Conversation about Kobzar with DNMetAU students

03/20/2014 - To the 200th anniversary of Taras Shevchenko's birth

«Ira Aldridge  - Kobzar’s American Friend» for students NMetAU

 
 “Kobzar’s American Friend” presentation for Translation Students
The WOA  Centre was visited by a group of the 2nd year students from the National Metallurgical Academy; the students’ major is “Technical Translation”.
The WOA’s Head Svitlana Usenko introduced the WOA centre and its resources to the students. The WOA staff member Tamara Gavryliuk created a slide show “ Kobzar’s American Friend”.
Prior to the slide show the group discussed the role of Shevchenko in the Ukrainian culture and his importance for the Ukrainian nation.
The PP presentation reminded the students about facts of Shevchenko’s biography with the focus on his painting talent, introduced new vocabulary and art terms. The presentation highlighted the fact of Shevchenko’s acquaintance and friendship with an outstanding African-American Shakespearian actor – Ira Aldridge .The students’ attention was drawn to Ira Aldridge’s portrait by Shevchenko. They read and rendered into English the memoirs of the person who witnessed their friendship.
The 200th Shevchenko’s anniversary is widely celebrated in Ukraine and the information about his friendship with the outstanding American actor has both cultural and educational value.
Number of participants – 6.

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America’s Day at school No. 28

America’s Day at school No. 28 - “Kobzar’s American Friend” presentation
Dnipropetrovsk school No.28 is a specialized school with the focus on foreign languages study (English). The school is located quite far from the DOUNB Library, but it does not hinder its close ties with WOA Dnipropetrovsk; we have been partners for a long time.
The WOA staff was invited to participate in the Foreign Languages Week at school on a day dedicated to the American English.
The WOA’s Head Svitlana Usenko introduced the WOA centre and its resources to the school children and teachers. She demonstrated to the group the authentic maps of the USA available at the WOA Centre – the political and geographical ones. She also briefed the student on her visit to the USA through the “Open World” Exchange program.
The WOA staff member Tamara Gavryliuk created a slide show “Kobzar’s American Friend”.
 
The PP presentation reminded the students about facts of Shevchenko’s biography with the focus on his painting talent, introduced new vocabulary and art terms. The presentation highlighted the fact of Shevchenko’s acquaintance and friendship with an outstanding African-American Shakespearian actor – Ira Aldridge .The students’ attention was drawn to Ira Aldridge’s portrait by Shevchenko. They read and rendered into English the memoirs of the person who witnessed their friendship.
The 200th Shevchenko’s anniversary is widely celebrated in Ukraine and the information about his friendship with the outstanding American actor has cultural and educational value.
Number of participants – 75 persons.
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WOA’s Presentation at High school No. 141

Kobzar’s Days at the specialized school No.141 continued this week. The WOA staff was invited to make a presentation in English for a big group of students.
The WOA Director S. Usenko presented the DOUNB Library and the resources of the WOA centre.
The WOA Staff member Tamara Gavryliuk prepared a slide show “Kobzar’s Testament Riddle”. 
We had a fresh look on Shevchenko’s poem “My Testament”. A local historian D. Synytsia analyzed the text of the poem and suggested a new hypothesis. According to this hypothesis the poet wanted to be buried on a Scythian mound in Dnipropetrovsk region. The slides illustrated the facts that support D.Synytsia’s  view. The students recollected the facts about Shevchenko’s memory in Dnipropetrovsk city and oblast’.
The fresh look on the famous poem impressed both the students and teachers. The school head thanked the WOA Staff for the educational presentation and expressed hope for the further cooperation in the future.
Number of participants – 118 persons.

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Partnership is not challenged by Distance

Dnipropetrovsk school No.141 is a specialized school with the focus on foreign languages study (English and German).The fact that the school is located quite far from the DOUNB Library (in the “Parus” residential  area – the western city suburb ) does not hinder its close ties with WOA Dnipropetrovsk;  we  have been partners for a long time.
For the 200th anniversary of Taras Shevchenko, the iconic Ukrainian poet and a talented painter, the WOA centre provided the school teachers with the educational material in English. The WOA staff member Tamara Gavryliuk created a slide show “Kobzar’s American Friend”.
 The PP presentation reminded the students about facts of Shevchenko’s biography with the focus on his painting talent, introduced new vocabulary and art terms. The presentation highlighted the fact of Shevchenko’s acquaintance and friendship with an outstanding African-American Shakespearian actor – Ira Aldridge.The students’ attention was drawn to Ira Aldridge’s portrait by Shevchenko. They read and rendered into English the memoirs of the person who witnessed their friendship.
The WOA’s presentation was demonstrated by the teachers of English to 216 persons (203 students, 13 teachers).

