Today’s session of the Teen Club was attended by few brave boys – Eric and Yegor. The rest of the teenagers stayed at home due to the flu epidemic. At the beginning of the session the WOA staff encouraged the boys to share their tastes in winter songs. Eric suggested that we listen and translate the iconic winter time songs: “Happy New Year” by ABBA and “Santa Clause is coming to town” by different popular performers – from classical to rock.
A cup of tea with sweet snacks activated the brain cells and prepared the boys to a brain-storm - the teenagers were introduced to the WOA’s table games. The “Apples to Apples” game was explained in detail and the boys really enjoyed playing it from the first round.
At a later stage the teenagers were joined by our UK volunteer Mr. Paul. The group enjoyed playing the “Monopoly” game. The boys had a chance to practice their introduction phrases.
Number of participants – 3 persons.
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The official topic of the Gabfest Club’s session ("Window on America", Dnipropetrovsk / Ukraine) was dedicated to the ‘Memorable Dates of January'.
At the beginning of the session the group was directed to the partner Foreign Literature department of the DOUNB Library where a book and image display dedicated to the anniversary of Jack London was presented. The task for the group was to learn from the display as much as possible about Jack London and to share the information with the peers.
The next anniversary for discussion was F.D. Roosevelt’s birthday. To refresh the FDR’s biography we have watched a You Tube video and focused the conversation on the documentary about FDR’s Memorial in DC and its symbolism.
To counterbalance the choice of US iconic personalities the group was offered to introduce to our foreign volunteers the iconic Ukrainian who celebrates birthday in January – Leonid Kadeniyuk. L. Kadeniyuk (65 y.o.) is the first and so far the only Ukrainian astronaut.
The final personality selected for the conversation was a modern US show woman Oprah Winfrey. She also celebrates birthday in January. The group was offered several slides with Oprah’s quotes for translation and discussion.
As always the group has learned a dozen new words and curious facts about the USA and its outstanding personalities.
The group enjoyed the educational elements of the conversation and the presence of the native-speaking volunteers – Mr. Jason and Mr.Paul.
The session was very educational and proved to be very informative especially for the numerous newcomers.
Number of participants – 32 persons.
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WEDNESDAY MOVIE CLUB's session took place at the Window on America center in Dnipropetrovsk this afternoon. The film offered for big-screening was A Beautiful Mind.
A Beautiful Mind is a 2001 American biographical drama film based on the life of John Nash, a Nobel Laureate in Economics. It was inspired by a bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-nominated 1998 book of the same name by Sylvia Nasar.
The film grossed over $313 million worldwide and won four Academy Awards: for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress.
The film director - Ron Howard, screenplay writer - Akiva Goldsman. The film stars Russell Crowe, along with Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly and others.
The film is both a moving love story and a revealing look at mental illness.
Plot: After a brilliant but asocial mathematician accepts secret work in cryptography, his life takes a turn to the nightmarish.
The club members enjoyed the movie and the discussion with our foreign friends Paul and Manny that followed.
Number of participants – 14 persons.
Today the American Teen Club session (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) welcomed the members of ATC with tea, because the weather outside was rather cold.
During the tea session, several foreign guests, Mr. Jason and Mr. Paul, joined in with interesting topics for conversation.
The Clubs moderator Anna Akastiolova (a FLEX Alumnus), who is a long time WOA’s friend and volunteer. She prepared several educational activities for the group.
The club members exchanged information on their school week and the week-end events. The group played vocabulary games (Activate Games) at the table and simple motion games outside the table for a change.
They also watched the cartoons and made translation of the popular tunes from the favorite Disney cartoons. The original subtitles helped the group a lot and introduced many new words and expressions.
Number of participants – 7 persons.
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The Gabfest Club’s ("Window on America", Dnipropetrovsk / Ukraine) topic of the session was “New Year’s Resolutions”. This American tradition was introduced to the club members. A New Year's resolution is a commitment that a person makes to one or more personal goals, projects, or the reforming of a habit.
A key element to a New Year's resolution that sets it apart from other resolutions is that it is made in anticipation of the New Year and new beginnings. People committing themselves to a New Year's resolution generally plan to do so for the whole following year.
