This afternoon the eight session of the Basic English Group took place at the DOUNB Library in Window on America Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine).
The Group was founded as a training site for people who never studied English or for those who need to return to the basics of the language.
The "Basic English" group studied today the plural of nouns and phrases "There is/there are".
All the participants found the session educational and helpful.
Number of participants – 8 persons.
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Introduction of #УкраїнаSpeaking project to students and teachers of Novomoskovsk (Dnipropetrovsk’s suburb)
Within the framework of the educational project #УкраїнаSpeaking DOUNB Library and "Window on America" Center were presented to Novomoskovsk community. The WOA’s staff Svetlana Usenko and Tamara Gavryliuk visited the colleagues at the Novomoskovsk Children's Library.
The WOA staff offered a presentation for the English teachers and the 10th year students of the local school No.18. The presentation started with the big-screening of the motivational video that encourages Ukrainians to learn English (production by the УкраїнаSpeaking project). The audience learned about several essential things:
- the modern services of the DOUNB Library that are assessable 24 hours/ 7 days a week.
- the DONUB Library web site and its online catalog
- the activities plan to observe the "Year of English in Ukraine",
- the various language clubs for different age groups and skill levels skill
- the #УкраїнаSpeaking project that is aimed to help all who wish to improve English proficiency in one way or another . Students were offered a slide show that recommended effective on-line resources: УкраїнаSpeaking, American English, Voice of America, SHAREAMERICA, English is fun and others.
Number of participants – 22 persons.
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To encourage children to read about and to master sciences the students of the secondary school №141, a long-time partner of the "Window on America" Center, were offered two lessons with the topic "Space capital on the Dnieper". The presenter was WOA’s Head Svitlana Usenko. This school event coincided with the observation of the Global Astronomy Month (April). The children did their home work for the lessons. They maid nice drawings of Solar system planets and galaxies. Now these pictures will be presented on a library display to delight the DOUNB Library patrons. The students listened to the story with interest, the English cartoons about astronauts and space flights delighted them. We hope that at least one of students would become an astronomer or astronaut!
Lessons’ participants – approximately 130 persons.
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The “Wednesday Movie Club” at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk. The members of club selected a film About Schmidt, which is a part of the WOA’s collection of the best Hollywood movies.
About Schmidt is a 2002 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Alexander Payne, produced by Michael Besman, Harry Gittes and Rachael Horovitz, co-written by Jim Taylor with music by Rolfe Kent and starring Jack Nicholson in the title role. The film also stars Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney and Kathy Bates. It is very loosely based on the 1996 novel of the same title by Louis Begley.
Plot: A man upon retirement embarks on a journey to his estranged daughter's wedding only to discover more about himself and life than he ever expected.
WOA’s patrons enjoyed the film and the discussion that followed.
Number of participants – 9 persons.
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Activate English Group 1.8. – Good and bad news
The year 2016 in Ukraine is the year of the English Language.
The Activate English Group at DOUNB library is an integral part of the EXPRESS-ENGLISH course offered to the Window on America Dnipropetrovsk readers in year 2016.
The Activate English Group was created for people who have been studying English for several years, but are too shy to speak. The objective of the course is to activate the passive knowledge and enable the students of English to express themselves in English no matter how small might be their vocabulary.
All the participants found the session educational and helpful.
Number of participants – 9 persons.
Today at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk the Gabfest Club (Ukraine) members celebrated the U.N. English Language Day.
English Language Day is celebrated each year on April 23 – the date when tradition says William Shakespeare was born. Shakespeare has been called the greatest writer in the English language. His plays continue to be published, performed in theaters and seen in films almost 400 years after his death.
Language Days at the U.N. aim to entertain and inform. The Language Days goal is to increase the awareness and respect for the history, culture and achievements of each of the six working languages among the UN community.
To start the ball running we described several posters created for this date. Our American volunteer Mr. Jason introduced some specific words to describe the posters –“thought bubble”, “Gothic font”, “playwright ” and others.
The group was asked questions about the U.N. official languages, the work of translators and interpreters at the UN and other places. The notion of a “social interpreter” was introduced and the club members shared their experiences of social interpreting in Ukraine.
The WOA’s Head Svitlana Usenko told the group about the Day of English flash mob in Ukraine. The US State Department and the national project “УкраїнаSpeaking” produced a poster with popular English phrases for service industry in Ukraine. This year the flash mob participants had to deliver the posters to Ukrainian waiters. The photos from the flash mob were demonstrated to the group. We talked about the reasons why the Ukrainian hospitality service workers need to improve their English language skills.
