Peace Corp. friends

Today’s session at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk was was planned as a free topic session. It turned out to be a success as we had  a group of foreign visitors.

Our Peace Corp. friend Patrick  has introduced his colleague Chris who works in Poltava oblast. The Club members had the opportunity to introduce themselves to the foreign guests and to ask them questions.

Chris was asked about his life and activities in the Ukrainian province.

Patrick was asked about his trips to Donetsk during the Football championship and his impressions of the event.

Another pleasant surprise was a visit from our Australian friends Irina and Eric Kneller. They have told us about their trips since our last meeting. Mr.Kneller initiated a conversation about the places of interest in Ukraine. Each club member was asked to recommend a tourist attraction for a foreigner in Ukraine.

The most interesting recommendations included:

-        To visit a workplace of an average Ukrainian

-        To visit  Khortiza island in Zaporozhje – the capital of Kossaks

-        To visit wine and cognac  factories in Odessa and Crimean Riviera.

The new comers today had a wonderful opportunity to listen to different variants of the English language – American and Australian.

The number of participants – 23 persons.
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Harold and Maude

The film “Harold and Maude” (1971) was presented to all who wish to improve their language skills.

Young, rich, and obsessed with death, Harold finds himself changed forever when he meets lively septuagenarian Maude at a funeral.

Director: Hal Ashby

Writer: Colin Higgins

Stars: Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort and Vivian Pickles

Promotion

DOUNB library participates in the Governor O.Vilkul’s project “Lifelong Education for All”. Due to this partnership the activity of the WOA’s English Speaking Club was presented in the numerous local media – from newspapers to the official city web page “gorod.dp.ua”, and "Nash Dnipropetrovsk".

The information about the English Speaking Club events caught attention of the city community. Local TV channels decided to promote ESC to even bigger audience.

 During a Saturday session (16th) the ESC was visited by the reporters of the “9th Kanal”.

On Wednesday, June, 20 the WOA Head Svitlana Usenko and ESC moderator Tamara Gavryliuk were invited to participate in the morning program of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast State TV channel. The WOA centre and its language activities were presented in a 15 minute interview.

We hope that the number of visitors will increase many folds!

Have a look at more pictures, please 

Rockwell Kent

 

This Saturday Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk had a lot of new visitors – nearly a dozen new members joined the Club. Some of them travelled quite a long time from the peripheral towns of the oblast (Pavlograd, Dniprodzerzhinsk and others).
Today the WOA centre was visited by the local TV reporters and the key persons of the facility were interviewed for a news program.
The official session of the WOA’s English Speaking Club was dedicated to the art of the significant American illustrator Rockwell Kent.  In the 1920s and 30s, Kent illustrated classic books, such as Moby Dick.
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale is a novel by Herman Melville, first published in 1851. It is considered to be one of the Great American Novels and a treasure of world literature.
Rockwell Kent was a revolutionary as well as an artist, and his subject matter reveals his social and philosophical interests. He loved to travel to remote, sometimes harsh environments, such as Alaska and Greenland. Many of his works center around the relationship between humanity and the environment. Several YouTube videos and slide shows demonstrated Kent’s art.
In the discussion of the painter’s works the club members compared Kent’s graphics and landscapes. The majority favored his naturalistic depiction of nature. The funny and tricky task that followed was to guess the subject of his graphic works used in advertising.To complement the information about Rockwell Kent a book display was offered to the visitors of the WOA Center.
In the USA the painter became well-known for his illustrations to the American classical novel Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville. Several copies of the book were presented – both in English and in Ukrainian, the later with Kent’s illustration.In the Soviet Union the painter was very popular until his death. Numerous art albums illustrate his landscape skills. 
The book display increases the interest of the visitors to the topic of art and painting.
The number of participants -  29.

Witness for the Prosecution

“Wednesday Movie Club”

At the Window on America center in Dnipropetrovsk the film “Witness for the Prosecution” was presented to all who wish to improve their language skills.

Agatha Christie tale of a man on trial for murder: a trial featuring surprise after surprise.

Director: Billy Wilder

Writers: Agatha Christie (play), Billy Wilder (screen play)

Stars: Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich and Charles Laughton

The number of visitors – 12 persons.

The Diamond Jubilee of the Queen’s reign

In order to popularize the Window on America center (Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) activities among the city community today’s English Speaking Club session was held as a cross-cultural event.

The club members of and newcomers paid tribute to the British Queen who has two special days in June.

This year on June, 2 the UK celebrated the Diamond Jubilee of the Queen’s reign. On June, 16 the country will celebrate the official Queen’s birthday. Both events provide a great opportunity for the English language students to enrich their vocabulary and to get a deeper insight into British cultural traditions.

The club members had an interesting discussion in which they compared the democracy institutions with the institute of monarchy.

Once the official part of the session was over we had an enjoyable afternoon tea and watched video’s explaining the difference between the American and European table etiquette.

The session was a great success and had a big educational value.

The Book display about London was offered to the visitors of the WOA center.

The number of visitors – 23 persons.
Have a look at more pictures, please 

The Book display

The Book display about London was offered to the visitors of the WOA center.

 

Shakespeare in Love

In June 2012 Great Britain has a row of Special Days. On June, 5, 2012 the UK celebrates The Queen's Diamond Jubilee – the 60th anniversary of Elisabeth II‘s coronation. On June, 16, 2012  the Queen's official birthday celebrations will take place.

The second week of June at the WOA Dnipropetrovsk  is dedicated to  paying  tribute to Her Majesty  as one of the most popular monarchs of the world.

The Book display about London will be offered to the visitors of the WOA center.

The Movie Club on 06.06 will present the American movie “Shakespeare in Love”.

The English Speaking Club session on June, 09 will be discussing the phenomenon of the British Monarchy and will give a deeper insight into world known British tradition – The Afternoon Tea Ceremony.

the Beginning of Summer Season

Today’s session of the Speaking Club at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk was dedicated to the Beginning of Summer Season. We had a list of questions about summer which helped the participants to speak about this lovely season.

 Among the topics discussed were:

·       summer characteristics in different locations of the world,

·       countries with everlasting summer,

·        summer perils,

·       summer entertainment .

Particularly useful was conversation about the summer festivals and events in Ukraine. This topic was a good opportunity to practice a conversation with foreign guests to Ukraine.

After the official discussion the new comers introduced themselves and several organizational questions have been discussed by the club members.

The number of visitors – 13 persons.

Have a look at more pictures, please