Our childhood collections

Speed English at WOA: “Our childhood collections”.
The Gabfest English speaking club members had a "Speed English" activity. In small groups or pairs the Club members remembered their childhood collections and boasted about the modern investments into vintage and collectible items.
Participants number – 33 persons.

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Collectibles - Hobby or Investment?

Traditional Saturday meeting of WOA’s English speaking club "Gabfest" (Dnipro, Ukraine) was dedicated to a popular US hobby – collecting. The Club members were introduced to the list of popular US collectibles. They were offered two points of view on collecting – a pastime and a long-time investment. Both opinions were illustrated with the YouTube videos. Among the mentioned collectibles were shopping coupons, toys, vintage porcelain, Coca-Cola paraphernalia and many others.
The Club’s Ukrainian activist Galyna Drozd showcased her collection “Dogs”. It included dog toys, calendars with dogs’ images, magazines about pet dogs.
 

This afternoon the session was attended by WOA Dnipro’s US volunteer Mrs. Tamara K. She added a lot of interesting details about collecting in the USA and introduced several idiomatic phrases about collecting. The atmosphere at the session was warm and educative. After the official session Mrs. Tamara volunteered extra time to have a Q&A activity with the Club’s activists.
Participants number – 33 persons.

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“Window on America” offers new partnership options

"Window on America" Information and Resource Center continues partnership with the Dnipro City Association of EFL Teachers (Chairman Ms. V.Shvydka).
The Center’s Head Svitlana Usenko was invited to greet the participants of the 3rd All-Ukrainian Conference of EFL Teachers that took place at School № 22. She made a brief presentation of the Center's free resources for improving English language proficiency and told about the unique visit by the NASA active astronaut Randolph Breznik to DOUNB Library. Colonel Breznik gifted to WOA Dnipro unique items –  a "Window to America - 2017 " calendar that spent 139 days at the International Space Station and made 22 221 turns around the Earth with the ISS crew.
S.Usenko  in detail  presented  the elements of cross-cultural presentations developed by WOA’ staff member Tamara Gavryliuk. The teachers and students were invited to visit the DOUNB library to discuss the topic such as "Historian Dmitry Yavornytsky", "Civil activist Oleksandr Pol", "Folk art – Petrykivka painting","Dnipro’s Heraldry ","The secret of T. Shevchenko testament", etc.).
The teachers responded to cooperation offer and are willing ready to bring students to the DOUNB library. Three schools invited WOA’s Head to take part in the "Week of English"
events.
Each conference participant received "Window to America" promotional kit – so WOA’s address and contact phones will be always at hand. They will be able to contact us directly or via social media.
Participants number – 30 people.
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Little Miss Sunshine

Within the framework of the Women’s History Month WOA Dnipro’s Movie Club offered the big screening of the films about women: “North Country”, “Million Dollar Baby”, and “Julie & Julia”.

On March, 28 “Wednesday Movie Club” at Window on America center Dnipro, Ukraine, the American comedy-drama road film Little Miss Sunshine (2006) was presented to all who wish to improve their language skills.
Plot:  A family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant take a cross-country trip in their VW bus.
WOA’s patrons enjoyed the film and the discussion that followed.
Number of participants – 15.

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“Activate English Group 8.7.”

The Window on America Dnipro center continues the Express English-8 course. The WOA center offers the “Activate English Group” activity that will help them to activate their passive knowledge of the foreign language and to overcome the fear of speaking in English. Ten two hour- lectures are offered for the participants to improve their conversational skills in pairs.
The professional EFL lecturer T. Gavryliuk combines the lexical exercises with important cross-cultural information that will help the English learners to understand their foreign counterparts better and to avoid awkward situations in communication.
The new patrons were informed about the DOUNB’s resources and modern services, and the new patrons were invited to join other WOA’s activities – Wednesday Movie Club and the “Gabfest” Speaking Club on Saturdays.
The highlight of the lesson was a visit of the US guest – Mrs. Tamara. She talked about the “I like reading…” and “I like watching TV” and  gave  expert advice on composing texts “My job”.
Improve you English language skills at the DOUNB Library!
Number of participants – 38 persons.

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Speed English at WOA: “National Grammar Day”

“Grammar” was the topic for the Speed English activity today at Window on America center Dnipro, Ukraine. The participants had conversations about the best ways to learn grammar, the best grammar textbooks for EFL students, the difference in American English and Ukrainian grammar.
Participants number – 20 persons.

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National Grammar Day in the USA

This afternoon the Gabfest Club members (at Window on America center Dnipro, Ukraine) welcomed a big group of first-timers. The new-comers had a chance to introduce themselves to the regular club members and to explain why do they need English.
The official topic of the session was “National Grammar Day in the USA”. The day is observed on March, 4. The Group was offered the VOA’s lesson about National Grammar Day. The recorded article has introduced the   listeners to the history of the Grammar Day and has told them about such phenomenon as “Grammar Girl’s podcasts “. The topic was illustrated with YouTube videos about promotion of the grammatical knowledge in the USA.
Another phenomenon that   was new to the group was popular in the USA “Spelling Bee” competitions. While in Ukraine the common way to check spellings skills is to write a dictation, the US students articulate the letters of the word. The spelling skills were illustrated with the video from the film “Akeela and the Bee”.
The interested club members examined the WOA Dnipro’s collection of grammar textbooks.
The session was educational for all the participants of the session.
Participants number – 45 persons.

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Small Talk about Favorite Books

Not all students of the WOA Dnipro’s express course "Activate English!" could make it to the class room because of the snow storm.
The ones who arrived obviously were very motivated to learn something new and helpful at the English lesson in the DOUNB Library.
This afternoon the session was moderated by S. Usenko.  She reminded the learners about popular grammatical constructions for describing one’s favorite book. She also checked the learners’ homework, helped the beginners to break the ice and join the conversation.
The novels   the students named as their favorite were presented as they are part of the WOA’s book collection.
Moderator: S.Usenko
Pictures: S.Usenko
Participants number –  10 persons.

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Astronaut’s Epic Visit to WOA Dnipro

This afternoon the session of the WOA Dnipro’s Gabfest Club was dedicated to the recent visit of the NASA Active Astronaut Colonel Randolph Breznik.
The group was offered several YouTube videos about the history of space stations and the International Space Station (ISS) that is a joint project of the international community.
The group was introduced to the last space mission of Colonel Breznik. They have learned   new vocabulary and some amazing facts about life on the ISS. The Club member Marina who visited the   meeting with Astronaut shared her impressions about her communication with the US space traveler.
The second part of the session was dedicated to the female astronauts. We demonstrated several videos about the female US astronaut of Ukrainian descent – Mrs. H. Stefanyshyn-Piper.
The group was thrilled with the information about the historical visit of the NASA Astronaut Commander Randolph Breznik.
The session was educational for all the participants of the session.
Participants number – 22 persons.

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“Grasshoppers Club” at WOA Dnipro

The third session of the revived Club took place at WOA Dnipro this afternoon.

The session was prepared and moderated by WOA’s volunteer Marina Repan, a fluent speaker of English and a person who ready to share her knowledge.

The session consisted of several types of language activities, new vocabulary introduction, cognitive videos watching, games and active discussion.

 The topic of the second session was “Spring”. The young learners aged 9-11 also learned new verbs, which helped them to form sentences.

The things children liked most in the library - singing together with characters of the educational video.

Number of participants – 8 (children and parents).

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