Ukraine’s protectors’ Day

This Saturday the Gabfest Club (Window on America center, Dnipropetrovsk / Ukraine) was very lucky – we had 3 guests from the USA and 1 guest from Australia. The newcomers to the Club were very much impressed.

The session started with presenting a gratitude gift to our departing volunteer from Australia - Mr. Eric Kneller. The Club-members want Eric to have sweet memories about his time at Gabfest, so they presented him a pack of chocolates and cookies made in Dnipropetrovsk. Eric was very pleased and touched with this gift.

To break the ice we started to introduce the guests into the realm of Ukrainian public holidays. The coming Ukraine’s protectors’ Day (October, 14) became a very challenging topic both for Ukrainian anв foreign Club members. Very few managed to explain why the date of the holiday was changed. But more complicated was the religious and historical background of the holiday. The Slavic word Pokrov, has a complex meaning. First of all, it refers to a cloak or shroud, but it also means protection or intercession. For this reason, the name of the feast is often translated as Feast of the Intercession. The subject of Ukrainian Cossacks and their martial arts had to be introduced and was very interesting for the 12 y.o. William from Alabama.

The official topic of the session was “World Teachers’ Day”. We examined the official website of the day, learned the theme for the year 2015. The group was offered a list of questions about teaching and teachers. The foreign guests also asked questions about the traditions at local schools and problems that Ukrainian teachers face.

The session introduced complicated topics, but all participants enjoyed the challenges to their minds.

Number of participants – 30 persons.

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World Teachers’ Day

Today’s session of the Gabfest speaking club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was dedicated to the World Teachers’ Day (2013).  
World Teachers’ Day held annually on October, 5 is a UNESCO initiative, a day devoted to appreciating, assessing, and improving the educators of the world. The real point is to provide a time to look at and address issues pertaining to teachers. One of the most central, vital professionals to society does not receive the respect it deserves in some parts of the world. World Teachers’ Day is a natural extension of UNESCO's all year round work of promoting teachers, ensuring that this profession, so vital to the healthy functioning of society, is itself "healthy".  Teachers are a normative indicator of social health.We have watched and discussed President’s Obama speech about American teachers. Several other You Tube videos were offered to the club about teachers in the USA. All of them triggered discussions about teachers’ mission in the society and the challenges for teachers in the 21st century. The video about teachers carrying guns in some of the American states was most striking.
Our American guest at the session, Mr. Andrew, provided a chance for the club members to describe the differences between Ukrainian and American teaching culture. Among the club members we had five professional teachers who started a heated discussion about role of teachers in Ukrainian education. To give everyone a chance to talk the session’s moderator asked the audience to share their experiences about their English teachers. 
The  second task for the group was to describe their experiences of being a teacher – the stories ranges from minors’ tutoring in school subjects to couching in street workout and swimming in summer camps. To wrap up the discussion we asked Mr. Andrew to tell about his experiences of teaching English to the foreigners in the United States.
The session was funny and educational and enjoyed by all the participants.
Number of participants – 31.

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