“U.S. ART Residence in Dnipro” invite!

Reading Rules and Phonetic Drills again

In the Dnipro Window on America center (Ukraine) the Basic English group  was busy with phonetic drills to master pronunciation of diphthongs and combinations of consonants.
The progress is obvious – we start reading longer words and sight word charts.
Participant numbers – 61 persons.
Presenter: T. Gavryliyuk.
Pictures: S.Usenko.

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Activate English Group 5.4.: International Women's Day Eve

This afternoon the lesson of the Activate English course was attended by our US volunteer Mr. Stephen. As the lesson took place on the eve of the International Women’s day the group was offered to instruct Mr. Stephen on Ukrainian celebration traditions.
The group started with stories how the holiday is observed at work place and what were the traditional 8th of March gifts to women. Some students shared the stories about unusual corporate gifts (candy bouquets, concert tickets, etc).
The highlight of the conversation was the explanation of the family celebrations in Ukraine. The advice to Mr. Stephen ranged from how to do the house chores to which flowers to present to his lovely Ukrainian wife Nataly.
The official topics of the lesson were “Describing People” and “My Favorite Sports”.

The professional EFL lecturer T. Gavryliuk combined the lexical exercises with important cross-cultural information that will help the English learners to understand their foreign counterparts better and to avoid awkward situations in communication.
Number of participants – 45 persons.

International Women's Day 2017 in DniproWOA

Window on America center / American Corner Dnipropetrovsk and DOUNB Library staff received warm greetings from the longtime partner – local school # 141 with focus on foreign languages study. Young gentlemen from the 6th grade arrived to the DOUNB Library to tell a lot of nice things to the ladies-librarians.
The pleasant 8th of March surprise was enhanced by sweet treats and a money tree with the US dollars.

The group was offered a slide show “Women’s World of America” about the outstanding American women. The boys demonstrated good translation skills and learned the term “The First Lady”.
The visit was concluded with a speedy craft lesson of origami. The boys left with paper tulips for their mothers.
Participants number – 14 students + 1 teacher.

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Oscar Awards and Ukrainian Movie Academy

This afternoon the group (Gabfest club in Dnipro Window on America center, Ukraine) has been discussing the recent American Academy Award ceremony and the famous blunder that took place there.
The group read and translated the article about the details of the mishap, expressed opinions about the event. The group was also fascinated with the phenomenon of “goodies bag” received by the ceremony participants. The list of this year freebies was very impressive.
The discussion drifted in the direction of the Ukrainian movie industry and its copying the best practices. The group was surprised with the name of the Ukrainian award - “The Golden Top (Dziga)”. Some knowledgeable club members recognized the tribute to Mr. Dziga Vertov. He was a Soviet pioneer documentary film and newsreel director, as well as a cinema theorist. His filming practices and theories influenced the cinéma vérité style of documentary movie-making. In the 2012 “Sight & Sound” poll critics voted Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera (1929) the 8th best film ever made.

In 1931 Dziga Vertov released Enthusiasm: Symphony of the Donbass, an examination into Soviet miners. Enthusiasm has been called a 'sound film', with sound recorded on location, and these mechanical sounds woven together, producing a symphony-like effect.
Participant number – 33 persons.

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Basic English 5.4.

Basic English 5.4. at Dnipro Window on America center.
This afternoon the students of Basic English Group drilled sight word charts.
The group started to read positive and negative statements.
We also read and translated a simple 20 sentences text.
Participant number – 75 persons.

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EDUCATION in the USA display

The Dnipro Window on America center presented a book & brochure display for the ambitious patrons who consider study abroad.
The recent brochures sent by USA universities interested in Ukrainian students provide a lot of useful information about the study in the USA.
The Universities offer graduate and post graduate courses. Their colorful brochures give details of the courses as well as beautiful images of the campuses in different states.
All WOA’s patrons interested in studying in the USA receive advice about the procedures and the “Education USA” center in Dnipro.
The display reviewed by all new visitors  200 of WOA center in March.
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Our WOA center in March 2017

Presidents’ Day and Winter Carnivals

This afternoon the Gabfest Club members (Dnipro Window on America center) observed the holidays of the last winter week.
The President’s Day is a public holiday in the USA. To refresh the curious facts about the US Presidents we have researched the topic of Presidential portraits on the US currency – both notes and coins. The group has learned the new vocabulary - penny, nickel, dime, quarter or half dollar. Our US volunteer Mr. Jason illustrated the topic with the demonstration of the 100 US$ note with the portrait of Mr. Benjamin Franklin. He was not a President, but one of the Founding Fathers of the American state. The group enjoyed a quiz “Presidents on Money” – the hints in the quiz told fun facts about each President. The highlight of this part was a video about President Andrew Jackson (the portrait from 20 US $ banknote) and the duel in which he was wounded.
In the second part of the session we talked about winter carnivals and their symbolism. The most popular carnival in the USA was mentioned - Mardi Gras in New Orleans. The Mardi Gras color scheme for year 2017 was introduced and its symbolism explained.

Our American guests Mr. Cole and Mr. Jason were interested in the stories of the club members in which they explained the winter carnival tradition in Ukraine - the so-called “Kolodiy”. The American volunteers were fascinated with the tradition of eating of cottage cheese dumplings, washing them down with a honey drink, punishing single guys and girls for not finding a fiancé before Lent. The illustrative video of the TSN channel enlightened the group on the symbolism of the local folk tradition.
Participant number – 57 persons.

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