Showing posts with label Movie Club. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movie Club. Show all posts

17 April, 2018

Dnipro WOA in April

on April, 16 – Like or dislike.
The young visitors once again excited the DOUNB library's silence. A regular training session for younger schoolchildren (“Grass-Hoppers” Club) took place at “Window on America” Center.
WOA’s volunteer Anna Motorina told members of Club about “The Positive and the Negative statements”.
Number of participants – 6 children.

On 17 April – “Activate English!” Group’s Graduation.
This afternoon the Activate English group had the final lesson. A pleasant surprise was the big number of students who have made it to the end of the course.
The group was introduced to the phrases and vocabulary for international travelers.
They practiced the topics “At the Airport” and “In the Airplane”. The phrases for customs and immigration formalities were very useful for the learners.
In the second part of the lecture the “Activate English” students faced a challenge – a visit of the US volunteer with fluent English. Our guest Ms. Tamara added information about border crossing peculiarities in the USA.
The course was based on the materials from the textbook published by McMillan Language House and focused on the conversational practice for intermediate and advanced level learners of English.
During 10 educational sessions the students practiced popular conversational topics, studied new vocabulary and grammatical structures, learned about the basic etiquette of the English-speaking countries, mastered the skills of “small talk”.
The most diligent participants of the Activate English group received WOA’s Certificates of Attendance.
Well done, guys! You are welcome at all WOA’s events!
Number of participants – 40 persons.

18 April – «Wednesday Movie Club» / «Кіноклуб по середах» – The Object of My Affection.
On April, 18 – «Wednesday Movie Club» in DniproWOA offered the big screening of the film “The Object of My Affection”. The film is directed by Nicholas Hytner, and the screenplay was written by Wendy Wasserstein.
The Object of My Affection is a 1998 American romantic comedy-drama film, adapted from the novel of the same name by Stephen McCauley, and starring Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd. The story concerns a pregnant New York social worker who develops romantic feelings for her gay best friend and decides to raise her child with him, and the complications that ensue.
The film was filmed in 1997 in various locations around New York City, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
The warm discussion followed the film watching and touched the different aspects of the film: the actors’ playing, the director’s work, the soundtracks and the lifestyles of the fiction heroes. 
Number of participants – 9.

on April, 19 – We love different books.
The young visitors once again excited the DOUNB library's silence. A regular training session for younger schoolchildren (“Grasshoppers” Club) took place at “Window on America” Center with WOA’s volunteer Anna Motorina.
Children enjoyed reading, translating, dancing and joined in singing songs.
Number of participants – 7 children.

on April, 19 – English for beginners.
A new mini project has been launched in Window on America center in Dnipro. Volunteer Anna Motorina generously shared her knowledge with the club members attended the club today. She taught them to read complex English sounds as diphthongs and triphthongs and gave recommendations on using interesting online-resources for practicing pronunciation.
So we focused on reading rules for the vowels and consonants. The group was excited and inspired to continue to work on pronunciation of English sounds and improving English in general.
Number of participants – 5 persons.

on April, 21 – Earth Day 2018 – End Plastic Pollution.
This afternoon the Gabfest Club session (Window on America center, Dnipro, Ukraine) was dedicated to the global ecology issues. Earth Day 2018 is dedicated to providing the information and inspiration needed to fundamentally change human attitude and behavior about plastics.
We started with the introductions of   environmental vocabulary and discussion of recycling posters.
The second step was to review the solutions for plastic pollution – limitation of unnecessary packaging, plastic usage in road building and bricks manufacture, avoiding disposable cutlery and containers, etc. The group was impressed with the news about the discovery of an enzyme that degrades plastic and may help to solve the problem. The topic was illustrated with the You Tube videos.
The session’s highlight was the presence of our US volunteer Mrs. Tamara. She made lots of insider’s comments about recycling practices in the USA.
Participants number – 28 persons.

on April, 21 – Everyday life in the USA: Round-table communication at WOA Dnipro.

This afternoon the Gabfest Club members (Window on America center, Dnipro, Ukraine) had a round-table communication with WOA’s volunteer Ms. Tamara. She is always open to communication with the Ukrainian learners of English. She tells them a lot of interesting things about life in the USA.
Participants number – 13 persons.

