American Painter Rockwell Kent

Within the framework of the WOA’s “U.S. Art Residence” project English Speaking Club “Gabfest” presented to the public  the art of Rockwell Kent, the significant American illustrator and painter.  In the 1920s and 30s, Kent became known for his illustrations of classic American novels, among them H. Melville’s “Moby Dick” and some others.
Rockwell Kent was a revolutionary as well as an artist, and his subject matter reveals his social and philosophical interests. He donated hundreds of paintings to the Soviet museums and was the most known US artists in the USSR. Many of Kent’s works presented harsh environments, such as Alaska and Greenland, and centered around the relationship between humanity and the environment. 

To complement the information about Rockwell Kent library books about the artist were presented to the group. Several YouTube videos and images shown to the group introduced samples of Kent’s art – both graphics and oil paintings. The majority favored his naturalistic depiction of nature.
The second part of the session was dedicated to the Club matters. The numerous new-comers introduced themselves, the election of the Club’s President and Vice-Presidents took place. We congratulate Mrs. Laryssa – a new President of the Gabfest Club.

The pleasant surprise for the club was the visit of our American guest – Mr. Carl from San Francisco. He contributed a lot to the subject of the session and recommended the WOA’s resources that may help to improve students’ pronunciation – Rosetta Stone and Pimsler’s software, on-line resource “American English at state”, etc.
Number of participants – 24 persons.

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Very positive meeting @ ATC

On the 28th of February "Window on America" center hosted American Teen Club members, Dnipropetrovsk teenagers, who are willing to improve their English language, get to know about the United States and have a good time. The meeting was lead by the FLEX alumni Darya Gerasymova'13 and Hanna Akastelova’13.
The young people especially enjoyed the active game.
Everyone was engaged and practiced their speaking skills!
Number of participants – 12 persons.

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Presentation of resources and services for shcool students

Our friends and partners, the sixth year students from secondary school No. 141 visited the "Window on America" Information and Resource Center. 
The students were introduced to the free resources for learning English. They learned what the library computers are for, how the books are selected for book displays, what library events urge the local polyglots to visit the library.
The children were invited to bring along their parents to read children's books, to play board games, etc. All these activities improve one’s English vocabulary and encourage communicating. 
The students were attentive, childishly emotional and asked librarians a lot of interesting questions.
Number of participants – 20 people (18 students, 2 teachers).

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Seven

Today’ s session of the Wednesday Movie Club was a pleasant surprise for the members. Our American guest Mr. X joined us for the session and actively participated in the pre-film introduction of the difficult words. More over, during the film demonstration Mr. X explained other words that might have been difficult for the understanding.
The screened movie Seven (1995), written by Andrew Kevin Walker, directed by David Fincher, is an American psychological thriller film that blends elements of the crime and horror genres.
Starring in the film were Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, with Gwyneth Paltrow in supporting role. After the demonstration the Movie club members had a chance to share their views on the seven deadly sins (gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, pride, lust, and envy) and discuss the movie with the native-speaking guest.

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RRR: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Today’s session of the English-speaking club "GABFEST" at the information and resource center "Window on America" was devoted to the topic of saving the nature thorough certain consumer’s principles. The session was entitled "RRR: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" and was prepared and presented by the library volunteer Mrs. Laryssa Karnoza. 
Mrs. Laryssa drew the group’s attention to the need of saving natural, the search of alternative resources and modern methods of recycling waste.
The Club members read and translated the relevant text, reviewed relevant video that enriched their vocabulary for the topic. Then they shared their thoughts and produced arguments in support of sustainable economy. 
At the second part of the meeting the introductions ritual took place – the new-comers to the club told the basics about themselves and explained why they decided to join the Gabfest English-speaking Club. 
The meeting was informative and educational, especially for those who were not very much concerned about recycling previously. Together, we have to learned how to save natural resources and to use the latest technology in materials recycling sector.

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