At the end of the session we watched and translated the slide show about the history of the English Language. Now the Club members understand why the spelling and pronunciation of the English language is such a challenge for learners.
The session was a “full house” and explained several cross-cultural issues to the participants.
Number of participants – 30 persons.
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Celebrating the U.N. English Language Day by distributing “English to Everyone” posters in Dnipropetrovsk!
Our Library, supports the Year of English in Ukraine!
Our Window on America Center in Dnipropetrovsk supports the Year of English in Ukraine!
On William Shakespeare’s birthday the DOUNB library staff and readers-volunteers took part in the flash mob aimed at promotion of English among the local hospitality establishments personnel. The posters which presented the Ukraine-English phrases essential for servicing the foreign visitors were distributed at the local restaurants and cafes. Printing of colorful phrase-posters was a courtesy of the US Embassy in Ukraine. Restaurant and café employees are interested in improving their English skills to provide good services to foreign customers. They are willing to cooperate with the DOUNB library.
DOUNB library and the "Window on America" Information and Resource Center support the” Year of English” in Ukraine and are offering free express courses of the English language to the library patrons.
The second enrollment to the “Express English” groups starts as follows: May, 17 – “Activate English” and May, 19 – “Basic English”.
The “Year of English” events continue and the "Window on America" Center staff finds new sites for presentations. This time “The Space Capital on the Dnieper River" presentation was offered in English to the students of school № 54.
The school events coincided with English Year in Ukraine, the observation of the Global Astronomy Month (April), and the International Day of Human Space Flight (April, 12).
The Window on America Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine) staff has prepared for senior students a presentation and big screened YouTube videos in English about astronomy and the Solar system planets.
A custom-made quiz about space toponyms in Dnipropetrovsk was offered to the students. The children had to guess the names of Dnipropetrovsk streets that are connected with the topic “Space”. The eligible streets and buildings were named after planets, space objects, space heroes, space engineers, astronomic phenomena, etc. They had to tell where in Dnipropetrovsk one can provide space research and touch space equipment. A set of questions dealt with the space connected monuments located in Dnipropetrovsk.
The topic was illustrated with the NASA videos about the International Space Station (ISS), the Space food Industry and its influence on modern food technology.
The WOA’s presentation provided a lot of educational information in several subjects (physics, astronomy, literature, local history).
The 3rd year students listened to the English songs and learned new words – the names of the planets. After that all of them participated in a drawing contest with great enthusiasm. This kind of "Space Art Therapy” was quite enjoyable !!!)))
Number of participants – 48 persons.
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“Wednesday Movie Club” at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine.
The film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) was presented to all who wish to improve their language skills with staring Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, and Katharine Hepburn.
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is a 1967 American comedy-drama film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, and written by William Rose. It stars Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn and featuring Hepburn's niece Katharine Houghton. The film contains a (then rare) positive representation of the controversial subject of interracial marriage, which historically had been illegal in most states of the United States, and still was illegal in 17 states – mostly Southern states – until 12 June 1967, six months before the film was released, roughly two weeks after Tracy filmed his final scene (and two days after his death), when anti-miscegenation laws were struck down by the Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia. The movie's Oscar-nominated score was composed by Frank De Vol.
WOA’s patrons enjoyed the film and the discussion that followed.
Number of participants – 11.
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The "Window on America" Information and Resource Center continues the sessions of the educational project “Express- English”.
The "Activate English" group had 1.5 hour of enjoyable conversation about "Shopping." The group talked about fashion and personal preferences in choosing clothes. Only half of the group turned up due to the shifts in the schedule.
All the participants found the session educational and helpful.
Number of participants – 5 persons.
Music is always with us. Music fills us with energy and sets the pace of life. It relieves loneliness and gives confidence. Music makes it possible to release emotions and make the right decisions in difficult time. DOUNB library continues its cooperation with in Dnipropetrovsk. Once again "American Art Residence in Dnepropetrovsk" invited the people who love music.
The DOUNB Library Art Department hosted a musical performance «Jazz: yesterday, today, and forever» by the Mykola Hlynka Academy students: jazz musicians and singers. The show was compared by Anna Savonyuk, the music history specialist. The musicians were welcomed by the DOUNB library staff. Svetlana Ponomarenko, the Head of the Art department, invited the visitors to enjoy the colorful painting exhibition currently in display. Svetlana Usenko, the Head of the WOA Center, reminded the patrons about the free resources for the English language study.
The program "Jazz: yesterday, today and forever" was prepared by Ms. Iryna Riabtseva - the musicologist, Ph.D., professor of Mykola Hlynka Academy of Music (Dnipropetrovsk ), member of the National Composers’ Union (Ukraine). One of the reasons to start the "Art Residence project" was the numerous requests from the GABFEST Club members who love both music and American culture.