April 22 –  International students at WOA Dnipro.
This afternoon the WOA Dnipro facilitated the event of its long-time partner – the international student organization AISEC.
The AISEC meeting was dedicated to the volunteering opportunities abroad for AISEC members. A Medical Academy international student from Egypt made a presentation about the projects available in Europe and the opportunities to practice different skills.
Another AISEC member presented the opportunity to host an incoming foreign volunteer in Ukraine and to benefit from intensive cross-cultural communication.
Approaching summer holidays are a wonderful opportunity for international experience for all learners of English.
Participants number – 8 persons.

on April, 23 – Meet the Robinsons.
The young visitors once again excited the DOUNB library's silence. A regular training session for younger schoolchildren (“Grasshoppers” Club) took place at “Window on America” Center with WOA’s volunteer Anna Motorina.
Children enjoyed watching American computer-animated science fiction comedy film Meet the Robinsons (2007).
Number of participants – 7 children.

on April, 24 – Natale-di-Roma.
Number of participants – 12 persons.

on April, 25-  «Homeland in Exile».
The "Window on America" center presents to the patrons a poster-display «Homeland in Exile».
Number of viewers – 45.

25 April – «Wednesday Movie Club» / «Кіноклуб по середах» – The Truman Show.
Wednesday Movie Club” at Window on America center Dnipro (Ukraine) the film The Truman Show was presented to all who wish to improve their language skills.
The Truman Show is a 1998 American satirical science fiction film directed by Peter Weir.
The warm discussion followed the film watching and touched the different aspects of the film: the actors’ playing, the director’s work, the soundtracks and the lifestyles of the fiction heroes.  

Marina, moderator: It was an honor and pleasure to moderate discussion of the movie this time. I had a pleasure to discuss it with the members, who have different levels of English. I tried to activate them - I asked them questions, tried to motivate them to share their opinion with everyone, shared my opinion with them. I can sincerely say that everyone loved it – I can hardly say what club members like most – watch the movie or discuss it. Anyway we did both and enjoyed it. We remembered many moments in the Truman show, and we identified the main idea of this movie – continue to do what you do, don’t stop; don’t give up, no matter what. Especially wonderful thought was that actually the main character was led by his love to go to the real world. By moderating I wanted to make them think English, and see what it’s like to be fluent in English. I wanted to inspire them to keep coming to the club to improve public speaking skills, as this was my first time moderating, I hope I succeeded in it in a way, and I’m feeling happy that Truman Show helped me in it.  
Number of participants – 17.

on April, 26 – Volunteering Thursday.
Young and adult DOUNB library patrons can  learn  some  English  with  the volunteer Anna Motorina.
 IT specialist Oleksiy Izmalkov practiced conversational English with the junior students who are members of the WOA’s “Grasshoppers” Club. He told them about the benefits and dangers of computer games that are loved by many kids.
With “Window to America” Center’s adult patrons Anna drilled some phonetics and started to introduce the basics of English grammar. The adult learners found a minute to play a popular board game with words - "Scrabble". It is very popular in English-speaking countries.
Number of participants – 10.
 
on April, 28 – Intellectual Property Day at WOA Dnipro.
This afternoon the Gabfest Club members (Window on America center, Dnipro, Ukraine)  got together to discuss the basics of the intellectual property.
This year our World Intellectual Property Day theme is “Powering change: Women in innovation and creativity.” The group started with a conversation about talented women creators who come from Dnipro region. Among the globally known accomplishments were the theosophy theory by Olena Blavatsky and decorative painting by Petrykivka village women.
The group was familiarized with the terms “trademark”, “patent” and “copyright”. The difference between these notions was explained and illustrated with relevant YouTube videos. The misleading term “copywriting” was also introduced and explained.
Participants number – 25 persons.

on April, 28 – Speed English: Intellectual property.

