Today’s session of the American Teen Club with FLEX alumni (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was moderated by Club’s moderator Dasha and Club’s activist Maria.
To start the ball rolling Dasha introduced some vocabulary activity – the group studied the rows of synonymous adjectives in an interactive language puzzle.
For the official topic Maria prepared a complicated material. As a future IT specialist she decided to introduce the basics of programming to the ATC club members. To make the difficult thing more understandable Maria used the example of “Angry Birds”. It showed to teach the group how programming language (C+++) can be studied.
The highlight of the session was a video of Steve Jobs speech at Stanford University. While translating the interview the group learned a lot of interesting facts about his background and the hardships of his green years.
Number of participants - 8 persons.
Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine offered screening of the film Thelma & Louise (1991).
Thelma & Louise is a 1991 adventure female buddy film co-produced and directed by Ridley Scott and written by Callie Khouri. It stars Geena Davis as Thelma and Susan Sarandon as Louise, with Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen and Brad Pitt in supporting roles.
The film became a critical and commercial success, receiving six Academy Award nominations and winning one for Best Original Screenplay (Khouri). Both Sarandon and Davis were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Plot: An Arkansas waitress and a housewife shoot a rapist and take off in a '66 Thunderbird.
Thelma and Louise are finally cornered by the police officers only 100 yards from the edge of the Grand Canyon. Detective Slocumb arrives on the scene, but he is refused the chance to make one last attempt to talk the women into surrendering themselves. Rather than be captured and spend the rest of their lives in jail, Thelma proposes that they keep going. Louise asks Thelma if she is certain. Thelma says yes and steps on the accelerator. As soon as the car starts forward, Detective Slocumb sprints after it in an attempt to save them, but the car drives over the cliff as the film ends...
The WOA Dnipropetrovsk staff took an active part in the «Open Doors Day» Media Event at the DOUNB Library.
Local Media representatives were welcomed at the WOA Centre.
The WOA’s Head S. Usenko presented the facility and briefed the guests on its history.
Especially for this occasion the book, image and e-resource display «Highlights of our collections» was arranged at the Dnipropetrovsk «Window on America» Center.
This 2 stand exposition showcases the richness of the Centre’s unique collections: recently published English books, art albums, encyclopedias, reference books, textbooks and guides, electronic English study software Rosetta Stone, 300 items DVD collection of films, table games for English learners, classical and modern fiction in English.
The Media guests were informed about the WOA’s popular clubs (speaking clubs for teenagers, for adults; for movie fans).
We hope that they will spread this information among their respective readers and viewers.
Number of participants – 30.
During the next week Ukrainians will celebrate the Julian calendar NEW Year. We used this opportunity to draw the bottom line to the year 2013.
Today’s session of the GABFEST Club (Dnipropetrovsk / Ukraine) was dedicated to the topic “Results of the Year 2013”. We started with the results of the year for Dnipropetrovsk city and region. The list of achievements was very impressive and included the following outstanding events:
- inclusion of Petrykivka tole painting into the UNESCO list of intangible cultural Heritage
- hosting of the Eurobasket Championship games in 2015
- initiation of the international tourist project “Scythian Way”
- new tourist attractions of the Dnipropetrovsk city (the Rocket Park and the “Roaring Rapid” waterfall ).
We had vivid discussion about each event. The most substantial discussion was about the unique Petrykivka painting. The Club members shared their knowledge about the facts and figures about Petrykivka, we learned the English names of objects traditionally used in the Petrykivka ornament - names of local flowers and creatures.The new Club member - 6 y.o Kate - demonstrated her Petrykivka style handcraft: bookmark presents for friends and family. The Club member Eugenia boasted the original Petrykivka painted walls in her own kitchen. The rest of the events in the list triggered the conversation about touristic potential of Dnipropetrovsk region. After the sessions at the Gabfest the club members will have enough facts and information to promote their home region globally.
The second part of the session was dedicated to the personal stories. The club members shared their results of the year with the group. It was good to hear that everyone was satisfied with the results of the last year.
The session was very educational as it summarized the public events of our home region.
Participants number – 23 persons.
Today’s session of the American Teen Club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was the first session in the Year 2014.
The Club’s moderator Dasha motivated the club members to tell about their celebration of the New Year and Christmas. The group has discussed the results of the year for the USA – they described an American editorial cartoon that depicted important events for the USA economy.
The Club moderator introduced the American idiom «New Year Resolutions» and illustrated it with a video that enumerated typical resolutions made by Americans at the beginning of the year. The group voted for the resolutions they liked.
To wrap up the first session the screening of the «Home Alone» comedy was continued to keep the Xmas season mood.
Number of participants – 10 persons.
«In a country where anybody can become President, anybody just did»
Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine) offered screening of the film Dave (1993) with Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver starring.
This movie is romantic comedy about the adventures of an American who is a look alike of the US President. The movie is a good illustration of the American political culture; it provides a possibility to see the main landmarks of the Washington (DC), the interiors of the White House, etc.
Plot: To avoid a potentially explosive scandal when the U.S. President goes into a coma, an affable temp agency owner with an uncanny resemblance, is put in his place.
Director: Ivan Reitman
Writer: Gary Ross
Stars: Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Frank Langella
Today’s session of the GABFEST speaking club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) took place on the eve of the Orthodox Christmas. It was a good opportunity to focus on the basic elements of the Nativity and introduce important terms to the learners of English. We have read and translated a Wikipedia article about the Nativity of Jesus. The article was illustrated by the photos and videos of the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem (Palestine).The illustration video was made by an ABC journalist of mixed background (Christian, Muslim and Jewish).
The new vocabulary of Nativity terms was drilled and crossword puzzles were offered to memorize the words.
The second part of the session was a conversation about Ukrainian traditions of Christmas celebration. Once the appropriate article introduced the specific terms the conversation focused on culinary traditions. It’s a challenge to the English learners to describe Ukrainian dishes to foreigners in an adequate way. We had some fun listening to the attempts of the club members to describe Ukrainian Christmas dishes! Oleg tried to define “Shooba” - pickled herring filet under the coat of boiled vegetables. Helen tried to describe a salad called “Vinaigrette” in Ukraine, but it is better to name it “Beet and potato pickled salad”. Rita described the process of “Kholodets” preparation for Christmas lunch. The group had difficulty to find a nice menu description and came up with “Boiled meat in jellied stock”. Some introduced Ukrainian traditions were unknown to half of the group.
After this conversation the club members will be able to speak about Ukrainian Christmas.
The session was wrapped up with an offer of a Christmas tea. It was most educational and funny!
Number of participants – 19 persons.
American Teen Club with FLEX alumni – New Horizons in Year 2014.
In 2014 Dnipropetrovsk WOA Centre continues to host the sessions of the "American Teen Club". The sessions are prepared and moderated by the library volunteers who are graduates of the “Future Leaders Exchange” (FLEX ) program.
One of the Club’s moderators Dasha Gerasimova dedicated today’s session to the planning for the year to come - she brainstorms with the Club’s committee and selects relevant topics for the ATC sessions.
Participants number – 4 persons.
The new patrons, Clubs’ members and visitors of the upcoming “Open Doors Day” Media Event will be attracted to the book, image and e-resource display «Highlights of our collections» presented at the Dnipropetrovsk Window on America Center.
This 2 stand exposition showcases the richness of the Centre’s unique collections: recently published English books, art albums, encyclopedias, reference books, textbooks and guides, electronic English study software Rosetta Stone, 300 items DVD collection of films, table games for English learners, classical and modern fiction in English.
The WOA Centre staff provide recommendations for English learners on the effective use of the Centre’s resources for the language self-study.
