Visit of Americans

Today the Window on America Center had   a surprise –  a visit of the American family from Minnesota.

The head of the family Mr. Keith and his son Jacob were welcomed to the WOA Center by its staff – Svitlana and Tamara.

The Movie Club members volunteered to help the American family with their familiarization in the city.

The WOA staff informed the American visitors about the facility resources and invited the family kids to come over for some play time at the library.

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Inception

The film "Inception" (2010) was presented to all who wish to improve their language skills.
In a world where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion, a highly skilled thief is given a final chance at redemption which involves executing his toughest job to date: Inception.
Director: Christopher Nolan
Writer: Christopher Nolan
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ellen Page
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Independence Day of Ukraine

Today’s session of the English Speaking Club at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk was dedicated to the Independence Day of Ukraine. The session was planned as a cross-cultural presentation and dealt with phenomena of American and Ukrainian culture.

The starting task for the Club members was to render into English the content of two Ukrainian articles.

The articles announced the publishing of the first Ukrainian comic book. It has an unusual title “DAO HOPAK”. To understand the author’s idea we had to explore the following topics

-  American comic books as a combination of art and writing

-  Zaporizhja  Cossacks  as   fighters for the  Ukrainian independence

-  Traditional Ukrainian dance Hopak and Combat Hopak, a martial art based on the traditional dance.

We had several foreign guests at the session: our American friends Sam and Mr. Joseph and a visitor from the Netherlands, Ruud. They have been very grateful for the explanations of the historic and cultural facts about Ukrainian Cossacks. The videos that illustrated the Hopak dance and Combat Hopak impressed our male guests and they asked for more information about this martial art.

The facts that brand “Cossaks” is popular in the world’s showbiz was illustrated by the video of Madonna featuring a Ukrainian dance group.

The topic of “comics versus normal books” triggered a lot of debate. The comics format as we know it today is a unique art form and literary medium that originated in the U.S. in the late 1800s. Our American and Dutch guests turned out to be fans of this genre and gave their arguments in favor of comics. It was suggested that a separate session should be prepared about the American comics as they are a good tool to learn the spoken language.

The books about Ukraine in English were presented to support the topic.

The session was a success and provided an educational value both for the Ukrainian and foreign participants.

The number of participants – 20 persons.

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Everything Illuminated

Mr. Joseph Battilega continues his project of introducing American idioms and difficult expressions to the Movie Cub members for the better comprehension of the film content.
Today’s Movie Club featured a «Everything is Illuminated» (2005).  
The movie is a based on the book by Jonathan Safran Foer.  The author approaches terrible events of the Holocaust with a cool, jokey tone and ironic viewpoints.
The film depicts a situation when a young Jewish American travels to Ukraine, carrying a photograph of the woman believed in the legends of his family to have saved his granddad from the Nazis.
Director: Liev Schreiber.
Writers: Jonathan Safran Foer (novel), Liev Schreiber (screenplay)
Stars: Elijah Wood, Eugene Hutz and Boris Leskin
Number of participants 14 persons.

Olympic Games

Today’s session of the Speaking Club at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk was dedicated to the topic that is in the air all over the world – the Olympic Games.

We started with the exploration of the official site of the Olympics and revised the list of sports included into the Olympic games. – some terms were  quite new to the majority of the club members –  archery, fencing , equestrian.

We have compared the Olympic sports systems in the USA and in Ukraine. The American fund-rising project “Raise our flag” was introduced. The idea of “buying s stitch” for 12 us$ illustrated how a community may be involved in financing the Olympic athletes.

The next topic for discussion was the achievements of the famous US swimmer Michael Phelps who is the most medaled sportsman in history of the Olympic Games.

The groups discussed the phenomenon of the Olympics and its impact on the society of a host country.

A quiz about the history of the Olympics showed that we have forgotten certain interesting facts about the origin of this sports movement.

A photo display «Women's athlete gallery» about the US female athletes was introduced to the group. The participant of the meeting with Tracy Noonan shared her impressions about this sportswoman and the importance of gender equality in the American society and sports.

The final part of the session was dedicated to the introductions of the staff and club members as the amount of newcomers this Saturday was quite considerable.

The plans for the September activities were announced to the club members. The atmosphere of the session was friendly and informal and positively impressed the people who joined the club.

