«Wednesday Movie Club» / «Кіноклуб по середах» –
Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine offered screening of the crime drama film The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999).
The Talented Mr. Ripley is a American psychological thriller written for the screen and directed by Anthony Minghella. An adaptation of the 1955 Patricia Highsmith novel of the same name, the film stars Matt Damon as Tom Ripley, Jude Law as Dickie Greenleaf and Gwyneth Paltrow as Marge Sherwood.
Plot: In late 1950s New York, Tom Ripley, a young underachiever, is sent to Italy to retrieve a rich and spoiled millionaire playboy, named Dickie Greenleaf. But when the errand fails, Ripley takes extreme measures.
Director: Anthony Minghella
Writers: Patricia Highsmith (novel), Anthony Minghella (screenplay)
Number of participants – 13.
Today’ session of the GABFEST Club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was dedicated to the up-coming observance of the Ukrainian Constitution Day.
We started the session with the introduction ritual of the new-comers; among them were people from different social groups (from school children to pensioners).
To start the ball rolling we talked about the Presidents’ inauguration ceremony and the artefacts used in it. The focus of our conversation was on the copy of the Ukrainian Constitution used in this ceremony.
The conversation about the Ukrainian Constitutions started with the background of the 1st Ukrainian constitution by Pylyp Orlyk. A You Tube video about the history of the constitutional reforms in Ukraine allowed us to practice a bit of interpreting from Ukrainian into English. It was a challenging task for the majority of the group.
To wrap up the session we translated several quotes by Americans about their constitution. As a final activity we watched and discussed a video of President Obama with his comments about Crimean referendum.
The session was appreciated by all the participants as a good chance to practice meaningful conversation about Ukrainian political issues.
Number of participants – 12 persons.
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«Wednesday Movie Club».
Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine offered screening of the film Harold and Maude (1971) with Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, Vivian Pickles starring.
Plot: 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
Today’s session of the Gabfest club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was dedicated to the celebration of the US Flag day.
In the United States, Flag Day is celebrated on June 14. It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States in 1777. The longest-running Flag Day parade is held annually in Quincy, Massachusetts, (for 62 years in 2014).The largest Flag Day parade is held annually in Troy, New York; it typically draws 50,000 spectators. We have watched several videos that illustrate the topic and discussed the US Flag’s symbolism (colors, stars and stripes), the participants of a Flag Day parade. Several curious facts about the US Flag were picked up from the WOA’s books. A quiz about the US Flag day also introduced several interesting facts.
One of the challenging tacks for Club members was to describe 2 different makes of the US flag in the WOA Centre – one made in the USA and one made in China. Another controversial topic about flags was the symbolism of the inverted flags. This allowed us to talk about the symbolism of the Ukrainian flag and myths about it inversion.
The session was very educational.
Number of participants – 13 persons.
Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine offered screening of the Juno (2007) – Comedy | Drama | Romance with Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner starring.
Plot: Faced with an unplanned pregnancy, an offbeat young woman makes an unusual decision regarding her unborn child.
Director: Jason Reitman
Writer: Diablo Cody
Stars: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner
Our guests – twin girls enjoyed themselves while exploring the functions of the iPads. They learned several new words.
Boggle could not compete with iPads)))
Twins' mother promised another visit soon. We look forward to this cute couple of English learners :)))
Today’s session of the Gabfest Club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was dedicated to the topic “Summer-time to travel”. We have read a CNN article which explained why only 30% of Americans travel internationally. The article allowed to introduce such phenomena as “Culture shock”, “gap year” and some others. The costs and logistics of international travel were also discussed.
The video that illustrated the topic told about the typical mistakes the American tourists make in other countries. The Club members who met American tourists in Ukraine shared their stories. The second part of the session was dedicated to translation of quotes about travel and answering numerous questions about travel and transportation, the good and bad things about travel.
The session was educational and informative as it provided an insight into American culture of travelling within the USA. The new arrivals that illustrate tourist attractions of the USA were introduced to the group.
Number of participants – 12.
«Wednesday Movie Club"
Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine offered the movie. “The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio” (2005) is based on the true story of housewife Evelyn Ryan, who helped support her husband and ten children by winning entries in jingle-writing contests.
In the closing sequence, set years later, we learn that after the husband Kelly Ryan died, Evelyn finds out that he has placed his pension checks in a bank account especially for her.
