FLEX alumnus presented Washington state

This afternoon WOA Dnipro (Window on America center, Ukraine)  was visited by Maria a FLEX program alumnus in 2016.
She offered the WOA patrons a slide show about her stay in state Washington, shared her experiences from the American high school.
Masha’s Q&A session with WOA Dnipro’s activists gave them a better insight into the life of average Americans.
Participants number – 30 persons.
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FLEX alumnus tells about China trip

This afternoon the Gabfest English-speaking Club members (Window on America center in Dnipro, Ukraine) were surprised with the topic for discussion. The WOA’s activist and a FLEX Program graduate Ms. Olha Chichikalo delivered a presentation about her educational trip to China.
As Olha is experienced in American life style she was able to compare the mentality of Chinese, American and Ukrainian people. She told the group about the popular tourist attractions she has visited in China. The focus of the presentation was on Shanghai – the second largest city in China.
After Olha’s slide presentation the Club members had a Q@A session with her. The questions were about the China’s education system, the everyday life of Chinese people, and their favorite pass times.

It turned out that quite a big number of Gabfest members are interested in China or visited it earlier. They have asked Olha more questions after the Club’s session. She was kind enough to answer all questions with great enthusiasm.
Participants number – 23 persons.

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Presentation of Future Leaders Exchange Program (FLEX)

This Thursday the WOA ("Window on America" (Dnipropetrovsk / Ukraine) welcomed FLEX graduate Olga Chichikalo and group of school students from school #23.
Olga told the group about the aim of the FLEX program for students and the procedures for enrolment. Future Leaders Exchange Program (FLEX) is a cultural exchange program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State and administered in Ukraine by American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS (American Councils) and supported by the Ministry of Education and Science, Youth and Sports of Ukraine. The program provides Ukrainian students with an opportunity to study in a US high school and live in an American host family for one academic year.
Olga shared her experience of living in the American family in Idaho, studying in the American high school, travelling around the southern states, celebrating holidays and having fun American style.
Each school students had a possibility to ask Olga questions about her stay in the USA. The most interesting questions ranged in the topic of her study:  subjects selection at school, teaching methods  at school, choice of food in the school canteen, etc.
Number of participants – 17 persons.
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Vocabulary games in the American Teen Club

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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FLEXers are in action!

On August, 10 Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk welcomed a big group of FLEX program graduates from Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia oblast. FLEX (Future Leaders Exchange Program) celebrated its 20th anniversary recently and is popular in many countries of the world among the high-school students who wish to spend one academic year in the USA.
 
The FLEX alumni had a chance to meet each other and share the experiences of their life in the USA. To break the ice several out-door activities were offered to the participants in the beautiful park near the DOUNB Library. The WOA Dnipropetrovsk’s activist and Flex graduate Olga Chychykalo was in charge of the meeting’s preparation and the key-note speaker. American volunteer Mr. Jason joined us and had a pleasant time talking to FLEX alumni.
 

The full-day agenda of the meeting allowed the FLEX alumni to make new friends, to exchange ideas and reminiscences about the USA student exchange program.
The networking of the FLEX alumni in two neighboring oblasts will be very beneficial for promotion of volunteering projects that the young people will initiate in their respective towns and Universities.
Moreover, we've talked about opportunities for youth in Ukraine and therefore, had a charming guest from youth organization AIESEC.
Number of participants – 17 persons.
 

Presentation of programs

Study in the USA and other...

Lilia shared her experience

This Saturday the WOA’s ("Window on America" (Dnipropetrovsk / Ukraine) English-speaking Club GABFEST welcomed FLEX graduate Lilia Donets.
Lilia told the group about the aim of the FLEX program for students and the procedures for enrolment. Future Leaders Exchange Program (FLEX) is a cultural exchange program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State and administered in Ukraine by American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS (American Councils) and supported by the Ministry of Education and Science, Youth and Sports of Ukraine. The program provides Ukrainian students with an opportunity to study in a US high school and live in an American host family for one academic year.
 

Lilia shared her experience of living in the American family in Alabama, studying in the American high school, travelling around the southern states, celebrating holidays and having fun American style.
A fun fact about Alabama football team “Crimson Tide”. The fans wear Fedora hats with hound’s-tooth pattern.  First, it symbolizes Paul Bryant - a man and a coach whose leadership abilities are unmatched. Second, it stands for all the Tide athletes who have had the privilege of representing for the Tide in competition. And third, it is a bond between fans and generations; a reminder of what is expected of all of us each and every day.
Each Gabfest Club member had a task- to ask Lilia 3 questions about her stay in the USA. The most interesting questions ranged in the topic of her study:  subjects selection at school, teaching methods  at school, choice of food in the school canteen, etc.
After Lilia’s presentation the interested cub members asked her even more questions about her stay in Alabama.

Easter Celebration in the USA

Today’s session of the Gabfest English speaking Club at the "Window on America" Dnipropetrovsk started with an influx of new-comers. The most numerous was a group of senior high school students from the Pidhorodne suburb of Dnipropetrovsk. Their teacher brought the group prior to the beginning of the Club session in order to introduce the student to the FLEX exchange program. Several videos gave the students an insight into the process of candidates selection and other formalities for the program participants.
 

