Remember The Titans

“Wednesday Movie Club” at Window on America center Dnipro (Ukraine).
The members of Movie Club selected for watching a film Remember The Titans, which is a part of the WOA’s collection of the best Hollywood movies.
Remember the Titans is a 2000 American sports film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Boaz Yakin. The screenplay, written by Gregory Allen Howard, is based on the true story of African-American coach Herman Boone, portrayed by Denzel Washington, and his attempt to integrate the T. C. Williams High School football team in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1971. Will Patton portrays Bill Yoast, Boone's assistant coach. Real-life athletes Gerry Bertier and Julius Campbell are portrayed by Ryan Hurst and Wood Harris, respectively.
WOA’s patrons enjoyed the film and the discussion that followed.
Number of participants – 9.

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Activate English 8.4.

The Window on America Dnipro center (Ukraine) offer the library patrons an “Express English” activity that will help them to activate their passive knowledge of the foreign language and to overcome the fear of speaking in English.
The two hour- lecture is offered for the participants to improve their conversational skills in pairs.
All the participants found the session educational and helpful.
Participants number – 42 persons.

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Success story at WOA Dnipro

This afternoon the second part of the Gabfest Club meeting (Window on America center in Dnipro, Ukraine) was dedicated to the guest speaker Mrs. Maria and her success story.
Mrs. Maria is a young professional. She graduated from the Dnipro Construction Academy and works as an architect. Her passion in profession brought her to foreign countries like Austria and Japan, Maria share with the group her impressions about study and work abroad.
The session was interesting and educational for club members.
Participants number – 14 persons.

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PRESIDENTS’ Day at WOA Dnipro

This afternoon the Gabfest Club (Window on America center in Dnipro, Ukraine) was dedicated to the Federal holiday that pays tribute to US leaders. We have watched a VOA video editorial and felt the importance of the holiday to the American nation.
As a fun fact presentation we read and translated several articles about the US former presidents and the   incomes they earn after the presidency.
The second part of the session was dedicated to the guest speaker and her success story. Mrs. Iryna has graduated from the WOA’s Basic English course and spend two months in western India backpacking. It was her first trip abroad. She survived and fell in love with India. Her basic English skills   proved to be useful in Deli and other places.
The session was very diverse and educational for club members.
Participants number – 45 persons.

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Pershotravensk students’ visit to WOA Dnipro

Today the WOA Dnipro has started new partnership – with the Department of Youth and Sport of the Pershotrvensk town council. Pershotravensk is a mining town located in the eastern part of Dnipro oblast, very close to the war zone. The best students and sportsmen of the town’s schools were awarded with an educational trip to Dnipro city. They visited WOA Dnipro as well.
 

The WOA Dnipro staff member T. Gavryliuk told the teenagers about the mission of the WOA Center.
They were informed about the opportunity for Ukrainian students to study in the USA. The young people were interested in the FLEX Program and will keep in mind the exchange opportunities for University students.
We hope to see today's visitors in a few years when they move to Dnipro to study at colleges and Universities.
Participants number – 20 persons.

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Learning English is Fun & Joy !

English Week with Librarian.
The partnership of the "Window to America" Information and Resource Center and Dnipro’s specialized School No. 22 with in-depth study of the English language continues. The head of the Dnipro city English Language Teachers’ Association Ms. Valentyna Shvydka invited the WOA’s Head Svitlana Usenko to visit the English Week at school No.22. For two classes S. Usenko made a presentation "Fundamentals of Academic Integrity for Schoolchildren". She introduced the types of plagiarism and rules of citation and tried to increase the media literacy of young people. Using the «O.B.A.CH.N.O" poster S.Usenko gave advice on correct assessment the questionable information reliability. 

In the second part of the visit the librarian S. Usenko as a guest of honor joined the students’ party "Romantic stories on the magic screen". It was nice to see that the students used the American authors’ works to create their musical numbers. The students were inspired by "Great Gatsby", "Hunger Games", "La-La Land". Senior students demonstrated outstanding creative skills, beautiful singing and dancing, script writing and sound engineering skills. Concert numbers were interesting, with good levels of music and choreography. Although the teams did not compete with each other, in the final word the librarian noted two best performances (by 9-A and 11-B classes). These teams received souvenirs with "Window to America" logos. We are looking forward to meet the school’s students again already at the DOUNB Library premises.
Number of participants – 250 persons.

