book Tomorrow; the Future of the Written Word”.

The question about “Copyright violations in your own life” provoked active discussion among the club members.

Number of the visitors – 16

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English lesson for students

 The students of National Metallurgical academy with their English teacher Alexandra Myrgorodska visited WOA Center Dnipropetrovsk to improve their English.

«Wednesday Movie Club» - The Truman Show

«Wednesday Movie Club» - The Truman Show

English Speaking club - Global Earth Day

The English Speaking Club “How GREEN are you?” was dedicated to Global Earth Day.

The English Speaking Club started as usual – with the introductions of the new-comers and the old members.

Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental education day, it was first held on April 22, 1970. Nowadays this day is celebrated in more than 175 countries of the world. Since 2009 United Nations Organization celebrates this day as the International Mother-Earth Day.

T.Gavryliuk’s slide show dedicated to this day covered several important issues- the history, the symbols , the motto, the slogan of year 2011. The audience was also informed about the typical activities in the USA on this day – the so called “5 R Actions” – REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE, RESTORE, REPLENISH. New ecological phenomena in social life were presented – “trashion” (trash+fashion),  “Recyclemania”, “ReStore” outlets., etc.

In 2011 the proud sponsor of the Earth Day is a famous newspaper “USA TODAY”. On the newspaper’s web site we have found an ecological quiz “How Green are you?”.

The club members decided to brain storm the questions offered in the quiz. The questions were rather tricky, but our score turned out to be quite satisfactory – 3 stars out of 5 which corresponded to 6 correct answers out of 10.

Moreover, on the same site we have found an interactive map with green tips for one’s house or home.

The most impressive were the tips for the laundry and bathroom. They provoked a massive discussion about the methods of household water conservation in different countries.

Number of the visitors – 15  (the English language  teachers –1,  specialists – 11, students – 2, librarian –1)

After the Earth Day slide show all the club members became greener... :-)

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«Wednesday Movie Club»

«Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil».

 Number of the visitors – 11  (the English language  teachers –1,  specialists – 7, retired – 1, students – 1, librarian –1).

“Wizard of Oz”

The Centre was visited by a group of the National Metallurgical Academy students and their English language lecturer O.Myrhorodska. The centre’s teaching aids were utilized.The “Wizard of Oz” movie was watched as part of the teaching process.

Number of the visitors – 6  (the English language  teachers –1,  students – 4, librarian –1).

of the visitors – 6  (the English language  teachers –1,  students – 4, librarian –1)

English Speaking club - The Tax Day in the USA

         Introduction of the new Club members started the session. The topic of the discussion was connected to the date April, 15 – the Tax day in the USA. A slide show with facts about US tax system was presented to the audience.

The Tax Day discussion turned out to be rather educational to all participants. We learned English terms for taxes used in all countries. Several club members work in the finance field, they tried to compare US and Ukraine tax systems.

The Speaker of this meeting Tamara Gavryliuk was successfully monitoring the discussion. She presented the quotes of famous people about taxes for consideration. Each participant had to translate a quote and comment it. Some difficult quotes needed team work to be translated properly. Sometimes, original irony or sarcasm were lost in translation. This type of activity illustrated the difficulties  of the translator’s work.

Number of the visitors – 23  (the English language  teachers –1,  specialists – 13, retired – 3,

students – 5, librarian –1)

 

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Our guests from Ohio

WOA Dnipropetrovsk invited Mr. Jeff Kent and Mr. Don  Kent, city guests from Ohio, to visit  the centre and  meet the ESC members.

Mr. J. Kent made a presentation about Ohio State and answered club members’ questions. It was fun to learn that red carnation has a lot of meaning both to U.S. and Ukrainian citizens. In Ohio – it’s a state flower. During the Soviet Union era it was the symbol of the October revolution.

The guests told us about famous sport teams from Ohio. They recommended an Ohio restaurant chain – a place to eat during a visit to the USA. Peculiarities of Ohio climate were mentioned as well.

The guests are on a religious mission in Dnipropetrovsk. Their church offers free language courses bases on the Bible. Some ESC members got interested in one more opportunity to improve their language skills.

Number of the visitors – 21  (the English language  teachers –2,  specialists – 7, retired – 5,

students – 6, librarian –1)

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Movie Club

Movie Club

English Speaking club - World Health Day

The English Speaking club session at WOA Dnipropetrovsk started with the table display of the books on health from the Center’s  funds.

During the introduction Club members were telling about their attitude to health and health activities.

The most popular hobbies among the club members are soccer, lawn tennis, Callanetics, jogging, morning exercises, bicycle rides.

Ms.Tamara Gavryliuk presented a slide show about the World Health Day celebrated worldwide on April, 7.

The club members were informed about the World Health Organization’s focus in 2011 – “Combat drug resistance”.  The key messages  of 2011 – to keep one’s hands clean, not to overuse antimicrobials, not to self-administer medicines. The topics of the previous years were presented.

After the slide show the discussion continued and the following topics were introduced:

-        Occupational hazards in different professions;

-        Modern food hazards (genetically modified foods, antibiotics in the food chain, etc.);

-        The notion of a healthy lifestyle;

-        Our own healthy habits (morning exercises, outdoor activities,  proper timing of one’s life);

-        Professional sport and its hazards.

In the last part of the session new vocabulary was introduced by Tanya Volokita for the movie “Lost in translation”.

Number of the visitors – 20  (the English language  teachers –1,  specialists – 12, retired –1, students – 4, pupils – 1, librarian –1)

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Frederick Carl Frieseke

via American Library Kyiv

April 7 –It is a birthday of Frederick Carl Frieseke (1874-1939), an American Impressionist painter.

Watch video of his artworks with the music of Schubert: 

 

«Wednesday Movie Club»

«The Stepford Wives». It was fun to watch and discuss this comedy.

 

English Speaking club - April Fools’ day

The ESC session took place at WOA Dnipropetrovsk, the participants had a chance to improve their English language skills and to learn more about the United States of America.

The new Club members were introduced to the regular members. One newcomer, an ex-participant of the “Work & Study” program, was asked to prepare a presentation  about her trip to the USA and share her impressions.

The topic of today’s session was “Celebration of the April Fools' Day in the USA”.

We have managed to:

- discuss the specific features of the American humor;

- compare the traditional practical jokes in USA and Ukraine;

- discuss the celebration of the Fool’s day in Odessa (Ukraine) – the Ukrainian capital of humor;

- recollect the history of a popular American TV show “Candid Camera”;

            - discuss the phenomenon of sexist jokes;

            - share the ideas about the jokes of world known politicians.

We found out that everybody likes humor and good jokes. We dislike cruel pranks and jokes that hurt feelings of other people. Humor should be kind to be enjoyable!

After the discussion we watched a couple of related video clips (YouTube):

- the American movie celebrities on Candid Camera;

- President B.Obama’s speech at the White House dinner for Correspondents.

Tanya Volokita, a young WOA volunteer, was a speaker of the Club, she was a good moderator of the discussion and asked a lot of relevant questions.

The second half of the meeting – a special interest presentation by the University lecturer Tamara Gavruliuk. She presented the final part of the slide show “American Leisure”. More information was provided about the American food culture.

Number of the visitors – 25  (the English language  teachers – 5,  specialists – 8, retired –1,

students – 8, pupils – 2, librarian –1)

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