This afternoon the Gabfest Club members (Window on America center, Dnipro, Ukraine) had a Speed English session devoted to the World Intellectual Property Day.
The topic for the speaking activity was quite complicated – “Intellectual property”. The groups had to discuss the topic of intellectual piracy, its spread in the world, its consequences for the property owners.
Participants number – 25 persons.

on April, 28 – La bellissima città di Roma
 

24 January, 2018

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

“Wednesday Movie Club” at Window on America center Dnipro (Ukraine) the film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was presented to all who wish to improve their language skills.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a 1998 American black comedy road film adapted from Hunter S. Thompson's novel of the same name. It was co-written and directed by Terry Gilliam, starring Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke and Benicio del Toro as Dr. Gonzo. The two embark on an initially assigned journey with journalistic purpose which turns out to be an exploration of the Las Vegas setting under the effect of psychoactive substances.
Though a critical and financial failure, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas has since become a cult film due in large part to its release on DVD, including a Special Edition released by The Criterion Collection.
WOA’s patrons enjoyed the film and the discussion that followed.
Number of participants – 11.
 Have a look at more pictures, please


17 January, 2018

The Truman Show

“Wednesday Movie Club” at Window on America center Dnipro (Ukraine) the film The Truman Show was presented to all who wish to improve their language skills.
The Truman Show is a 1998 American satirical science fiction film directed by Peter Weir.
The film stars Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank, adopted and raised by a corporation inside a simulated television show revolving around his life, until he discovers it and decides to escape.
The film was a financial success, debuting to critical acclaim, and earned numerous nominations at the 71st Academy Awards, 56th Golden Globe Awards, 52nd British Academy Film Awards and The Saturn Awards. The Truman Show has been analyzed as a thesis on Christianity, metaphilosophy, simulated reality, existentialism and reality television.
WOA’s patrons enjoyed the film and the discussion that followed.


 Have a look at more pictures, please

 

10 January, 2018

Arthur

“Wednesday Movie Club” at Window on America center Dnipro (Ukraine) the film Arthur was presented to all who wish to improve their language skills.
Arthur is a 2011 American romantic comedy film written by Peter Baynham and directed by Jason Winer. It is a remake of the 1981 film of the same name written and directed by Steve Gordon. It stars Russell Brand in the title role, with Helen Mirren, Jennifer Garner, Greta Gerwig, and Nick Nolte in supporting roles.
Plot: A drunken playboy stands to lose a wealthy inheritance when he falls for a woman his family doesn't like.
WOA’s patrons enjoyed the film and the discussion that followed.

 Have a look at more pictures, please


03 January, 2018

River of No Return

“Wednesday Movie Club” at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine the film River of No Return (1954) was presented to all who wish to improve their language skills.
River of No Return is a 1954 American Western film directed by Otto Preminger and starring Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe. The screenplay by Frank Fenton is based on a story by Louis Lantz, who borrowed his premise from the 1948 Italian film The Bicycle Thief. It was made in Technicolor and CinemaScope and released by 20th Century Fox.
Plot: The title river unites a farmer recently released from prison, his young son, and an ambitious saloon singer. In order to survive, each must be purged of anger, and each must learn to understand and care for the others.
WOA’s patrons enjoyed the film and the discussion that followed.
Number of participants – 14.



 

17 May, 2017

Down with Love

This evening the WOA Dnipro's Movie club has big-screened a film "Down with Love".
"Down with Love" is a 2003 romantic comedy film. Director – Peyton Reed. Starring: Renée Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, Sarah Paulson and David Hyde Pierce.
The film tells about a woman who advocates female independence in combat with the patriarchal, even male chauvinist society of the 1950s and early 1960s.

 

03 May, 2017

For a Few Dollars More

“Wednesday Movie Club” at Window on America center Dnipro, Ukraine had watched a spaghetti western film For a Few Dollars More.
For a Few Dollars More (Italian: Per qualche dollaro in più) is a 1965 Italian-Spanish spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Gian Maria Volontè. German actor Klaus Kinski also plays a supporting role as a secondary villain. The film was released in the United States in 1967, and is the second part of what is commonly known as the Dollars Trilogy, following A Fistful of Dollars and preceding The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. These three films catapulted Eastwood into stardom.
Film historian Richard Schickel, in his biography of Clint Eastwood, believed that this was the best film in the trilogy, arguing that it was "more elegant and complex than A Fistful of Dollars and more tense and compressed than The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." Director Alex Cox considered the church scene to be "the most horrible deaths" of any Western, describing Volontè's Indio as the "most diabolical Western villain of all time."
WOA’s patrons enjoyed the film and the discussion that followed.
Number of participants – 7 persons.