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“Grasshoppers Club” Revival at WOA Dnipro

The first session of the revived “Grasshoppers Club" took place at WOA Dnipro this afternoon.
The session was   prepared and moderated by WOA’s volunteer Anna Motorina.  She is a fluent speaker of English and a high school student (Dnipro’s School # 9 ). The session consisted of several types of language   activities, new vocabulary introduction, cognitive videos watching, games and active discussion.
The topic of the first session was “LIBRARY”.  The young learners aged 9-11 also learned different book and the rules of conduct at the library. It was exciting!
The next session will be held on Thursday, 1st February at 3 pm.  The topic will be” My Week-end “. We will practice how to describe one’s week-end, holidays, hobby.
Number of participants – 14 (children and parents).
 

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The Hours

“Wednesday Movie Club” at Window on America center Dnipro (Ukraine).
The members of Movie Club selected for watching a film The Hours, which is a part of the WOA’s collection of the best Hollywood movies.
The Hours is a 2002 British-American drama film directed by Stephen Daldry, and starring Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Nicole Kidman, and Ed Harris. The screenplay by David Hare is based on Michael Cunningham's 1999 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same title.
The plot focuses on three women of different generations whose lives are interconnected by the novel Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. These are Clarissa Vaughan (Streep), a New Yorker preparing an award party for her AIDS-stricken long-time friend and poet, Richard (Harris) in 2001; Laura Brown (Moore), a pregnant 1950s California housewife with a young boy and an unhappy marriage; and Virginia Woolf (Kidman) herself in 1920s England, who is struggling with depression and mental illness while trying to write her novel.
WOA’s patrons enjoyed the film and the discussion that followed.
Number of participants – 12.

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Activate English group 8.3.

Activate English group 8.3. at Dnipro Window on America center.
The DOUNB Library and the Window on America Dnipro center offer the library patrons an “Express English” activity that will help them to activate their passive knowledge of the foreign language and to overcome the fear of speaking in English.
The two hour-lecture is offered for the participants to improve their conversational skills in pairs.
All the participants found the session educational and helpful.
Number of participants – 80 persons.

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"Fundamentals of Academic Integrity" Project for students

"Window to America" Information and Resource Center has many partner in Dnipro city. For National Mining University students we offer information about Academic Integrity.
This academic year the WOA staff continue to familiarize students with the concepts of "plagiarism" and "academic integrity." 
The Window to America Head Svetlana Usenko presented a slide show aimed to emphasize to the students that knowledge acquisition is hard and independent work they should do on a daily basis. The students begin to write scientific papers for different projects, they will need to prepare themselves for University studies. The ability to distinguish plagiarism from non-plagiarism, familiarity with the quotation rules, and the awareness of the codes of honor in colleges – all these steps will lead today’s school kids to a successful career.
The participants number – 27 people.

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Chinese New Year celebration at WOA Dnipro

The Ukrainian professional philologist Dina and her Yakut fiancée Dima are working as interpreters in China. They came over to share their experiences in fluent English.
English is their second foreign language; they have learned it with limited access to native-speaking people. But they have encouraged the Gabfest Club members to practice spoken English and overcome the fear to speak English even in Ukraine.
Participants number – 58 persons.

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Black History Month at WOA Dnipro

This afternoon the session of the Gabfest Club (Dnipro, Ukraine) was dedicated to the Black History Month. This year the theme of the Month is “African Americans in Times of War”.
The group was introduced to several unknown facts from the US military history.
The first facts were about the Buffalo soldiers. The "Buffalo Soldiers" were established by Congress as the first peacetime all-black regiments in the regular U.S. Army. They served on the western frontier, battling Indians and protecting settlers.
 

The second fact was about the 15th New York National Guard Regiment. It was an infantry regiment of the New York Army National Guard during World War I. The regiment was nicknamed the Harlem Hellfighters, the Black Rattlers, and the Men of Bronze, which was given to the regiment by the French. The nickname "Hell Fighters" was given to them by the Germans due to their toughness and that they never lost a man through capture, lost a trench or a foot of ground to the enemy.
Both facts were illustrated with the History channel videos that gave us the insight into the US military history and the role of African Americans in it.
The session was educational for all generations of Club members.
Participants number – 58 persons.

