US Presidential inauguration 2017

This Saturday the Gabfest Club members (Window on America center in Dnipro, Ukraine) had a big group of foreign guests – a guest from the UK Mr. Armando and our loyal volunteers Mr. Jason and Mr. Stephen.
The guest from the UK told the group about his home region in Northern England and shared his methods of studying English. Mr. Armando is an Italian national, but he has a permanent residency in the UK. His tips for self-tuition – listening to English-speaking radio and investing in a good dictionary – were appreciated by the club members.
To warm up the group we decided to tell about the winter holiday season in Ukraine. The club members had to explain the traditional celebration of Theophany in Ukrainian Orthodox church. The faithful club members shared their experience of submersion into ice-cold water.

The official topic of the session was “US presidential inauguration 2017”. The group was offered the images and videos of the President D.Trump and his inauguration ceremony. The group and the volunteers discussed the slogan of Donald Trump’s election campaign and his attitude towards the “Swiss cheese” border.
To wrap up the session the new – comers had a short Q&A activity with the foreign guests.
Moderator: T. Gavryliyuk
Pictures: S. Usenko
Participants –  45 persons.

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Symbolic Aspects of Inauguration

Today’s session of the GABFEST speaking club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) started with the introduction of the new book display - about the American presidents. The numerous books presented to the club members aroused a lot of interest. The WOA collection features books on many aspects of American presidency – from the speeches of the US presidents to the first ladies’ backgrounds, from the statistics on elections to the interiors of the White House.
The session was dedicated to the President’s Day holiday in the USA. We decided to start with reading an article from the official US State department about the Symbolic Aspects of Inauguration.
The Inauguration of the President of the United States consists of several interesting events:
- the oath-taking,
- the partying   with a parade and a concert
 -the Inaugural Address to the nation.
After determining the main stages of the event we have watched a New York Times video of the second inauguration of President Obama. The audience was asked to watch the video attentively and share their observations afterwards. We had some fun sharing the impressions.The next activity was reading and translation of an article about the Presidential foods. We have learned a lot of fun facts about the likes and dislikes of famous Presidents and learned many idiomatic phrases.
Once the official part was over the club members spent a lot of time in a conversation about the American presidents. This informal communication was very enjoyable.

The number of participants – 24 persons.

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