Presidents’ Day and Winter Carnivals

This afternoon the Gabfest Club members (Dnipro Window on America center) observed the holidays of the last winter week.
The President’s Day is a public holiday in the USA. To refresh the curious facts about the US Presidents we have researched the topic of Presidential portraits on the US currency – both notes and coins. The group has learned the new vocabulary - penny, nickel, dime, quarter or half dollar. Our US volunteer Mr. Jason illustrated the topic with the demonstration of the 100 US$ note with the portrait of Mr. Benjamin Franklin. He was not a President, but one of the Founding Fathers of the American state. The group enjoyed a quiz “Presidents on Money” – the hints in the quiz told fun facts about each President. The highlight of this part was a video about President Andrew Jackson (the portrait from 20 US $ banknote) and the duel in which he was wounded.
In the second part of the session we talked about winter carnivals and their symbolism. The most popular carnival in the USA was mentioned - Mardi Gras in New Orleans. The Mardi Gras color scheme for year 2017 was introduced and its symbolism explained.

Our American guests Mr. Cole and Mr. Jason were interested in the stories of the club members in which they explained the winter carnival tradition in Ukraine - the so-called “Kolodiy”. The American volunteers were fascinated with the tradition of eating of cottage cheese dumplings, washing them down with a honey drink, punishing single guys and girls for not finding a fiancé before Lent. The illustrative video of the TSN channel enlightened the group on the symbolism of the local folk tradition.
Participant number – 57 persons.

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President’s Day in the USA - 2014

Today’s session of the Gabfest Club Club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was dedicated to the celebration of the “President’s Day” in the USA.
The group was offered several You Tube videos that reminded them the names of all the US Presidents and their main achievements. The format of this “White House History” video (a funny song ) was enjoyed by all the present club members. We have learned about a book project “Living in the White House” and discovered some unknown to us facts about the events in this symbolic building. The video of the news corporation explained to us why the celebration of the President’s Day is important for the American Nation. The interview of the White House Chef  revealed some interesting facts about the life of the acting US President and his family.
 

The Club had a surprise visit from an English-speaking foreigner. Ms. Maud is a French lecturer working in Dnipropetrovsk. She lived in the USA for 2 years and shared with us her experiences. The group asked her numerous questions about her English language skills and travelling in the USA.
The session was educational and boosted the club members’ motivation to study English.
Number of participants – 25 persons.

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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American presidents

The Window on America center in Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine) presented 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.
Have a look at more pictures, please 

President’s Day

Today’s session at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk started with the introduction of the new equipment received by the WOA – iPad and multi-media projector with numerous features. The WOA director played a documentary about the USA from the iPad and demonstrated to the Club members the functions of the new gadgets.
 

The official part of the session was dedicated to the President’s Day holiday in the USA. We decided to start the discussion with a slide show about the city of Washington – the capital of the USA.  The club members who have been to Washington city (Valentina and Svitlana) felt rather nostalgic and missed the positive emotions of their trips to the USA.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. Our American friend Mr. Battilega was kind enough to explain a lot of difficult expressions and terms during the session. 
To memorize the names of the USA presidents we offered a search word puzzle to the club members. They have formed teams and tried to complete the puzzle in 10 minutes. The best score was 17 out of 43 names.
Yana’s team managed to complete a more complicated puzzle in 10 minutes – a “Celebrate USA” Sudoku. 
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.
Once the official part was over the club members spent a lot of time in a conversation with Mr. Battilega who volunteers a lot at the WOA Dnipropetrovsk. The informal communication was enjoyed by all the participants.
The number of visitors – 25 persons.

Have a look at more pictures, please