The English learners were introduced to the interesting facts in jazz history. They were carried away by the live music and wonderful voices of the jazz singers.
Our American friend- Mr. Jason Rush who enjoys volunteering at the WOA Center and helps Ukrainians to improve communication skills in English, was pleasantly surprised by the high level students’ performance. The program contained numbers of classical and modern jazz. Piano and sax players, singers presented popular instrumental plays and English songs. The grateful audience gave the student performers a round of the applause.
The day ended with a friendly tea ceremony with new friends. Our further partnership was one of the topics for conversation.
Number of participants – 53 persons.
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Art makes human life filled with polyphony and colors. The art of music enriches the human world with colors and emotions, it provides aesthetic pleasure.
“Music” was the topic of conversation for the newcomers and the regular club-members of the WOA’s English-speaking Club “Gabfest”. The format of the session was “Speed English”. This type of practice is helpful for learners who need to activate their vocabulary. The Head of the "Window on America" center Svetlana Usenko prepared slides with simple and interesting questions. Club members practiced “small talk”, greetings, etc. They chatted in pairs, every two minutes the conversation partners rotated and started to discuss new issues. Our American volunteer Mr. Jason gladly joined the group and communicated with many people.
Number of participants – 37 persons.
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Express-English Basic Group.
This afternoon the session of the Basic English Group took place at the DOUNB Library in Window on America Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine).
The Group was founded as a training site for people who never studied English or for those who need to return to the basics of the language.
The sessions of the Express-English Basic Group started used the premises of the WOA Center and its technical resources – the multimedia equipment and internet connection.
To practice reading we used the Internet.
All the participants found the session educational and helpful.
Number of participants – 12 persons.
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“Wednesday Movie Club” at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine.
Men in Black is a 1997 American science fiction buddy cop action comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and produced by Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald. Loosely adapted from The Men in Black comic book series created by artist Lowell Cunningham, the film stars Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith as two agents of a secret organization called the Men in Black who supervise extraterrestrial lifeforms who live on Earth and hide their existence from ordinary humans. The film featured the creature effects and makeup of Rick Baker and visual effects by Industrial Light & Magic.
The film was released on July 2, 1997, by Columbia Pictures, and grossed over $589.3 million worldwide against a $90 million budget, becoming the year's third highest-grossing film. It received worldwide acclaim, with critics highly praising its witty, sophisticated humor, Jones and Smith's performances, and Danny Elfman's musical score. The film received three Academy Award nominations for Best Art Direction, Best Original Score, and Best Makeup, winning the latter award.
WOA’s patrons enjoyed the film and the discussion that followed.
Number of participants – 13.
#MenІnBlack
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The "Window on America" Center was visited by the students of the Dnipropetrovsk College for Culture, their major is “Library Science”. The group learned about the DOUNB Library statistics which give the idea about the different aspects of library work and the sources of new book arrivals. The WOA’s staff told the students about the history of the center, its mission, modern types of activities, the types of patrons who participate in various activities that help to learn English.
Students were introduced to the American Library Association (ALA), which is the driving force for the national library network. The ALA became the benchmark for Ukrainian libraries in project development and activities planning. The young people were invited to join the youth section of the Ukrainian Library Association and to learn how to be creative and innovative in a Ukrainian library, how to surprise the world with extraordinary library projects.
Number of participants – 5.
#УкраїнаSpeaking
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Future Tense for Activate English Group 1.6.
The Activate English Group of EXPRESS-ENGLISH course at the DOUNB Library had its regular session today.
The group practiced the conversation in pairs and activated the vocabulary to the topic “Shopping”.
The new grammar structures and vocabulary were introduced in the second part of the session.
Number of participants – 11 persons.
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project ‘Space capital on the Dnieper:
On April, 12 –
To observe the 55th anniversary of the Humane Space flight (April, 12) and the Global Astronomy Month (April) the Window on America Center (Dnipropetrovsk / Ukraine) invited the students and teachers from the next door school to talk about Stars and Space.
Dnipropetrovsk can boast to be the Space Capital of Ukraine. So we started our presentation with the basics of space travel – the Solar system planets’ names. The students enjoyed the “Planets song” video and sang along with it.
The group was offered a custom-made quiz about space toponyms in Dnipropetrovsk. We talked about the city streets and monuments named after planets, cosmonauts, space engineers, etc.
At the end of the session the students were offered several NASA videos about the space food industry in the USA and the way the astronauts eat on the International Space Station.
The WOA’s presentation provided a lot of educational information in several subjects (physics, astronomy, literature, local history).
