Book Display: Hawaii

Welcome to Hawaiian style month!

 
We invite you to see the Book display "Hawaii", to watch a movie "Magnum, p.i" about Hawaii and to join the Hawaiian party on August 6th.

A schedule for August

A schedule of Dnipropetrovsk's Window on America center for August - Hawaiian Style Month

 

English Speaking club - The Internet in our life

The topic of the session of English Speaking club in Dnipropetrovsk WOA center was “The role of the Internet in our lives”.
Today’s session started with the introduction of the new members and welcoming of the club member Roland who relocated back to Dnipropetrovsk.

The session started with the reading and translation of an article “The Difference Between the Internet & the World Wide Web”. Even the active users of the internet were not aware that the two terms are not synonymous and should not be confused.

The Club members watched You tube videos  about the history of the Internet and the founder of the World wide web, Tim Buerners-Lee. This English scientist passed his great invention on to humanity absolutely free of charge.

Once some basic facts were learned from the videos we brainstormed for the on line quiz “Internet – fact or fiction?” However. The score was not very high-only 4 correct answers out of 10.Even the presence of 2 IT specialists did not help us to get a better result… But we had fun voting for answers! As always…

The rest of the session was spent discussing the good and bad things about Internet. The club members shared their opinions about the most annoying things in the Internet, about social networks, about internet lingo. The question that was the most puzzling in the discussion was about the technology to replace the Internet in the future.

Useful links, we chose it:

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/internet-versus-world-wide-web.htm    article Internet/WWW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hIQjrMHTv4&feature=related  animated Internet history

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IQFjTnDozo  Tim Lee intro

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/fact-or-fiction-internet-quiz.htm   QUIZZ+++

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj6EHgSsx_U&feature=related  how internet works easy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJlIJb1ROJ8  Internet lingo by CNN

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/science-channel/5018-its-all-geek-to-me-wireless-internet-security-video.htm     myth of wireless Internet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VApUG2FxinU&feature=autoplay&list=PL16CAC46A33F12A11&index=10&playnext=2    Internet addiction

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZHq4CQekTY&feature=related  Internet safety   for kids 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukaV9ni_IeE&feature=related     Internet love song

«Wednesday Movie Club» - Dead poets society

URL from WiKi

Visitors of Window on America center watched the movie "Dead poets society" on Wednesday, July 27.

Dead Poets Society is a 1989 drama film starring Robin Williams and directed by Peter Weir. Set at a conservative and aristocratic boys prep school, it tells the story of an English teacher who inspires his students to change their lives of conformity through his teaching of poetry and literature.

The story is set at the fictional Welton Academy in Vermont in the 1950s, and was filmed at St. Andrew's School in Middletown, Delaware. The script, written by Tom Schulman, is based on his life at Montgomery Bell Academy, an all-boys preparatory school in Nashville, Tennessee.

English Speaking club - Summer

Today’s session started with the introduction of our guests, Peace Corp volunteers, to the new club members. We discussed several topics today. We started with the summer holiday tradition in Ukraine. The club members told about the places in Ukraine where it’s customarily to spend summer holydays. Kim, the volunteer, shared her experience of a weekend trip to Odessa – a popular seaside resort in Ukraine. Vlad, a Ukrainian student, shared his plans to visit Hawaii during his summer holidays. Sam, the volunteer, gave him recommendations – which places on Hawaii are a “must’ for the tourist.

The other topic was the Peace Corp procedures and admissions. The Americans explained the role of their organization in America, their own reasons to join it, their expectations from the mission. They asked the Ukrainians whether they would join a volunteers’ movement in case an opportunity had arisen. Anastasia expressed everybody’s opinion that so far very few people were willing to travel to other continents and countries in need. The main reasons being the feeling of insecurity.

The second part of the session was dedicated to the topic “Summer”. The Club’s speaker Tamara presented information about the American summer rites – swimming and eating ice-cream.

Swimming activities unusual for Ukraine were presented – water tubing and skimboarding.

The Florida beach rules were read and translated to find out if there were any differences with Ukrainian ones. Some new terms were introduced: summer solstice and SPF( Sun Protecting Factor).

When talking about ice cream we have learned about different kinds of ice-cream in USA (gelato, frozen yogurt, sorbet, popsicle, sundae, etc.). Some quotes about summer were translated and discussed as well.  Summer songs popular in USA were introduced at the end of the session. We enjoyed the golden hits of the singer who used the name of this wonderful season as her stage name -  Donna SUMMER. 

The hits of the 60’s  from the musical “Grease” were introduced. Everybody enjoyed Travolta’s performance.