15 March, 2017

The Book Thief at Wednesday Movie Club

The members of “Wednesday Movie Club” at Window on America center Dnipro, Ukraine had watched The Book Thief. Film based on the novel by the same name. The Book Thief is a 2013 American drama. Director: Brian Percival. Writers: Markus Zusak (based on the novel by), Michael Petroni (screenplay). Stars: Sophie Nélisse, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson
Plot: While subjected to the horrors of World War II Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. In the basement of her home, a Jewish refugee is being protected by her adoptive parents.
Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.
The film features a musical score by Oscar-winning composer John Williams.
WOA’s patrons enjoyed the film and the discussion that followed.
Number of participants – 18 persons.

Have a look at more pictures, please

 

08 February, 2017

Tortilla Soup

Tonight we, members of the Wednesday Movie club (Dnipro Window on America center, Ukraine) had some newcomers, so we watched Tortilla Soup (2001) as the light romantic comedy and drama movie directed by Maria Ripoll to enjoy and for the newcomers to inspire to come again to improve their English. This movie impressed us in many ways, as there was everything to make us feel tension and happiness, so we can hardly say what we enjoyed more – watching the movie or discussing it, because all the events in the movie developed very quickly and in such unexpected way, that no one left untouched.
WOA’s patrons enjoyed the film and the discussion that followed.
Participants number – 19 persons.
#DniproWOA #Rust #WednesdayMovieClub
Have a look at more pictures, please

 

01 February, 2017

The Jilting of Granny Weatherall

“Wednesday Movie Club” at Window on America center Dnipro, Ukraine had watched American Short Story Collection: The Jilting of Granny Weatherall (1980).
Adapted from the short story by acclaimed writer Katherine Anne Porter (Ship of Fools), THE JILTING OF GRANNY WEATHERALL reminds us of the plight of many women who wait for life to claim them, rather than seek life out for themselves.
WOA’s patrons enjoyed the film and the discussion that followed.
Number of participants – 8 persons.

 
 

21 December, 2016

Mystic River

Tonight we, the Wednesday Movie Club members (Window on America center in Dnipro, Ukraine), had an honor to enjoy the movie with movie stars like Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, and Laura Linney.
Mystic River is a 2003 American mystery drama film directed and scored by Clint Eastwood. The screenplay by Brian Helgeland was based on the novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane. The film was produced by Robert Lorenz, Judie G. Hoyt and Eastwood. It is the first film on which Eastwood was credited as composer of the score.
 

The film opened to widespread critical acclaim. It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Supporting Actor. Sean Penn won Best Actor and Tim Robbins won Best Supporting Actor, making Mystic River the first film to win both awards since Ben-Hur in 1959.
Plot: With a childhood tragedy that overshadowed their lives, three men are reunited by circumstance when one has a family tragedy.
WOA’s patrons enjoyed the film and the discussion that followed.
Participants number – 9 persons.

Have a look at more pictures, please

14 December, 2016

The Wronged Man at Wednesday Movie Club in Dnipro WOA

Tonight we, members of the Wednesday Movie Club, were proud to have watched “The Wronged Man”, a 2009 American drama film starring Julia Ormond.
The film, which was directed by Tom McLoughlin, is a drama story about a paralegal fights a 22-year battle with the legal system to prove the innocence of an African-American family man (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali) convicted of assaulting a neighborhood girl in a small Southern town. Based on a true story.
WOA’s patrons enjoyed the film and the discussion that followed.
Participants number – 11  persons.
#WeekOfEnglish  #TheWrongedMan #WednesdayMovieClub #DniproWOA

Have a look at more pictures, please 

07 December, 2016

Wednesday Movie Club: Love Actually

Tonight we, the Wednesday Movie Club members (Dnipro Window on America center, Ukraine) proudly enjoyed watching an amazing Xmas comedy-romance film.
"Love Actually" is a film that features an exceptional mega cast of top British actors. It follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely and interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England. The United States release was on 14 November 2003, but received mixed-to-positive reviews. The film was a box-office success, grossing almost $247 million worldwide on a budget of $45 million.
Directed by: Richard Curtis
Starring: Hugh Grant, Bill Nighy, Keira Knightley, Andrew Lincoln, Martine McCutcheon, Sienna Guillory, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth.
It was really amazing to see eight Xmas love stories in London! WOA’s patrons enjoyed the film and the discussion that followed.
Participants number – 15 persons.
#DniproWOA #LoveActually #WednesdayMovieClub
Have a look at more pictures, please