The WOA’s presentation provided a lot of educational information in several subjects (physics, astronomy, literature, local history).
Number of participants – 25 persons.
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Dnipropetrovsk Window on America center welcomes GOETHE Institute.
The colleagues from the Goethe Institute (Ukraine) visited WOA (Dnipropetrovsk) during their business trip to DOUNB Library in Dnipropetrovsk.
Ms. Susanne Teichmann, the Head of the “Information and Libraries” department, and the department’s assistant Ms. Hanna Zhuravliova met the WOA’s staff member Ms. T. Gavryliuk . The German colleagues were told about the activities most popular among the WOA’s patrons – the English-speaking club GABFEST and the Wednesday Movie Club. The recent initiative was also introduced – the free express course of English for DOUNB Library patrons.
The project “Year 2016 – the Ears of the English Language” and WOA’s participation in it was mentioned as well. The Kiev colleagues said they are looking forward to the similar initiative about the German language.
We talked about the German speaking clubs and volunteers in Dnipropetrovsk and their cooperation with DOUNB Library.
Number of participants – 3 persons.
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To observe the 55th anniversary of the Humane Space flight (April, 12) and the Global Astronomy Month (April) the Window on America Center (Dnipropetrovsk / Ukraine) invited the students and teachers from the next door school to talk about Stars and Space.
Dnipropetrovsk can boast to be the Space Capital of Ukraine. So we started our presentation with the basics of space travel – the Solar system planets’ names. The students enjoyed the “Planets song” video and sang along with it.
The group was offered a custom-made quiz about space toponyms in Dnipropetrovsk. We talked about the city streets and monuments named after planets, cosmonauts, space engineers, etc.
At the end of the session the students were offered several NASA videos about the space food industry in the USA and the way the astronauts eat on the International Space Station.
The WOA’s presentation provided a lot of educational information in several subjects (physics, astronomy, literature, local history).
Number of participants – 16 persons (13 students + 3 teachers).
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Today’s session of the Gabfest Club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was dedicated to the observance of the Global Astronomy Month (April) and International Day of Human Space Flight (April, 12).
The first part of the session was dedicated to the experience of the Club members in astronomical observations. Several people shared their experiences of watching astronomical events: solar eclipses, meteor showers, lunar eclipses and others. The new vocabulary was introduced as well as the names of the Solar system planets in English. The group was offered a Discovery channel on-line quiz about comets and meteors. Brain storming resulted in 9 scores out of nine! But it was a quiz for kids!
In the second part of the session we focused on the space history of our home town Dnipropetrovsk. A custom-made quiz about the space related toponyms of the city was offered to the group. The presence of our American volunteer Mr. Jason allowed the club members to demonstrate both their English skills and the local history knowledge. They had to explain to him the stories of the persons mentioned in the quiz – Soviet cosmonauts, academician Yangel, etc.
Several fun facts were discovered in discussion – the popular novel “The Little Prince” was first published in the USA. The animals were launched into space both in the USA (chimpanzee Ham) and in the Soviet Union (dogs Belka and Strelka).
The session was funny and educational. The club members left proud of their home city – the Ukrainian Space capital.
Number of participants – 33 persons.
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Express-English Basic Group. Meeting 1.5. – Figures and numbers
Year of English events continue – participants are having fun! Today the participants of the Basic English Group at «Window on America» Center Dnipropetrovsk had a pleasant surprise again – the arrival of the WOA’s American volunteer Mr. Jason.
The Group participants practiced reading and speaking, they told about their occupation and phone number to Mr. Jason.
Well done! Keep learning!
Number of participants – 11 persons.
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Today the WOA Center Dnipropetrovsk was visited by a group of distance learning students from the National University for Culture and Arts. The graduate students’ major was “Design”.
Within the framework of the “Discover USA” project the WOA staff member T. Gavryliuk made a video presentation of the leading USA fashion designers. The group was offered a list of the 30 most popular American designers (source “Luxury Group” 2012).
Prior to the big-screening of the illustrative videos the group of female students was familiarized with the iconic “wrap dress” by Diana von Furstenberg. Diane von Furstenberg started showing her designs to boutiques and magazine editors in the late 1960s. The dresses she created weren't very expensive and they definitely weren't couture. They were “wrap dresses” – made of gentle gorgeously patterned jersey and with a deep-cut V-neck. "It's a dress that was practical and pretty and sexy," von Furstenberg tells. It's been described as dress that you get the men with ... but he doesn't mind taking you to his mother." The dress sold by the millions and became iconic American dress.
The students watched a range of videos of well-known and less-known in Ukraine US designers discussing the new looks, patterns and fabrics.