The world famous songs –“San Francisco”, “Summertime”, “Hot wet American summer” also gave us the idea about  American summer songs. The selected You Tube videos were giving the subtitles of the songs’ lyrics which helped to enjoy them better.
Have a look at more pictures, please

 

Useful links, we chose it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi6MWQgaHF0&feature=related  summer nights fm GREASE  lyrics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpJUrt0O7uY&feature=related   Travolta Olivia Newton John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFKU8PgtMHA&feature=related     Donna Summer 70 + disco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yefxo-vEHcU  hot stuff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcC3VT67HfI&feature=related  Summer McArthur park

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbVwKDiBywA       summer San Francisco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr0tTbTbmVA      summertime black picnic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ulETSldJ8o&feature=related  hot American summer lyrics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kg9jma9K5I       Sting(Police)  Every

«Wednesday Movie Club» - Amadeus

Today the Dnipropetrovsk  WOA had a “Wednesday Movie Club” session.

The film "Amadeus" was presented to all who wish to improve their  language skills.

"Amadeus" won 8 Academy Awards (including Best Picture.

Amadeus is a 1984 period drama film directed by Miloš Forman and written by Peter Shaffer. Adapted from Shaffer's stage play Amadeus, the story is based loosely on the lives of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, two composers who lived in Vienna, Austria, during the latter half of the 18th century.

Merriam-Webster's Dictionaries

Kiryll, the member of English Speaking Club Dnipropetrovsk Window on America center, advises to use the Merriam-Webster's Dictionaries

Video here - Kiryll advises

English Speaking club - Chess Day

Today the English Speaking Club in Dnipropetrovsk WOA  was lucky again – the group of Peace Corps volunteers  came over to mix and mingle with  the club members.  As always the new club members and Americans introduced themselves. The questions asked today came back to the issue of  food stuffs – how the Americans survive without their favorite foods , how they find the Ukrainian food and the taste of Ukrainian  fruits and vegetables.

The guests shared their opinion about the American cuisine restaurants in Dnipropetrovsk.

Another issue discussed was coming Football Championship to be held in Ukraine in 2012. Some Americans were very enthusiastic about it and planned to work as volunteers there as well. Some people however were relived not to have the Championship in Dnipropetrovsk, because soccer is often associated with fans’ violence and aggression.

The guests were asked if they found the transportation system of Dnipropetrovsk and the region ready for the big inflows of foreign visitors. All the Americans expressed their views on the present state of the city public transport.

 The second part of the   ESC session was dedicated to the International CHESS Day, July, 20.

We have learned some facts  about the history of chess, the basic  terms ( the names of the  chess pieces) , the aim and the basic rules of the game.

The USA grandmasters were presented to the club members.

William Steinitz  is the first undisputed world chess champion (1886 to 1894) , the founder and editor of the "International Chess Magazine".
Bobby Fisher (1943- 2008) is  the American chess legend. This controversial master proposed a new variant of chess and a modified chess timing system.

The game of chess inspired artists in different genres to create pictures, sculptures and music.

The musical “”CHESS’ by ABBA was presented to the club members and the hits from this play were thoroughly enjoyed –  “I know him well” and    “One Night in Bangkok”.

The famous rock group “Black Sabbath” in the song “War Pigs” also mentioned chess game. The video with the relevant music was enjoyed by some.

The number of participants – 25 persons.
Have a look at more pictures, please 

WebChat: "Strategic Dialogue with Civil Society: Europe"

Svitlana Usenko, the Head of Dnepropetrovsk Information Resource Center "Window on America", Marina Sichova, Anatoliy Ribalko, Vadim Saveskul had the unique opportunity to participate in WebChat: "Strategic Dialogue with Civil Society: Europe" (CO.NX webchat, Washington, D.C.).

It was a civil society webchat focusing on media freedom in Europe with Irena Chalupa, Senior Correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc. and Dr. Tomicah Tillemann, Senior Advisor to the Secretary for Civil Society and Emerging Democracies.

As part of the State Department’s ongoing commitment to defend civil society worldwide, Secretary Clinton launched a Strategic Dialogue with Civil Society groups on February 16, 2011. The Strategic Dialogue with Civil Society elevated our relationship with nongovernmental organizations to the level of our government-to-government relationships. The Dialogue is an 18-month, ongoing initiative with working groups on empowering women, promoting democracy and human rights, and enhancing transparency and good governance.

Format: It was a video webchat in English.

A lot of interesting questions were in focus of discussion from various parts of the Europe.

We've taken an active part in this activity and asked some questions: 

How European journalists manage to combine high ethical standards of journalism and responsibility for reliability of information with the freedom of expression?

We know that there’s much pressure on journalists from different minority group, like the society not to heavy ago in Penmar (about some religiously sensitive caricatures). Doesn’t the necessity to factor in the interests of  those groups limit the freedom of express  in for European journalists?