The club members were offered several images with examples of most popular New Year’s resolutions.
The most impressive image was a US map of most popular 2016 New Year resolutions by state. The analysis of the data in the poll triggered a meaningful discussion. The club members translated several funny slides with American New Year resolutions; they ranged from short and funny to more complicated ones. They also practiced to formulate their own resolutions and shared them with the group.
Our foreign volunteers Mr. Jason and Mr. Paul provided explanations to some UK and US traditions and answered the club members’ questions.
The session was very educational and proved to be very informative especially for the numerous newcomers.
Number of participants – 29 persons.
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To create a festive mood for the members of the “Wednesday Movie Club” (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) we selected a comedy "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy". The film is a part of the WOA’s collection of the best Hollywood movies.
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, or simply Anchorman, is a 2004 comedy film directed by Adam McKay, produced by Judd Apatow, starring Will Ferrell, and written by McKay and Ferrell. The film is a tongue-in-cheek take on the culture of the 1970s, particularly the new Action News format. It portrays a San Diego TV station where Ferrell's title character clashes with his new female counterpart.
This film is number 100 on Bravo's 100 funniest movies, number 6 on TimeOut's top 100 comedy films of all time and 113 on Empire's 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.
The film made $28.4 million in its opening weekend, and $90.6 million worldwide in its total theatrical run.
Watching the comedy activated the visitors’ English vocabulary, improved their auditing skills as they listened to the original soundtrack of the movie with English subtitles. Now they will always recognize the voice of the US comedian actor Will Ferrell.
The club members enjoyed the adventures of a Ron Burgundy who is San Diego's top rated newsman in the male-dominated broadcasting of the '70s. But that's all about to change for Ron and his cronies when an ambitious woman is hired as a new anchor.
WOA’s patrons enjoyed the film and the discussion that followed.
Number of participants – 10 persons.
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American Teen Club – «Winter Active Special»
Today’s session of the TEEN CLUB session (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was moderated by the WOA’s staff member Tamara Gavryliuk. The majority of the teenagers were new to the club. The introduction ritual was offered and the girls gladly introduced themselves. They all have beginner’s level and need to improve their skills. During the introductions we learned that some girls live close to the WOA center, some had to commute a long way from the other side of the river Dnipro. They all have pets and have hobbies: sports, art, literature, dances.
The second part of the session was dedicated to the introduction of the new vocabulary – winter sports and fun activities. The girls were offered a slide show with illustrated words.
The pleasant surprise to all of them was the arrival of the WOA’s native-speaking guest – Mr. Paul from the UK. The teenagers had a chance to hear two variants of the English language: American English in the slide show and British English in Mr. Paul’s comments to the slide show.
The girls were impressed and motivated to work on their vocabulary. They look forward to the TEEN Club sessions with more participants to impress them with their drilled introductions.
Number of participants – 6 persons.
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Today’s session of the Gabfest Club (Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was dedicated to the topic “Winter Activities”. To break the ice the club members were asked to enumerate winter sports illustrated by several relevant images.
The group was offered several slide shows with new vocabulary that covered both winter sports and winter household activities. The group found the cluster of new words very helpful.
Our foreign guests Mr. Jason and Mr. Paul were present at the session and commented on the differences between the British English and American English in winter terms and vocabulary.
To practice the new vocabulary the group was offered “American English” website’s resources – a set of lovely winter images for describing and discussing.
The second part of the session was a “Q&A”. The club members asked the foreign guests about popular winter activities and resorts in their respective countries. The guests asked recommendations for a nice place in Ukraine and in Dnipropetrovsk for winter sports and fun.
The session was enjoyed by all participants and will help them in conversations about winter time.
Number of participants – 31 persons.
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Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine offered screening of the film The Philadelphia Story (1940).
The Philadelphia Story is a American romantic comedy film directed by George Cukor, starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart and featuring Ruth Hussey. Based on the Broadway play of the same name by Philip Barry, the film is about a socialite whose wedding plans are complicated by the simultaneous arrival of her ex-husband and a tabloid magazine journalist. The socialite character of the play – performed by Hepburn in the film—was inspired by Helen Hope Montgomery Scott (1904–1995), a Philadelphia socialite known for her hijinks, who married a friend of playwright Philip Barry.