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Practicing English and celebrating St. Valentine’s Day

Collaboration of DOUNB and the youth public organization “Ukraine needs you” continues with flying colors. As usually Wednesday is the American Movie Club Day, this time the meeting of lovers of American movies at the information and resource center “Window on America” took place in a non-traditional manner. It was a festive educational and entertaining meeting devoted to St. Valentine’s Day. The meeting was prepared by Anna Motorina, a senior school student, who offered to watch 20-minutes video about the history of St. Valentine’s Day.
Those who were present enjoyed watching this festive and useful video and heartily participated in quizzes. The quiz loved by everyone most was “Guess the romantic tune from the movie”. The prize swiftly found its owner. After it everyone watched the romantic movie about searches of love “Hope Floats” and tried different techniques of making valentines cards. Everyone – children, youth and adults were involved into the process of creating a bright and amazing picture with valentines cards to share High Holiday spirits with the next patrons. 

The picture became the highlight of celebration of the St. Valentines’ Day and solemnly decorated Window on America Center.
The festive atmosphere of the meeting was warmed by hot tea with treats.
Number of participants – 16 persons.

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St.Valentine’s Day and its observance in the USA

Today the staff of the Foreign literature department and Window on America center visited school No.141. This school is a long-time partner of the DOUNB Library as it has a focus on English study.
The aim of the visit was to tell the children about a popular American Holiday Valentine’s Day and its observance.
The children were offered a slide show about the holiday’s background and legends about Valentine.
Several sing-along songs were very popular with kids: they learned how to spell the word “HEART” and remember the pretty colors for Valentine cards.
To wrap up the presentation the WOA staff offered big-screening of the iconic Disney cartoon “Chip and Dale and Miss”. Children of all ages enjoyed the funny chipmunks’ love story.
The children were fascinated with the songs and stories, eagerly answered rather complicated questions and impressed the WOA staff with their interest in English study.
Number of participants – 130 persons.

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EXPRESS ENGLISH: Activate English 8.2.

Center “Window to America” Dnipro invited civil servants, police officers, students, specialists with higher education, high school students to join a free mass open course "Activate English! 8.0. ". The objective of the library project   is to help professionals to learn more about the United States and improve English conversational skills at the DOUNB library under the guidance of mentors who are fluent English speakers.
 

They city community responded very actively to the invitation. Now among our students we have representatives of the city council and district councils, police women from the police call-center, lawyers, economists, architects, engineers, a bunch of students from different universities and even an opera singer.

Participants number – 90 persons.

Speed English: Environmental Awareness

The English Learners (at Window on America center Dnipro, Ukraine) were engaged into conversation in pairs or small groups. The topic was “Environmental Awareness”.
During the Speed English session the participants had a chance to talk about their recycling practices and the types of the renewable energy they know, the advantages and disadvantages of different energy types.
Participants number – 67 persons.

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Meeting Newcomers and Green Thinking

Meeting Newcomers and Green Thinking at WOA Dnipro.

This afternoon the Gabfest English-speaking Club (Dnipro, Ukraine) was visited by a big number of the newcomers. That’s why we started with the introductions of the WOA Dnipro staff members and after that gave the floor to the first timers. The introductions of three different generations highlighted the typical mistakes even in the fluent English speakers. The regular Club members had a chance to ask the newcomers about their background.
 

The official topic of the session was “Green Thinking”. We started with the descriptions and discussions of the eco pictograms and symbols. The challenging task was to watch and comprehend the video about the social responsibility of the US corporations and their investment into the ecological projects.
The session was educational for all generations of Club members.
Participants number – 67 persons.
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Meeting with foreign students

Partnership goes on! Meeting with foreign students.

For several year WOA Dnipro cooperates with the local office of the international students’ organization AIESEC. Today members of "You Need Ukraine" NGO and foreign AIESEC guests – students from Turkey and Cyprus – attended the session to the WOA’s English speaking film club. Together with the regular movie club members they watched and discussed documentaries on environmental topics.

It was interesting to learn about solar energy production, garbage collection in Switzerland, waste recycling at large companies in the UK, plastic recycling in Turkey. Young Ukrainians shared their experience in garbage separation and collecting waste paper.

 

The WOA’s partnership with AIESEC continues. The WOA Dnipro center patrons   were familiarized with the complex environmental problems. Besides, they were able to demonstrate their good English – they had active conversations with the foreign   guests about situation in their respective countries.

Participants number – 25 persons.

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