Gabfest Club in June

June, 4 –  The summer season.
Today’s session of the Gabfest Club was the first one in summer so we opened the summer season with stories about unusual summers in different locations of the world.
We started with the summer perils and introduced the phenomenon of monsoons. The videos about monsoons in India and the USA illustrated this complicated phenomenon.
The next conversation topic was countries of endless summer. The good illustration was a story of Hawaii, the surfers’ pipe lines and the dark side of the surfers’ culture. The Ukrainian Club members shared their stories about Malaysia and Thailand experience.
The introduction of the “midnight sun” phenomenon was illustrated with an educational movie and triggered the conversation about Alaska and its coat of arms.The good wrap up of the official topic was the conversation about summer festivals in USA and in Ukraine.
Our American guest Mr. Steve told the group about his home state and his mission in Ukraine.
All the participants found the session educational and helpful.
Instructor: T. Gavryliyuk
American guest: Mr. Steve
Pictures: S.Usenko
Number of participants – 37 persons.

June, 11 – Tribute to the Queen.
This Saturday the Gabfest Club’s session at Dnipro Window on America center was dedicated to the unique event – the 90th anniversary of the British Queen.
The session started with the fun fact about the iconic London bridge. Our American guest Mr. Steve surprised us with the story of a London bridge relocated to Arizona. The YouTube video clarified the situation and now we all know the difference between the Tower bridge and London bridge.
The speaking practice was offered as a conversation about the institution of monarchy. We illustrated the strong and weak points of monarchy with historical examples. The American guest was enlightened on the situation with monarchy in Ukraine. The most challenging task was to explain the role of Vikings in the Ukrainian history.
The second part of the session was dedicated to the curious facts one need to know about Queen Elisabeth II. The facts were illustrated with the videos about the Queen’s Corgy dogs and the Anniversary equestrian show in which 900 horses participated.
 
The sources on British monarchy from the DOUNB Library collection were presented for those who would like to study the topic more profoundly.
Our American guest Mr. Steve was our English expert.
All the participants found the session educational and helpful.
Instructor: T. Gavryliyuk
American guest: Mr. Steve
Pictures: S.Usenko
Number of participants – 33 persons.


June 18 – The dynamic Gabfest Club.
This Saturday’s session of the Gabfest Club was very dynamic.
 

We started with the introduction of the new-comers. The first part of the session was a traditional Q@A event. The floor was given to our American guest Mr. Steve who told about his stay in Dnipro region and his charity mission in Ukraine. The Club members asked questions about Mr. Steve’s home town and home state. We learned that Georgia is known as a Peach State and it is famous for Peach Cobbler. This fact puzzled the group as they did not know the second meaning of the word ‘cobbler”.
In the second part of the session we changed the traditional “round table discussion” format to the “Speed English”.  The group had a dynamic conversation in groups and in pairs under the guidance of the facilitators Alexandra and Svitlana.

We played with adults: 4 Corner Game and Speed English.
At first people were a little bit confused. But then the desire to express the ideas and communicate won! Some of our participants wanted the moderators to prompt but we did not support it and they found the solution within their groups!
American guest participated in our Speed Up English.
We bet if the members would write their impressions about the new activity on the paper or not. They did and their comments became the best reward for us.
The new format helped to activate the language skills of all participants shifting the focus to” learner-to-learner” help.

Instructors: T. Gavryliyuk & O.Myrgorodska
American guest: Mr. Steve
Pictures: S.Usenko
Number of participants – 32 persons.

June 25 – World Environment Day.
Today’s session of the Gabfest Club was dedicated to the observance of the “WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY”. We have discussed the logo of the WED for 2016 and the day’s theme “Wild for Life”.

Wildlife crime endangers iconic elephants, rhinos, tigers, gorillas and sea turtles. The group has learned the names of exotic animals   and was introduced to the wildlife trafficking issues. The Club members shared their experiences of encounters with wildlife.
We pinpointed the actions we can take in Ukraine to decrease the demand for wildlife trade.
 

The UN’s posters created for the WED were presented to the group and the sad statistics on poaching shocked everyone.
The club members were urged to show zero-tolerance for the illegal trade in wildlife in word and deed to make a difference in Ukraine and worldwide.
And we continue to play Speed English using the materials of America House. “Would you ever marry for money. Why yes or why no?” was the hottest among the discussed today.

Instructor: T. Gavryliyuk and O. Myrgorordska
Pictures: S.Usenko
Number of participants – 35 persons.