Nominated for six Academy Awards, the film won two; James Stewart for Best Actor and Donald Ogden Stewart for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Plot: When a rich woman's ex-husband and a tabloid-type 
reporter turn up just before her planned remarriage, she begins to learn the truth about herself.
WOA’s patrons enjoyed the film and the discussion that followed.
Number of participants – 9.
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The "Window on America" center (Dnipropetrovsk / Ukraine) had a presentation for those wishing to improve their English skills.
Within the frame work of the “Discover USA” project Window on America Dnipropetrovsk arranged a short session for the school #141 students.
School students watched a slide show about the city of Washington D.C. – the capital of the USA. The WOA’s Head Svitlana who has been to Washington city shared her positive emotions about the trip to the USA.
The presentation covered numerous aspects – the history of the capital, the geography of the area, the beautiful architecture of the city, the capital’s heart – National Mall, wonderful memorials in honor of the US presidents, Library of Congress’s and the White House’s interiors. At the end of the meeting, the students watched a video about the Washington D.C.
Children listened to the presentation of the useful library resources for languages’ study and free resources for improving the English skills too. They examined the WOA’s technical equipment, the books and DVDs collections, book & image display “If you want to study in the USA” and paper show “America 24/7”.
The teachers reviewed the promotional trailer about the library resources and received promotional materials.
Number of participants – 28 persons.
Today’s session of the Gabfest Club (Window on America center Dnipropetrobsk, Ukraine) took place a few days after the Orthodox Christmas. It was a good opportunity to return to the basic elements of the Nativity Scene and re-introduce important terms to the learners of English. The club members were given a task to describe and explain important things about the Orthodox Xmas icons presented to the Club members.
The new vocabulary of Nativity terms was drilled as the words escaped the memory after the Western Xmas.
The second part of the session was a conversation about Ukrainian traditions of Christmas celebration. Once the appropriate article introduced the specific terms the conversation focused on culinary traditions. It’s a challenge to the English learners to describe Ukrainian dishes to foreigners in an adequate way. Our foreign volunteers Mr. Jason and Mr. Paul managed to understand the attempts of the Club members. After this conversation the club members will be able to speak about Ukrainian Christmas traditions.
The session was very educational and was enjoyed by all the participants.
Participants number – 21 person.
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In “Wednesday Movie Club” at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine the film River of No Return (1954) was presented to all who wish to improve their language skills.
River of No Return is a 1954 American Western film directed by Otto Preminger and starring Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe. The screenplay by Frank Fenton is based on a story by Louis Lantz, who borrowed his premise from the 1948 Italian film The Bicycle Thief. It was made in Technicolor and CinemaScope and released by 20th Century Fox.
Plot: The title river unites a farmer recently released from prison, his young son, and an ambitious saloon singer. In order to survive, each must be purged of anger, and each must learn to understand and care for the others.
WOA’s patrons enjoyed the film and the discussion that followed.
Number of participants – 9.
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The first Gabfest Club session (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) in 2016 was dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Frank Sinatra.
This American singer, songwriter, actor, producer and director is popular in Ukraine as well. He was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century. F. Sintara is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide. He is famous for a selection of beautiful Xmas songs. The basics facts about F. Sinatra were presented to the group. His popular nicknames “The Voice” and “Al’ Blue Eyes” were explained and illustrated with videos and images.
The iconic songs “My Way” and “New York” were played to the group to enjoy the tunes and to translate the lyrics. The lovers of Sinatra music recommended web sites where one can find translation of lyrics into Russian.
The second part of the session was a New Year tea ceremony with sweet treats. The Club members shared with fellows how they celebrated the New Year. Our American friend Mr. Jason carefully listened to the stories about the back ground of Ukrainian symbols of New Year celebration – potato salad “Olivier”, citrus fruits, watching “Irony of Fate” movie and others.
Happy New Year to ALL!!!
Number of participants – 20 persons.
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