Participant number – 8 persons + 1 lecturer
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“Wednesday Movie Club” at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine offered screening of the sci-fi dramedy film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) to all who wish to improve their language skills.
This movie is a epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. The screenplay, written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, was partially inspired by Clarke's short story "The Sentinel". Clarke concurrently wrote the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, published soon after the film was released. The film follows a voyage to Jupiter with the sentient computer Hal after the discovery of a mysterious black monolith affecting human evolution. The film deals with the themes of existentialism, human evolution, technology, artificial intelligence, and extraterrestrial life. It is noted for its scientifically accurate depiction of space flight, pioneering special effects, and ambiguous imagery. It uses sound and minimal dialogue in place of traditional narrative techniques; the soundtrack consists of classical music such as The Blue Danube and Also sprach Zarathustra.
WOA’s patrons enjoyed the film and the discussion that followed.
Number of participants – 15 persons.
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Today Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk staff and WOA’s American volunteer Mr. Jason were invited to the local high school No. 22 to presentations during the school’s “SPACE WEEK”.
The school events coincided with the observation of the Global Astronomy Month (April) and the International Day of Human Space Flight (April, 12).
The WOA staff has prepared for senior students a presentation and big screened YouTube videos in English about astronomy and the Solar system planets.
A custom-made quiz about space toponyms in Dnipropetrovsk was offered to the students. The children had to guess the names of Dnipropetrovsk streets that are connected with the topic “Space”. The eligible streets and buildings were named after planets, space objects, space heroes, space engineers, astronomic phenomena, etc. They had to tell where in Dnipropetrovsk one can provide space research and touch space equipment. A set of questions dealt with the space connected monuments located in Dnipropetrovsk. Besides the name of the monument the students had to explain to Mr. Jason what the monument symbolizes. Sometimes it was a tricky task.
The topic was illustrated with the NASA videos about the International Space Station (ISS), the Space food Industry and its influence on modern food technology.
The WOA’s presentation provided a lot of educational information in several subjects (physics, astronomy, literature, local history).
Number of participants – 135 persons.
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The Activate English Group of EXPRESS-ENGLISH course at the DOUNB Library had its regular session today.
The group practiced the conversation in pairs and activated the vocabulary to the topics “Favorite Sports” and “Asking Permission”.
The new structures that were introduced in the second part of the session was “Future Tense”. The new vocabulary was introduced for the topics “Offers and Invitations” and “Shopping”.
Number of participants – 14 persons.
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Mrs. Yana and Mrs. Hanna were active members of the English-speaking Club Gabfest before the birth of children: Yana was the Club’s Vice-President and Hanna was the winner of the photo contest “USA with the Eyes of the Ukrainians” (2013).
Today the ladies arrived to the Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk with the second generation of their families and their friends with babies.
The girls invited the local poet to introduce her spring poetry book. The same lady is an active sportswoman – she shared with the group her impressions about white water rafting and cross-country hiking.
The session’s highlight was the tea-party and sharing of stories about Hanna’s trip to the USA.
The moms were informed about the УкраїнаSpeaking project and DOUNB Library Express English courses.
Number of participants – 8 persons.
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The Window on America center in Dnipropetrovsk continues its project “Discover USA” with partner Universities of Dnipropetrovsk city.
On April, 4 the facility was visited by a group of students from the local faculty of the National University for Culture and Arts. The students major was Hospitality Management.
The WOA staff member Ms. Tamara Gavryliuk delivered a lecture “The American Hospitality Culture”. The achievements of the US hospitality industry were presented to the students in a slide show. Big-screening of videos about the leading American hotels, restaurants and culinary professionals illustrated the topic and gave an insight into the differences in hospitality across nations.
Number of participants – 16 persons.
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The first session of the Gabfest Club in April was dedicated to a complicated topic “Humor”. We have introduced it to observe the April Fool’s Day.
To start the ball rolling we described several funny pictures. This allowed us to engage quite a big number of new comers.
We watched several funny videos that illustrated the history of the April Fool’s Day and introduced new vocabulary. The foreign new comers – Egyptian students of local universities – told about the traditional pranks in their country. The Ukrainian club members explained what were the popular pranks in Ukraine. The club members shared stories about funny situations in real life.
The more complicated task for the group was to translate humor from one culture to another. We tried our skills in translating comments to Ukrainian caricatures and WWII satirical anti-Hitler posters. It was quite a challenge.
For a more relaxed conversation the WOA’s American volunteer Mr. Jason helped the club members and asked them questions about stereotypical jokes in Ukraine.
All the participants had fun and learned many new words.
Number of participants – 33 persons.
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