The number of participants - 32.

Easy Rider

“Wednesday Movie Club”.
At the Window on America center in Dnipropetrovsk the film “Easy Rider” (1969) was presented to all who wish to improve their language skills.
Mr. Joseph Battilega continues his project of introducing American idioms and difficult expressions to the Movie Cub members for the better comprehension of the film content.
 

Two counterculture bikers travel from Los Angeles to New Orleans in search of America.
Director: Dennis Hopper
Writers: Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper
Stars: Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson

Lemonade & Mojito

Lemon (Tamara) & Lime (Helen) - the most popular summer citruses :-)
Everybody likes Lemonade & Mojito!!!

Hawaii Islands

Today’s session of the Speaking Club at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk started with a pleasant surprise –   a tourist from Italy Mr. Roberto Stanzani joined our discussion. The club members had an opportunity to practice their auditing skills with a person for whom English is not a mother tongue. Mr. Roberto lives in Bologna and has told us many interesting things about the city and province. The club members asked him numerous questions about his impressions about Ukraine and have given him useful advice about authentic souvenirs to bring home.

The official topic of the session was “Hawaii Islands”. We have watched several videos about the islands.

The classical American hits associated with Hawaii were introduced to the audience. The traditional ethnic dance – hula – was also presented in a video that impressed the majority of the ladies present.

We have read an article that deals with an important industry thriving on Hawaii – the film industry. We have learned that the islands have exceptionally beautiful locations and many world known films were produced there. The list of movies filmed there was quite impressive.

The session was very educational and all the newcomers enjoyed the atmosphere of the club.
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The Nines

“Wednesday Movie Club”.

At the Window on America center in Dnipropetrovsk the film “The Nines” (2007) was presented to all who wish to improve their language skills.

A troubled actor, a television show runner, and an acclaimed videogame designer find their lives intertwining in mysterious and unsettling ways.

            Director: John August.

Writer: John August.

Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Hope Davis and Melissa McCarthy.

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Coffee Culture in the USA

Today’s session of the Speaking Club at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk started with surprise visits :

·       a group of Peace Corp. volunteers paid a visit with a new American volunteer Peter who works in Lugansk oblast;

·       the ESC club member Nastya returned from Italy with  sweet treats for the friends .

The first part of the session was dedicated to the conversation between the several newcomers and the PCV visitors. After the brief presentation of the Peace Corp. we compared the structure of the tertiary education system in Ukraine and the USA. We discussed with the native speakers the difficulties of phonetics and slang in various English-speaking countries. Nastya explained a few things about her Italian cookies and shared her impressions about Italy.

The official topic of the session was “Coffee Culture in the USA”.

We read and translated an article about the history of coffee in the USA and learned new things about such world known phenomenon as “Coffee break”. The newcomer Christine who has been to the USA shared her experience of the Starbucks coffee – the largest specialty coffee brand in the world. The video about the history of the brand was demonstrated on the big screen.

The further discussion dealt with the “specialty coffee “phenomenon in Dnipropetrovsk. The WOA staff discovered a specialty coffee shop not far from the DOUNB library. We have presented their newspaper “Coffee News Ukraine” with an article about a recent American invention: “mypressi Twist” compact coffee machine for making espresso.

We had some fun discussing the exotic types of coffee beans, especially the Animal coffee and prices for it.

The session provided great educational opportunity and was enjoyed by all participants.

The number of visitors – 25 persons.Have a look at more pictures, please

4 Kindles

The first acquaintance with Kindle.

The book collection of the Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk has received new electronic books. In July, 2012 The USA Embassy has donated to each WOA center a collection of 4 Kindles with 57 electronics books in each. The donated e-books include classical and modern American fiction, educational and scientific books, works written by famous politicians and artists, the Oxford dictionaries, vocabulary enriching word games, etc.

According to the conditions of the cooperation with the US State Department new arrivals will be added to the collection in the future.

Nastya is at a loss- which  device to use for reading: iPad or Kindle!

The game "Tread Words" is interesting for Illya and Irina

The first acquaintance with Kindle.

All the students of English are invited to the WOA Center to familiarize themselves with the new e-book readers!
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Book Display: Summer Fiction

Book Display: Summer Fiction
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Schedule for August