29 September, 2014

Ukrainian Libraries' Day

Ukrainian Libraries Day


Employees of the "Window on America» Center "Window on America" were ​​welcomed by the longtime partners of the library students from School № 141 specialized in intensive English study.   
They presented great wall newspaper on library topics; it told about the students’ impressions of library activities and received information, they recited poetry in foreign languages. The greeting visit ended with a friendly tea ceremony.




27 September, 2014

Freedom and Choice

Today's meeting of the English-speaking club "Gabfest" in the information and resource center "Window on America" was dedicated to the topic "Freedom of choice. Its value and importance in human life."
The first part of the meeting new and old members of the English-speaking club have introduced themselves. This is one of the favorite forms of club work. Everyone has something to say about themselves.
The duties of the moderator today were executed by President of the club Vladislav Vlasenko. He has offered to read an instructive story that demonstrated examples of the customer choice that people have to do, and how someone prefers one or another good. Participants shared their own experiences of solving such problems of choice.
 


Club member Michael, young and ambitious, turned the discussion in a more dignified level, proposed to talk about life's challenges and the problem of life goals choice. Each member had an opportunity to speak about their own goals and justify their importance for themselves.
The proposed topic aroused a lively discussion and it was exciting for all generations of the present people. For young club members – it was very instructive to know about importance of the freedom in their future life.
Number of participants – 19 persons.



 

25 September, 2014

«Good Mood is a pledge of peace»

The Staff  of the DOUNB Library – I. Drozd (the Foreign Literature department) and S.Usenko (“Window on America Center”) – participated in the action “Good Mood  is a pledge of peace”, in the main city avenue they have been giving smiles to the city dwellers thus  urging them to be in a good mood. Besides the passers-by were offered the DOUNB library promotional flyers and free library membership cards. Those ones who were interested in improving their English were informed about free resources for language study. Others were interested in the collection of the classical US movies which could be viewed individually or in a group. English-speaking Club with visiting native speakers also aroused interest. Some many lingual passers-by tried to answer the questions of the Spanish quiz or identify the language by listening to the words. 
The children had a chance to play with an electronic character Tom while playing with iPad. The adults can use this gadget for reading e-books. “Kindle” or iPad? It does not matter!
Just read library books in any convenient format.

 

24 September, 2014

Pearl Harbor

Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk offered screening of the drama film Pearl Harbor (2001).
The film was presented to all who wish to improve their language skills.
Plot: Pearl Harbor follows the story of two best friends, Rafe and Danny, and their love lives as they go off to join the war.
Director: Michael Bay
Writer: Randall Wallace
Stars: Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale, Josh Hartnett


Pearl Harbor is a 2001 American epic war film with romance and action elements directed by Michael Bay, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and written by Randall Wallace. It features a large ensemble cast, including Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Tom Sizemore, Jon Voight, Colm Feore, Mako, and Alec Baldwin.

Pearl Harbor is a dramatic reimagining of the Blitz, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and the Doolittle Raid. Some special prints were made from the color negatives using the recently re-introduced Technicolor dye imbibition printing process. Despite receiving adverse reviews from critics, Pearl Harbor became a major box office success, earning nearly $450 million worldwide and was nominated for four Academy Awards, but won only one for sound editing.

The quiz about fairy tales

Fairy tales characters combat the evil.
Bad weather hasn’t ruined our plans for the day. Today WOA Center was visited by a group of students from school No.141 which   has specialization - profound study of foreign languages. The topic of the visit was “American Tales”. The children were offered an informative slide show and a display of colorful books from the library collection. We have introduced the children to the most popular characters of American tales and their adventures; we compared the plots with Ukrainian tales and found similarities. The children are now able to differentiate folk and literary tales.
The tales’ characters combat the evil in the world and do a lot of good things. The kids can learn from them to be brave and be good. The kids who know a lot of tales received prizes and diplomas. The event was funny and educational.
Participants number – 30 persons ( 28 students+ 2 teachers).

Have a look at more pictures, please 

Book Display «Fairytales of the World»

For a library event WOA Dnipropetrovsk prepared and presented the display «Fairytales of the World»  of bright kiddy’s books from the library collection. All the students of English can improve their language skills by looking through these books, meeting the new characters, learning about their adventures, comparing the Ukrainian fairytales with the tales of other countries.



20 September, 2014

Hispanic Heritage Month in the USA

Following the US Department of State recommendations the GABFEST Club dedicated today’s session to the topic “Hispanic Heritage Month in the USA”.
Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15, by celebrating the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America. The day of September 15 is significant because it is the anniversary of independence for Latin American countries Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16 and September 18, respectively. Also, Columbus Day or Día de la Raza, which is October 12, falls within this 30 day period.
 

The book and image display “Hispanic Heritage Month” was presented to the group. We started the conversation describing the Mexican artifacts and our associations with Hispanic culture. We watched several videos that illustrated the topic; the slide show about the famous Hispanics in the USA reminded us the faces of the celebrities. To wrap up the topic we have read and translated the article about one of the 25 most influential Hispanics – Ysrael Seinuk. In a career of a structural engineer that has spanned almost five decades, Seinuk had plenty of high-profile Manhattan high-rises to his credit, including Philip Johnson's famous "lipstick" building; Trump World Tower, which holds the title of tallest residential skyscraper in the western hemisphere; and Norman Foster's angular Hearst Tower. When Seinuk arrived in the U.S. from Cuba soon after Castro's revolution, he had little more than $20 in his pocket, his slide rule and his diploma from the University of Havana. "I came to a country that welcomed me," he said. "I make an effort to give back." The images of Seinuk’s buildings in New York impressed the group.
The session was quite educational for all participants.
Number of participants – 22 persons.