U.S. Cultural Ambassadors in Dnipropetrovsk

On January, 31, 2013 the WOA Centre in Dnipropetrovsk was visited by the US Cultural Ambassadors – Becky Bonner, Tamika Raymond and Nykesha Sales.

All of them are former professional women’s basketball players who came to Ukraine as part of a sports diplomacy exchange program. 

As cultural ambassadors they were happy to talk about any subject with WOA center audience.  This afternoon   the audience comprised people of all ages: school children and teachers from the nearby high school # 23, graduates of the National Metallurgical Academy technical translation faculty, activists of the WOA’s English speaking Club “Gabfest”.

The guests have introduced themselves, showed on the USA map their home states and towns.  They have asked who in the audience had been to the USA. It turned out that 2 persons in the audience visited the USA: the WOA Head Svitlana has been to Chicago in an Open World exchange project; the high school student Nikita has been to New-York with his parents.

After that the Q&A session started.

The guests were asked about their impressions about Ukraine and Dnipropetrovsk city. It turned out that the athletes find the Ukrainian cuisine delicious and particularly enjoyed our traditional beetroot soup “borsch”. The guests didn’t have time for sightseeing. But they have noticed beautiful historic buildings in the downtown and our tree-lined boulevards that impressed them even in winter.

The guests were asked about their way into basketball and told their respective stories. The range of questions about sport ranged from the healthy diet to obligatory doping control in professional basketball. To round up the session the guests told about their impressions of the Ukrainian kids who participated in their “Basketball labs” – professional basketball “master classes” in local schools.

The highlight of the Cultural Ambassadors’ visit was the autograph session and a group photo in the WOA Center.

The meeting with the US athletes impressed all the participants and hopefully inspired the younger generation to lead healthy life style and go in for sports.

Participants – 30 persons.
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WOA Center Presentation

Today WOA Center in Dnipropetrovsk was visited by a group of students and teachers from the nearby high school # 23.
The WOA center Head, Svitlana Usenko, made a presentation about the history of the facility and the resources available at the center. She informed the group about the free resources available on-line and recommended by the US State Department. The topics for educational activities with children were suggested to the teachers.
The teachers and students were invited to attend the weekly sessions of the WOA’s speaking club where they can listen to the American English.
The guests were impressed by the range of the technical equipment available at the WOA center – several PC stations, multimedia projector, modern gadgets (Kindle and iPad), Rosetta Stone software, etc. All these resources can help anyone to improve the English language skills. 

A new book display was also presented to the group. It showcases the new donations from the US Embassy in Ukraine. The donated books include:
* American English textbooks, dictionaries and several test guides
* Classical and modern American fiction
* DVDs of Oscar winning movies in English with English sub-titles
 The highlight of this donation is a collection of memoirs by the outstanding modern US politicians  – Barack Obama, George Bush, Bill Clinton, Hilary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice.
The WOA Head and the teachers made plans for future cooperation in February.
The number of visitors – 20 persons.
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Lost in AmericA

“Wednesday Movie Club” at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine.
The film «Lost in America» (1985) was presented to all who wish to improve their language skills.
Plot: A husband and wife in their 30s decide to quit their jobs, live as free spirits and cruise America in a Winnebago.
Director: Albert Brooks
Writers: Albert Brooks, Monica Mcgowan Johnson
Stars: Albert Brooks, Julie Hagerty, Sylvia Farrel

Learning techniques

Today’s session of the GABFEST Club session (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk) was dedicated to the topic “Learning techniques”. The focus of discussion was on the ‘Insight Learning” theory by W. Kohler, a professor of psychology widely known in the USA.
To start the discussion we have remembered the discoveries made by the Greek Archimedes (the “Eureka” story) and Isaac Newton (a dropping apple case).
Such terms as ‘insight”, ‘insight learning” and “Aha moment” were introduced to the audience. Insight, in learning theory, is an immediate and clear learning or understanding that takes place without overt trial-and-error testing. Insight occurs in human learning when people recognize relationships (or make novel associations between objects or actions) that can help them solve new problems.Once the basic terms were defined we watched a biographical video about professor. Much of the scientific knowledge concerning insight derives from work on animal behavior that was conducted by 20th-century psychologist Wolfgang Köhler. In one experiment Köhler placed a banana outside the cage of a hungry chimpanzee, Sultan, and gave the animal two sticks, each too short for pulling in the food, but joinable to make a single stick of sufficient length. Sultan tried unsuccessfully to use each stick, and he even used one stick to push the other along to touch the banana. Later, apparently after having given up, Sultan accidentally joined the sticks, observed the result, and immediately ran with the longer tool to retrieve the banana. When the experiment was repeated, Sultan joined the two sticks and solved the problem immediately. This result, however, is ambiguous, because it appeared that Sultan solved the problem by accident — not through insight.
We have watched and discussed several “National Geographic” videos about clever animals. The club members shared their own experiences about having an “Aha! moment”.
During the second part of the session the WOA Head Svitlana Usenko has presented the book display of the new  donations  by the US Embassy in Ukraine.
At the end of the session all the new comers introduced themselves.
The session was very educational and enjoyed by all the participants.
The number of participants – 32 persons.

