WOA resources presentation

The Window on America center  in Dnipropetrovsk was visited by a group of students and teacher from the nearby high school # 28.
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 book displays «American Writers - memorable dates of February» and «The Presidency» were also presented to the group.
The WOA Head and the teacher Julia Borovskaya made plans for future cooperation in March.
The number of visitors – 10 persons (1 – teacher, 9 – kids).

The Candidate

“Wednesday Movie Club” at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine.
The film «The Candidate» (1972) was presented to all who wish to improve their language skills.
Bill McKay is a candidate for the U.S. Senate from California. He has no hope of winning, so he is willing to tweak the establishment.
Director: Michael Ritchie
Writer: Jeremy Larner
Stars: Robert Redford, Peter Boyle, Melvyn Douglas

World Day of Social Justice

Today’s session of the Gabfest Speaking Club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk) was dedicated to the topic of Social Justice.
The United Nations' (UN) World Day of Social Justice is annually observed on February 20 to encourage people to look at how social justice affects poverty eradication. It also focuses on the goal of achieving full employment and support for social integration. Many organizations, including the UN and the International Labor Office, make statements on the importance of social justice for people.
We have watched several videos about the history of the human rights, the US issues on poverty, etc.
The Club members were asked to give the examples of social justice/injustice from their own experience.
The second part of the session was the traditional introductions ritual for the newcomers. The topic was serious, but the discussion was enjoyed by all the participants.
The number of participants – 25 persons.
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TEACHERS’ TRAINING AT WOA Dnipropetrovsk

DOUNB Library was visited by a group of the English language teachers who attend a course at the Training Center of the local Education Department.
At the Foreign documents Department of the DOUNB Library they were offered a wide choice of modern literature on teaching methods for TEFL.
The WOA center Head, Svitlana Usenko, made a presentation about books and films available at the center. She informed the teachers about the free resources available on-line and recommended by the US State Department:
- Rosetta Stone software
- the software Trace Effects
- on-line resources (American Online English, Voice of America The Classroom…) for the English language study recommended by the US State department.The donated gadgets iPad and Kindle were presented to the audience.
The topics for educational activities with children were suggested to the teachers.
The teachers enjoyed the book displays:
- American Writers - memorable dates of February;
- The Presidency.
The English teachers got interested in the collaborations with WOA for students’ lessons.
The number of participants – 10 persons.
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Uncle Tom's Cabin

To remind the WOA visitors about the Black History Month the film Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927) was presented to all who wish to improve their language skills.
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927) is a silent film directed by Harry A. Pollard and released by Universal Pictures. The film is based on the eponymous novel written by Harriett Beecher Stowe and was the last silent film version. It was preserved in a copy at the Library of Congress.
In this version of the film, all of the major slave roles, with the exception of Uncle Tom himself, were portrayed by white actors. Actress Mona Ray played the slave Topsy in blackface, while the slaves Eliza, George, Cassie and Harry were all presented as having very light skin coloring because of mixed-race heritage. This film was released on DVD in 1999 by Kino.
Number of participants 20 persons.
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The Foreign Languages Week

The Head of Dnipropetrovsk information and resource center "Window on America" Svitlana Usenko paid a visit to school #22. Our long time partner, the English language teacher Valentina Shvydka invited her to take part in the Foreign Languages Week.

The WOA Head S. Usenko conducted 6 lessons for the students of various ages (approx. 175 students, 2-6 grades). She informed the students and their teachers about the funds and resources of the Oblast Scientific Library named after the Slavic apostles Cyril and Methodius.

All the participants of the event were acquainted with the "Window on America" Center. The Center will be useful to all English language learners.

The following interactive presentations with vocabulary tasks were offered to the attention of the students

The following activities were offered to the attention of the students:

·                 Slide show “Meet the USA”

·                 Slide show “Washington D.C. – the city of the first president”

·                 Screening of  the Walt Disney cartoon “Two Chips and a Miss”.

·                 A table game «The Scrambled  States of America » - to practice American English  phonetics,  geography of the USA

·                 A table game «Apples to Apples» - to practice combining  nouns with relevant adjectives .

The presentations an games were both educational (enriched  vocabulary) and enjoyable .

Number of participants – 175 ( teachers of English – 9, pupils – 165, librarian – 1).