The official topic of the session was “Easter Celebration in the USA”. The group was offered several You Tube videos about the Easter story. The videos introduced the basic vocabulary to the topic and enabled the group to support a conversation about Easter in English. The most impressive was the video about the Holy Sepulcher as it visualized a lot of important historical details.
The video about the traditional celebration of Easter in the USA presented the popular kids’ games – Easter egg hunt and Easter egg roll – that were new to the group. We talked about the differences in Easter celebration in Catholic and Orthodox denominations. The Club members shared their plans for Easter weekend.
In spite of the complicated topic the group enjoyed the conversation and the new information received at the session.
Number of participants – 25 persons.

Discover USA: Washington D.C.

Within the frame work of the “Discover USA” project Window on America Dnipropetrovsk arranged a session for the students from the school No. 4 in the city suburb Pidhorodne.
We decided to start the presentation of the WOA Center with a slide show about the city of Washington – 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 students had to read and translate the text on the slides and comment the images on the slides. The focus of the presentation this time was on the architecture of the buildings and the interiors of the world-known sites – the White House, the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court building, etc.
 

The second half of the session was a presentation about the FLEX school students exchange program by the WOA volunteer Hanna Akastelova. Hanna shared her experience of living and studying in the USA for an academic year. She also told the group about the process of enrolling into the FLEX program.
The teacher and the students were impressed by the visit and will be happy to cooperate with the WOA Center in the future.
Participants number – 11persons.

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FLEX Alumni Conference

Dnipropetrovsk alumni conference meeting took place at Window on America center. 
Alumni of the FLEX exchange program have discussed the future projects plan and were motivated to make a positive change in their community.
Participants number – 9 persons.

FLEX volunteers

Today Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, was visited by a group of Ukrainian students who have just returned from the USA. 2 girls and a boy are the graduates of the FLEX exchange program. On return from the USA they were invited by Dasha Gerasimova (the regional FLEX representative in Dnipropetrovsk city) to meet the WOA Center.
Together with the WOA’s Head Svitlana Usenko the new-comers planned and discussed the objectives of cooperation with the FLEX graduates. The most important project that awaits FLEX volunteers is the popular American TEEN Club.

Vocabulary, games, Steve Jobs, iPad

Today’s session of the American Teen Club with FLEX alumni (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was moderated by Club’s moderator Dasha and Club’s activist Maria.
To start the ball rolling Dasha introduced some vocabulary activity – the group studied the rows of synonymous adjectives in an interactive language puzzle.
For the official topic Maria prepared a complicated material.  As a future IT specialist she decided to introduce the basics of programming to the ATC club members. To make the difficult thing more understandable Maria used the example of “Angry Birds”. It showed to teach the group how programming language (C+++) can be studied.
 

The highlight of the session was a video of Steve Jobs speech at Stanford University. While translating the interview the group learned a lot of interesting facts about his background and the hardships of his green years.
Number of participants - 8 persons.

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Christmas is coming!

Meets at the informational-resourses center "Window on America" of an "American Teen Club" continues! 
The volunteers are two Alumni of the FLEX(Future Leader's Exchange), Dasha Gerasimova and Anna Akastyelova. The recent one's meet theme was: Winter already came-getting ready for Christmas!
 Moderators introduces some English idioms and phrases related to this thematic such as:
black ice - небезпека у справах
whiteout - стати невидимим
pure as the driven snow - невинний
put something on ice – перечекати
snowedunder– засипало, навалилося
Club member have played a visuality-developing game and performed with a small skits. The first one was a decorating of a Christmas tree, and the second one was a harder one to guess- skit about a "Сhristmas Eve".

There also was a new game intoduced, known as a one of the favourites in America, "Scrabble": create your words, count your letters,cross your findings.
After this game attention of the members was all on the quiz-board game "Christmas tasks", where in order to move on the game's board you have to show your knowledge and use a lexical baggage. The winner was Sveta and she was awarded with a candy-case of an American president.
At the end of the games, team members followed the vital winter activity- drinking hot tea when it is cold outside.

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Mr. Geoffrey Pyatt

This Wednesday WOA Dnipropetrovsk hosted a round-table discussion of the US Ambassador in Ukraine Mr. Geoffrey Pyatt and Ukrainian participants of different exchange programs between the USA and Ukraine.  
The Ukrainian participants of the meeting represented programs for different age groups and society strata: from “FLEX” for high school students to “Open World” program for professional adults.
After brief introductions the US Ambassador asked the participants to share their opinion on the current economic situation in Ukraine, the association with EU and cooperation with Russia, etc. The participants expressed their concerns and expectations. The Ambassador   emphasized that US wants to see a prosperous Ukraine, it made big investments in Ukraine to promote deeper connectivity with the democratic world.
Some current Ukrainian political issues were also touched upon and many participants expressed their opinion about them. The discussion drifted into the direction of sport s; the audience talked about sport stars and their impact in politics in Ukraine and similar cases in the world. All the participants agreed that only a really democratic leader will be able to change the situation in the Ukrainian politics. To wrap up the discussion the Ambassador urged the participants to be in touch with the Embassy through social networks.
A group photo with the Ambassador Pyatt will be a wonderful memory for all the participants of the discussion.
The after-meeting tea ceremony allowed the participants to build networks with alumni in Dnipropetrovsk and plan common events for the future. Some participants promised to volunteer at the Window on America center and the DOUNB Library.
Number of participants 21 persons (17 Ukrainians + 4 Embassy guests)

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