Wolfgang Köhler, psychologist

Wolfgang Köhler (21 January 1887 – 11 June 1967) was a German and American psychologist and phenomenologist who, like Max Wertheimer, and Kurt Koffka, contributed to the creation of Gestalt psychology.
The international scientific community honored Wolfgang Köhler in these ways not only for his wide-ranging theoretical and empirical contributions but also for his courage and his character. As the holder of one of Germany's most distinguished professorial chairs in the 1930s he could easily have collaborated with Hitler as so many others did.
Publicly rejecting that course, he spoke out against the brutal Nazis for as long as it was possible to do so. Then, here in the United States, Köhler resumed his productive research career and continued to make new contributions to science in his adopted country.
A genuinely creative thinker as well as a person of great dignity and honor, a physicist and philosopher as well as a psychologist, a cultured citizen of a war-torn world, Wolfgang Köhler showed us by his own personal example what it can mean to be a scientist.
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In America, movie

“Wednesday Movie Club” at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine.
The film «In America» was presented to all who wish to improve their language skills.
In America is a 2002 drama film directed by Jim Sheridan. The semi-autobiographical screenplay by Sheridan and his daughters Naomi and Kirsten focuses on an immigrant Irish family's struggle to start a new life in New York City, as seen through the eyes of the elder daughter.
The film was nominated for three Academy Awards including Best Original Screenplay for the Sheridans, Best Actress for Samantha Morton and Best Supporting Actor for Djimon Hounsou.
Number of participants 13 persons.
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New Donations Display

Kindly visit the Window on America Center and see the book display!

At the Window on America Center Dnipropetrovs’k a new book display was arranged. It showcases the new donations from the US Embassy in Ukraine received in the last quarter of the year 2012. The donated books include:

* American English textbooks, dictionaries and several test guides;

* Classical and modern American fiction;

* DVDs of Oscar winning movies in English with English sub-titles

The highlight of this donation is a collection of memoirs by the outstanding modern US politicians – Barack Obama, George Bush, Bill Clinton, Hilary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice .

Globetrotters

Today’s session of the GABFEST speaking club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was planned as a free-topic session, but due to the presence of several frequent travelers the first part of the GABFEST club session was dedicated to GLOBETROTTERS. The term “Globetrotter” was introduced and explained to those who have never heard it before.
Stories about travel in general and trips to Istanbul (Turkey) in particular were told by our today’s presenter – PC volunteer Patrick. He enumerated the parts of the world he had visited already and the countries he would like to visit in future. Patrick was asked to tell about his recent trip to Istanbul and share his impressions about the country. We have seen many photos of Istanbul and asked Patrick many questions about the trip. Other club members who visited Istanbul and Turkey added their impressions about this country.
Patrick was informed about the historical character of Roxolana, the powerful and influential wife of the Turkish Sultan born in Ukraine several centuries ago.
During the second part of the session   the following activities were offered to the club members:
Introduction speeches of the new comers and regular club members;
Talking to Toby, a medical student from Nigeria, about ways of life in Ukraine and his home country.
The session was attended but many club members in spite of the church holiday. Most of the participants found it informative and educational.
The number of participants – 25.

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Do You Know USA Geography?

The Head of the WOA Center S.Usenko had a meeting with the students of the Dnipropetrovsk secondary school # 141 which majors in the study of the English language. The students were offered to learn more about the geography of the USA and play a popular table game “The Scrambled States of America”.
Each child received 2 cards about a state in the USA and its capital city. The children had to listen to the game task and find the answer in their cards. The kids were very active – many of them raised their hands to give the answers, and the majority of those answers were “True”. The kids’ knowledge pleased the teachers and the WOA Head.
At some point the teachers also joined the game and had some fun!
Participants – 25 persons.
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