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Symbolic Aspects of Inauguration

Today’s session of the GABFEST speaking club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) started with the introduction of the new book display - about the American presidents. The numerous books presented to the club members aroused a lot of interest. The WOA collection features books on many aspects of American presidency – from the speeches of the US presidents to the first ladies’ backgrounds, from the statistics on elections to the interiors of the White House.
The session was dedicated to the President’s Day holiday in the USA. We decided to start with reading an article from the official US State department about the Symbolic Aspects of Inauguration.
The Inauguration of the President of the United States consists of several interesting events:
- the oath-taking,
- the partying   with a parade and a concert
 -the Inaugural Address to the nation.
After determining the main stages of the event we have watched a New York Times video of the second inauguration of President Obama. The audience was asked to watch the video attentively and share their observations afterwards. We had some fun sharing the impressions.The next activity was reading and translation of an article about the Presidential foods. We have learned a lot of fun facts about the likes and dislikes of famous Presidents and learned many idiomatic phrases.
Once the official part was over the club members spent a lot of time in a conversation about the American presidents. This informal communication was very enjoyable.

The number of participants – 24 persons.

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American presidents

The Window on America center in Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine) presented the new book display - about the American presidents. 
The numerous books presented to the club members aroused a lot of interest. 
The WOA collection features books on many aspects of American presidency – from the speeches of the US presidents to the first ladies’ backgrounds, from the statistics on elections to the interiors of the White House.
Have a look at more pictures, please 

The English teachers conference

The Head of the Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk Svitlana Usenko invited to participate in the English teachers conference (Dnipropetrovsk city colleges).
She showed the slide-show presentation about the DOUNB library, library electronic catalog, free resources of the WOA Center. And also resources were introduced to the group – the software Trace Effects and on-line resources (American Online English, Voice of America The Classroom…) for the English language study recommended by the US State department. The donated gadgets iPad and Kindle were presented to the audience.
The English teachers got interested in the collaborations with WOA for students’ lessons.
Have a look at more pictures, please 

St. Valentine’s Day

Today the WOA Center was quite busy!
On the St. Valentine’s Day a group of 10 students from the secondary school #23 visited our facility.
The teacher Ms. Iryna Dubovetskaya has been at our Center before and decided to introduce it to her students as well.
First the children watched a slide show about the history and traditions of the St. Valentine’s day.
The Voice of America web page and its “English classroom” feature was introduced to the audience. We have watched and listened to the on-line lesson about Valentine’s Day. The lesson allowed the students to practice grammar in the context of Valentine’s Day celebration in the USA.
The American English web site was also introduced and the on-line video game “Trace Effects” was presented to the group.
The students sang along children songs about love and friendship.
The highlight of the session was the game “St.Valentine’s Post”. The children wrote Valentine wishes in English on the provided heart-shaped cards and exchanged them with the classmates.A “Voice of America”  Calendar  for the English language classroom was presented to the teacher as a token of  friendship between the Window on America Center and the secondary school # 23.
The visit was a lot of fun and we hope to see the kids again at other  WOA events.
The number of visitors – 11 persons.
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An Affair to Remember

Wednesday Movie Club” - Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories... we've already missed the spring!


At the Window on America center in Dnipropetrovsk the film An Affair to Remember (1957) was presented to all who wish to improve their language skills.
Plot: A couple falls in love and agrees to meet in six months at the Empire State Building - but will it happen?
Director: Leo McCarey
Writers: Delmer Daves (screenplay), Leo McCarey (screenplay)
Stars: Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Richard Denning
The number of visitors – 18 persons.
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American Writers - memorable dates of February

Today’s session of the  GABFEST club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was dedicated to the Anniversaries  of American Writers in February. The focus of our attention was on the following authors:

-                  W. H. Auden 

He was  an Anglo-American poet who is famous  for  stylistic and technical achievements, his  engagement with moral and political issues, and  variety of tone, form and content  in his poetry.

 During the session we focused on Auden’s poem  The Age of Anxiety: A Baroque Eclogue. When it was published in 1947 The Age of Anxiety was a big hit. Significant poets and critics raved about it. Its title became a stock- phrase. It sold thousands and won Wystan Hugh Auden the Pulitzer Prize in literature. Leonard Bernstein wrote a symphony, Jerome Robbins - a ballet.

-                   Andre Norton

This female author’s work has encompassed many genres. But Andre Norton is probably most famous for her fantasy, in particular the Witch World series, begun in 1963 with the Hugo-nominated book of the same name. The popularity of the Witch World series has been so great that Ms. Norton continued it, to please her readers, to an incredible 35 books.

A.Norton is considered to be the Grand Dame of Science Fiction and Fantasy. There was established a Norton Literary Award for the American writers of SFF. We have translated the titles of her most popular works.

-                  Sidney Sheldon.

S.Sheldon was an Academy Award-winning American writer. He became most famous after he turned 50 and started to write best-selling novels, such as Master of the Game (1982), The Other Side of Midnight (1973) and Rage of Angels (1980). He is the seventh best selling writer of all time. It was a curious fact to know that Sheldon has Russian Jewish roots.

The session was very educational to all and introduced new names to the Club members.

The number of visitors – 28 persons.

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