Innovative approaches in US Farm Biz

"Window on America” Dnipro continues to participate in the project “WOA Special” from the famous US broadcaster “Voice of America”.
The project is offered by the "Voice of America”’s Ukrainian service and the popular Ukrainian journalist Zoreslav Baydyuk who works in the USA.
Today WOA’s regular patrons - students of the "Basic English" Express Course – arrived to the class earlier than usual to watch a documentary. This afternoon they will learn about innovative approaches to agri-business in the USA.
Our Ukrainian viewers were surprised that in US the popularity of agri-tourism is growing. Both children and adults are interested in growing vegetables. Natural dairy products can now be purchased from farmers and urban gardens where people grow vegetables themselves become very popular.
The Americans have realized the value of organic vegetables, the food waste issues are also debated in the communities.
To encourage Ukrainians to engage into agri-business in Ukraine the film-makers suggest such source of income as breeding of alpacas - South American lamas.
We are grateful to the Voice of America’s Ukrainian service and the US State Department for the opportunity to learn more interesting and helpful facts about the life in USA .We will additionally announce the screening of the next VOA’s series.
Number of viewers – 40 students of the "Activate English" Express Course.
Presenter and pictures: S.Usenko.

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Orthodox Christmas celebration in Ukraine: MELANIA at WOA Dnipro

Today’s session of the Gabfest Club (Dnipro Window on America center, Ukraine) was dedicated to the topic “Orthodox Christmas celebration in Ukraine”.
As a warm up we have used the Club’s Introduction ritual. Quite a big number of new-comers turned up for the first session in the year 2017. The group had a chance to ask new-comers about their background and their interest in English. The regular Club members explained the newcomers the history of the Club’s name “Gabfest” and major facts about the club.
The official topic “Orthodox Xmas celebration” started with tricky questions from the Club’s Moderator T. Gavryliuk. She asked the group to explain her choice of outfit – with ethnic elements (head gear, beads, embroidery). The correct guess did not come easy – the St. Melanie and St. Basil days celebrated on January 13-14 are not very popular among urban dwellers in Ukraine.

The next challenge was to explain why do we celebrate New Year twice in Ukraine. Almost all could give one reason (difference in religious calendars), and only few people gave additional explanations.
The mentioning of  St. Melanie day allowed us to introduce to the group the new First Lady of the USA – Mrs. Melania TRUMP.  Her portrait and five important facts were presented, translated and discussed.
Number of participants – 36 persons.

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FATHER’S DAY

FATHER’S DAY and other Australian holidays.
This afternoon the Gabfest Club’s session was dedicated to the introduction of the Father’s Day. The group was familiarized with the American tradition to celebrate this holiday (June). The illustrative video mentioned that YMCA was one of organizations that helped to spread the idea of the Father’s Day celebration in the USA.  The iconic YMCA song by Village People was introduced to the Club members as well as the popular YMSA disco dance.
The second part of the session was dedicated to the Father’s Day celebration in Australia – this year it is September, 3.  Our Australian volunteers Mr. Eric and Mrs. Iryna made a presentation about Father’s Day traditions. They also introduced other unique Australian holidays – Wattle Day (September, 1), ANZAC Day, Boxing Day, etc. They have told the group about unique Australian plants – wattle flower, waratah flower, macadamia nut. We mentioned other Australian things – vitamin spread VEGEMITE, BYO restaurants (where you can bring your own alcohol), and  plastic wine cask.
 
The group enjoyed the conversation with foreign guests very much.
Participants number – 39 participants.

After meeting IRYNA shared the INSIGHTS into Australian Life with the Gabfest activists.

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Celebration of the Columbus Day in the USA

The "Window on America" Center (Dnipropetrovsk / Ukraine) staff was invited to visit local high school No. 22 and present a letter on US traditions and holidays. Due to the date of the school visit it was natural to select the topic “Celebration of the Columbus Day in the USA”.
The presentation was offered to three groups of students the 6th, the 9th and the 10th graders. All groups were offered the slideshows with fun facts about the Columbus trips to the New World. The senior students already new many facts about Columbus, but they appreciated the new vocabulary that was introduced during the presentations. The focus in the presentations for senior students was on the impact the Columbus’s trips had on the European countries and the population of America.
 

