Cold Winter May Be Fun!

Information and Resource Center "Window on America" (Dnipro Ukraine) prepared for students of school № 141 an educational and entertainment presentation «Winter in our city».
WOA’s Head Svetlana Usenko and the WOA’s volunteer Sergiy Barabash demonstrated to the children how one can have fun and study English in winter, even when the winter holidays are over.
For two lessons the students watched a slide show and entertaining videos. They have learned many new words for the topic “Winter”, drilled the new words, actively answered the questions. The sessions were interactive as the students were not afraid to use the microphone while answering questions. The students enjoyed the videos about birds and animals that live in the Arctic. The kids were offered to sing along English songs about winter and they did it with pleasure.
The WOA’s visit took place a few days before the Valentine's Day. The children greeted the WOA representatives with warm wishes and Valentine cards! The WOA’s volunteer Sergiy received the biggest number of Valentine cards!
Participants number – 142 persons.

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Winter Active Special

American Teen Club – «Winter Active Special»
Today’s session of the TEEN CLUB session (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was moderated by the WOA’s staff member Tamara Gavryliuk. The majority of the teenagers were new to the club. The introduction ritual was offered and the girls gladly introduced themselves. They all have beginner’s level and need to improve their skills. During the introductions we learned that some girls live close to the WOA center, some had to commute a long way from the other side of the river Dnipro. They all have pets and have hobbies: sports, art, literature, dances.
The second part of the session was dedicated to the introduction of the new vocabulary – winter sports and fun activities. The girls were offered a slide show with illustrated words.
The pleasant surprise to all of them was the arrival of the WOA’s native-speaking guest – Mr. Paul from the UK. The teenagers had a chance to hear two variants of the English language: American English in the slide show and British English in Mr. Paul’s comments to the slide show.
The girls were impressed and motivated to work on their vocabulary. They look forward to the TEEN Club sessions with more participants to impress them with their drilled introductions.
Number of participants – 6 persons.
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Winter Activities

Today’s session of the Gabfest Club (Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was dedicated to the topic “Winter Activities”. To break the ice the club members were asked to enumerate winter sports illustrated by several relevant images.
The group was offered several slide shows with new vocabulary that covered both winter sports and winter household activities. The group found the cluster of new words very helpful.
Our foreign guests Mr. Jason and Mr. Paul were present at the session and commented on the differences between the British English and American English in winter terms and vocabulary.
To practice the new vocabulary the group was offered “American English” website’s resources – a set of lovely winter images for describing and discussing.
 
The second part of the session was a “Q&A”. The club members asked the foreign guests about popular winter activities and resorts in their respective countries. The guests asked recommendations for a nice place in Ukraine and in Dnipropetrovsk for winter sports and fun.
The session was enjoyed by all participants and will help them in conversations about winter time.
Number of participants – 31 persons.
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Winter in Primitive Art

Today’s session of the GABFEST Club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was planned as a Ukrainian Christmas session and its aim was to introduce relevant topics for the discussion.

To create a Xmas atmosphere the Club’s moderator has introduced the topic “Winter in Primitive Art”. This topic allowed to introduce to the foreign club members world known Ukrainian primitive artists.

We started the discussion with viewing several videos about the recent exhibition of Maria Prymachenko in Kyiv.  The peculiarity of the display was the 3D exhibits of Prymachenko’s creatures made from straw by a Russian sculptor.

Other Ukrainian primitive artists were introduced in a slide show “Winter in Ukrainian Primitive Art”. The works of Marfa Tymchenko, Ivan  Skolozdra,  Elysaveta Myronova  impressed the audience with their vivid colors and fantasy style images of humans and animals.

The American Primitive art was introduced to the club members through the works of a world known artists Grandma Moses. We have watched several videos about her life and enjoyed her works. The simple realism, nostalgic atmosphere and luminous color with which Grandma Moses portrayed homely farm life and rural countryside won her a wide following. She was able to capture the excitement of winter's first snow, Thanksgiving preparations and the new, young green of oncoming spring.

Gay color, action and humor enlivened her portrayals of such simple farm activities as maple sugaring, soap-making, candle-making, haying, berrying and the making of apple butter.

In person, Grandma Moses charmed wherever she went. A tiny, lively woman with mischievous gray eyes and a quick wit she rarely failed to do a little painting every day even at the age of 100 years.

The second part of the session was dedicated to the traditions of Orthodox Xmas celebration in Ukraine. We have explained to our foreign friends what are the typical Xmas dishes.

At the end of the session the numerous newcomers introduced themselves and listened to the introductions of the regular club members.

The session was very educational and was enjoyed by all the participants.

Participants – 23 persons.

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