Friendly Visit

To the 200th anniversary of Taras Shevchenko's birth
«Ira Aldridge  - Kobzar’s American Friend» for school students. 

On March, 7 the staff of Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine) were invited to school #39. Our long time partner, the English language teacher Victoria Platonova invited Svitlana Usenko to talk about Taras Shevchenko’s biography facts.
She conducted 2 lessons for the students of various ages (approx. 30 students, 7 grades). Svitlana Usenko informed the students and their teachers about the books and resources of the Oblast Scientific Library named after the Slavic apostles Cyril and Methodius.
All the participants of the event were acquainted with the "Window on America" Center. The Center will be useful to all English language learners.
Svitlana Usenko offered to the following interactive presentations with vocabulary tasks were offered to the attention of the students.

The following activities were offered to the attention of the students:
•    Slide show «Ira Aldridge  - Kobzar’s American Friend»
•    Slide show “Kobzar’s Testament Riddle”
The presentations were both educational (enriched vocabulary) and enjoyable .
Number of participants – 30 (teacher of English – 1, pupils – 28, librarian – 1).

One Book Display

To commemorate Taras Shevchenko’s 200th Anniversary the WOA Dnipropetrovsk presented a bilingual edition (in Ukrainian and English): “Taras Shevchenko. Selected poems. Paintings. Graphic Works” by “Mystetstvo” Publishers (Kyiv, 2007) – 608 p.

Shevchenko’s poetry and paintings has long been the world culture heritage. His poems are translated into many languages, but most of all – into Russian, English, German, Hungarian, Belarusian, Spanish.

The displayed edition presents the English translations by Ms. Vera Rich.

Vera Rich (1936–2009) was a British poet, journalist, historian, and translator from Belarusian and Ukrainian. Her translations of Taras Shevchenko’s works were commissioned for the century of his death (1961) and received excellent reviews, both in the West and in the Soviet Ukraine. For this work, Vera Rich was awarded an Honorary Diploma in Shevchenko Studies by the Ukrainian Free Academy of Sciences.

The poetry is illustrated with reproductions of the best paintings and graphic works. They successfully reveal the diversity of Taras Shevchenko’s talent – both poetic and artistic.
In the preface to the edition academician Ivan Dziuba (National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine ) describes the main stages of Shevchenko’s life and career .The preface allows the foreign readers to understand why the poet received from the Ukrainian nation the title “Kobzar” – a bard, a professional poet in Ukrainian. His original book of poems with the same title became a bestseller soon after publishing.

Gabfest Club meets Kobzar

Today’s session of the Gabfest Club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was dedicated to the up-coming Taras Shevchenko’s 200th anniversary.  We were lucky to have American guests for this session – Mrs. Linda and Mr. Joseph.
The group had a chance to explain important details of Shevchenko’s art and poetry to the foreigners. The slide show about Shevchenko’s friendship with an American actor Ira Aldridge  was the highlight of the session. This unknown fact impressed both the group and the American visitors.
 The Club’s activists prepared recitals of Shevchenko’s poems - both in the original and in the professional translation into English. The foreign guests appreciated the efforts to present the poems in English.
 
The group was familiarized with a slide presentation “Kobzar’s Testament Riddle” that offered a new approach to the background of the classical poem “My Testament”. The local historian D. Synytsia analyzed the text of the poem and suggested his own interpreting of the facts. According to the researcher Shevchenko wanted to be buried in the vicinity of the modern Dnipropetrovsk city. In the slide show we took a fresh look at the poem’s text and found confirmation to D. Synytsia’s hypothesis. The new facts from Kobzar’s biography impressed the group. The group was thrilled by the Testament’s riddle that caused so much confusion and deprived the city of the nationwide Shevchenko Memorial.
To wrap up the session the group had an opportunity to ask questions to the guests about their background, their home states and impressions about Ukraine.
Number of participants – 24.
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