The junior students were excited with less complicated presentations that involved cartoon materials and were illustrated with songs about Columbus in English. The students had to demonstrate their auditing skills as the songs were offered without sub-titles or lyrics.
Both groups were interested in the video-illustration of the topic- a video about the Columbus Day parade in New York in 2013. The students were informed about the Italian community active participation in the parade. In year 2013 the highlight was a show of Italian cars in the streets of New York. The tricky task for the groups was to enumerate the logos of the car brands shown in the illustrative video.
The teachers were grateful to the WOA staff for a lecture that increased the students’ knowledge of American traditions.
Number of participants – 85 persons.
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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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Session with American guest

Today’s session of the Gabfest Club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was attended by a big group of newcomers including new American guest ' Ms. Jennifer. All the club members had an opportunity to introduce themselves.
The American guests had to do it in a more profound way. We mostly talked about the cultural shock the Americans experience in Ukraine and recommended them things that might help to overcome this shock. Ms Jennofer impressed everyone with her list of countries that she visited through her job.
 
The session was a ‘full house’ and enjoyed by all the participants. Especially by the newcomers who met real Americans for the first time.
Number of participants – 22 persons.

GABFEST's Thanksgiving Celebration

Today’s session of the Gabfest Club (at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) was dedicated to the Thanksgiving Traditions in the USA. We have invited our American friends – Mr. Andrew from PCV and Mr. Chris from Fulbright Exchange to share the joy with us. The session was remarkable for the number of newcomers and the house was packed to capacity.
The session started with a slide show that was compiled by a PC volunteer from the Donetsk region. It was a special one as it showed the Thanksgiving celebration through the eyes of an American. The Club members had an opportunity to speak about Thanksgiving – they translated the facts and figures about American celebration and described slides. Our American guests commented on some interesting slides and shared their own experience of Thanksgiving celebrations.
 

The second part of the session was arranged as a Thanksgiving party. The Club members prepared traditional American dishes and snacks. The highlight of the menu was baked Turkey breast with cranberry sauce cooked by the WOA’s Head Ms. Svitlana Usenko. The highlight of the desserts was pumpkin pie baked by Ms. Helen L. , the club’s activist. Some other Club members offered their home-made snacks – from baked bread and pickles to home-made juices and soft drinks.
The Club members thanked the WOA staff – Svitlana and Tamara -  for the wonderful conditions created for the English learners. The WOA staff thanked the American people and the US Embassy in Kyiv for their wonderful gifts to the WOA facility and Ukrainian community in Dnipropetrovsk.
In the heartwarming atmosphere of the Thanksgiving dinner the club members developed new friendships with fellow citizens and our American guests.
The session was most enjoyable and inspired to build more bridges between American and Ukrainian people.
Number of participants – 42 persons.

Learn the Language - Learn the Traditions!

At WOA Dnipropetrovsk teenagers were introduced to the traditions of a favorite  American Holiday – the Thanksgiving Day.
The ATC (American Teen Club) moderator - the FLEX alumnae Dasha Gerasimova – prepared several relevant videos. The focus of all the videos was on the history of the holiday. The children learned about the Pilgrims who disembarked on the American coast (the territory of the modern Massachusetts state) and the lovely “Mayflower” ship that brought them over the ocean. After several centuries Thanksgiving is a US national holiday and the most popular family holiday. It is normally celebrated with an array of festive activities - sports events, concerts and parades (like the famous Macy’s balloon parade in New-York). The day after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday and starts the Christmas sales season in the USA.
Besides language activities Thanksgiving paper craft was offered to the group. The symbol of Thanksgiving is a Turkey bird. The children colored the feathers of paper turkeys and wrote thanks to different people on those feathers. The best crafted turkeys were used to decorate the WOA’s room.
The cult American cartoon “The Simpsons” was screened for the group; the part about Simpsons celebrating Thanksgiving made the teenagers laugh.
The second part of the Teenage Club’s session was a party with American snacks and soft drinks.
The book and image display from the WOA’s collection illustrated the topic of the TC session.Participants number - 14 persons.
Join the WOA’s Teenage Club and have fun studying American English!

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History, geography and English – 3 in1

The Window on America center continues project “Discover USA” with partner English Specialized School # 22. 
The Dnipropetrovsk WOA Head S. Usenko presented to the students of specialized School No 22 (with focus on the English language) traditions of the American holiday – the Columbus Day.
The students were offered to watch an informative slide show about the history of Christopher Columbus ‘s four voyages to the American continent, animated cartoons about his life and a documentary about the Columbus Day parade in New York.
The children learned a lot of interesting historic facts saw the voyages’ routes and at the same time practiced several learning activities - reading, translation and auditing.
 To commemorate the impact of Columbus’s voyages on the history of American continent his name was given to a country in Latin America, a province in Canada, a federal district and a University in the USA.
Number of participants – 67 persons.

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