Erin Brockovich

"Wednesday Movie Club"

At the end of April the world community celebrates the Earth Day. As a tribute to this event the Movie Club presents the film “Erin Brockovich”.  It is based on a true story of  a woman who brought a small town to its feet and a huge company to its knees.

The main character of the film (starring Julia Roberts) gets a job in a law firm as a compensation for a car accident. While no one takes her seriously she begins to investigate a suspicious real estate case involving the Pacific Gas & Electric Company.

What she discovers is that the company is trying quietly to buy land that was contaminated by hexavalent chromium, a deadly toxic waste that the company is improperly and illegally dumping and, in turn, poisoning the residents in the area.

As she digs deeper, Erin finds herself leading point in a series of events that would involve her law firm in one of the biggest class action lawsuits in American history against a multi-billion dollar corporation.

Jazz Appreciation Month

Today’s session at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk was dedicated to the Jazz Appreciation Month in the USA. Jazz is a major American contribution to world culture.
The ESC members decided to study jazz from the basic things – the musical instruments that comprise a jazz ensemble.
Jazz and improvised music can be performed in groups made up of virtually any combination and number of instruments. Traditionally, however, big bands and small ensembles feature a small group of instruments. 

The instruments typically used in a jazz setting are:
• upright bass,
• clarinet,
• drum set ,
• guitar,
• piano,
• saxophone,
• trumpet
• trombone.
•
We have tried to solve a couple of entry level quizzes about icons of American jazz. The highest score - was 70 out of 100. The WOA’s DVDs about American jazz and pop music were presented to the club members.
Our PCV friend Patrick joined the discussion for a while. The club members gave him some useful recommendations about the nice jazz places in Dnipropetrovsk and popular jazz festivals in Ukraine.
Number of participants: 14 persons.

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Dreamsgirls

“Wednesday Movie Club”.

To celebrate the Jazz Appreciation Month at the Window on America center in Dnipropetrovsk the film "Dreamsgirls" (2006) was presented to all who wish to improve their language skills.

The movie was a enjoyed by all!

The Week of the Foreign Languages

The WOA Dnipropetrovsk Head Svitlana Usenko was invited to visit the local school # 7 by the English language teacher Olga Pakhomova.
This school provides to the students a more profound study of the English language. For the school’s event “The Week of the Foreign Languages” S. Usenko   delivered 4 lessons for the pupils of different age groups (approx. 200 persons, 7th- 10th grades). She presented to the teachers and students the resources of the Oblast Scientific Library. The audience was acquainted with the information center “Window on America”, its resources that help to study the English language and the recently donated gadgets iPad and Kindle. 
Several slide shows about the USA were presented to the students and teachers.
Number of participants – 209 (students – 204, teachers –5).
Have a look at more pictures, please 

Food Industry of the USA - 2

In the frame of the WOA Centre project “Discover the USA” the facility was visited by the students of the Dnipropetrovsk faculty of the National University for Culture and Arts. (KNUKIM).
The students who major in Hospitality Management listened to the 2nd lecture from the series “Food Industry of the USA”. This time they were informed about the smoked food preparation methods in the USA.
The most popular American smoked foods were introduced to the audience, the equipment for the preparation and cooking methods were demonstrated in the relevant educational videos.
The lecturer and the students highly appreciated the learning opportunities provided by the WOA Dnipropetrovsk.

The number of participants – 46 persons.

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Easter Holiday history and traditions in the USA

Today the Speaking Club at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk had visitors from Germany – school teachers Katharina and Stavros. They have good knowledge of English and travel the world extensively. Today they have told us about their trips to the USA and their impressions about the New York city and California where they traveled by car.

The Club members were impressed by the beautiful photos of the Big Apple our guests shared with us.

The second part of the session was dedicated to the Easter Holiday history and traditions in the USA.

We have read articles about USA Easter and watched relevant videos – about the white House Egg roll and hunt, the NY Easter Parade, etc.

The explanations about popular Easter candies were also rather educational.

The topic was concluded with an Easter puzzle which turned out rather tricky, but Vlad’s team was the first to find the correct answer.

The session was a success and enjoyed by all!

The number of visitors – 24 persons.

Have a look at more pictures, please 

JAM - book display

To celebrate the Jazz Appreciation Month the Window on America center in Dnipropetrovsk has presented a book display JAM.  

The books are complemented with the popular photographs of the jazz musicians.

Titanic

On April, 10  the world marks the 100th anniversary of the  “Titanic” catastrophe. To pay tribute to the hundreds of these tragedy victims we watched the movie “Titanic” (1997).This Oscar winning movie shown on the big screen particularly impressed the attending  Club members.

A boy and a girl from differing social backgrounds meet during the ill-fated maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic.
Director: James Cameron
Writer: James Cameron
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet and Billy Zane .

Schedule for April