Cowboy Culture in the USA

Today’s session of the English Speaking Club at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk was planned as a free-topic session.

At the beginning we continued to study the phenomenon of Cowboy Culture in the USA. We read an article that defined the terms used to describe the major elements of this phenomenon:

·      - the types of cowboy work

·      - the elements of Western wear  or Cowboy attire

·      - the tools used by cowboys.

The highlight of the second part of the session was the arrival of our longtime American friend Mr. Joseph BATTILEGA who returned from his trip to the US. The new club members introduced themselves to Mr. Joseph. In return he briefed us on the recent events of his family life and shared his ideas about the Cowboy Culture.

The Club members used the opportunity to ask a lot of questions to the native-speaker. The questions ranged from the traditions of educating children in the USA to the Ukrainian traditions which are hard to understand for the foreigners.

The charismatic Mr. Joseph has won the friendship of the newcomers instantly. All the participants had a great time communicating with him and enjoyed the session immensely.

The number of participants – 21 persons.

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"Young gentleman"

Today the WOA has beaten its own record regarding the age of the visitors. Until today the youngest ESC member was Serge Myrgorodskiy Junior aged 4. 

This afternoon the Center was visited by Ghlib, the “young gentleman” aged 12 months who thoroughly enjoyed looking through the illustrated books!

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The Firm

“Wednesday Movie Club” at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine.

The film “The Firm” (1993) was presented to all who wish to improve their language skills.

A young lawyer joins a prestigous law firm only to discover that it has a sinister dark side.

Director: Sydney Pollack

Writers: John Grisham (novel), David Rabe (screenplay)

Stars: Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Gene Hackman

American National Cowboy Day

Today the session of the English Speaking Club at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk had a topic “American National Cowboy Day @ Country music”.

The session started with a pleasant surprise – the visit of our PCV friends Patrick and Brandon. We have used this opportunity to ask their expert opinion about the phenomenon of the Cowboy culture in the USA.

To create the atmosphere of the Wild West the club members were asked to dress up like cowboys. The session started with a world known country song “Cotton-Eyed Joe” presented by the Swedish group “Rednex”.

The PC volunteers Patrick and Brandon explained many facts about the history of cowboys and modern attitude of Americans towards this phenomenon. They answered numerous questions about the influence of Cowboy Culture on American society.

The activities of the English Speaking club included:

·       a cowboy outfit contest

·       the word search puzzle competition

·       “Brand the calf” game.

 The Cowboy culture and music impressed the Club members and they plan to continue studying this topic in the future.

The number of participants – 22 persons.

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Bonnie and Clyde

The film “Bonnie and Clyde” was presented to all who wish to improve their language skills.

A somewhat romanticized account of the career of the notoriously violent bank robbing couple and their gang.

Director: Arthur Penn
Writers: David Newman, Robert Benton, and 1 more credit »
Stars: Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway and Michael J. Pollard 

Free-topic discussion

Today’s English Speaking Club was planned as a free-topic discussion in order to involve all the present into conversation.

We started with the introduction of the new club members.

Two foreign students from the Chemical Technology University joined the Club today. They come from Central Asian countries that speak Persian language – Iran and Tajikistan. The freshmen were asked a lot of questions about their respective countries and their tourist attractions.

One Ukrainian club member, Pavel, who joined recently, was asked a lot of questions about his prospective trip to the UK and the exchange project between the Metallurgical Academy and Birmingham University.

The next topic was a report of the English Speaking Club Committee about the picnic the previous weekend and American traditions involved.

To provide each club member with the opportunity to talk we implemented the Critical Incident Technique – club members had to tell about an event of the last few weeks that impressed them most – both positively and negatively. The majority could not think about a negative event which showed what a happy bunch of people visits the Window on America.

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Workshop for WOA Centers

The WOA Dnipropetrovsk Head Svitlana Usenko has just returned from the Workshop for WOA Centers in Ukraine.

The Theme of the Workshop: The use of new technologies to expand the audience through mobile “Drive-up Windows”.

The training took place in Uzhgorod, at the Transcarpathian Regional Universal Scientific Library on July, 11-13, 2012. Among the lecturers were USA embassy officers from Poland and Ukraine.

Among other topics the training focused on the deeper understanding of the opportunities given by the access to the eLibrary USA. These opportunities include: different types of individual search in various data bases, profound familiarization with the collection of the eLibraryUSA, use of the eLibrary for other educational activities.

This year in the frame of the joint project “Amazon.com-US State Department” the WOA Dnipropetrovsk received as a gift 4 electronic readers Kindle with downloaded resources on American culture and society.

This donation from the American people was gratefully and enthusiastically received by the visitors of the WOA Dnipropetrovsk.

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