Easter Art Therapy at School No.22

Dnipropetrovsk high school № 22 provides in-depth study of English; it’s a specialized school – one of the best in town. For many years it cooperates with DOUNB Library and "Window on America" Center.
On the Orthodox Easter Eve the WOA’s Head Svetlana Usenko was invited to take part in the festivities and to tell the students about American Easter traditions.7 lessons in which Svitlana participated flew like a flash.
Each lesson began with a story in English about Easter traditions presented by students. The most creative school students performed musical numbers. Most impressive were gospel type lyrical religious songs, the girls sang and played on the piano, flute and saxophone. One boy performed a violin number; another girl recited a funny Ukrainian Easter story.
 

The students’ show was followed by S. Usenko’s slide-show presentation and demonstration of relevant videos. The students learned about the annual celebration at the White House in Washington. A popular activity there was an Easter Egg Roll, which involved a large number of American children and their parents. President Barack Obama read a story to the children, played tennis and basketball with American athletes. The First Lady Michelle Obama demonstrated her dancing skills and encouraged the audience to lead healthy lifestyles.
 

Another Easter activity offered to the school children was egg decoration, they were encouraged to hand-paint the eggs. Cartoons about Bunny rabbit raised the students’ spirits - they sang and danced along.
The final Easter activity offered to the students was coloring Easter pictures. Many of the students left school with a lovely Easter gift for their parents.
Number of participants – 255 persons.

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The Terminal. From mines to art heights - 8

Within the framework of the “From mines to art heights” project the "Window on America" Center  from(Dnipropetrovsk , Ukraine) was visited by the group of National Mining University students. The group was accompanied by the English language lecturer - Mr. Brian Chung, the Fulbright academic exchange lecturer from New York.
The WOA Center premises were used as a site for an out-of-class training session. The freshmen continued to watch and discuss an American movie The Terminal (2004, director: Steven Spielberg).
 

The story tells about an eastern immigrant finds himself stranded in JFK airport, and must take up temporary residence there.
The group watched and discussed an American film. Mr. Chung explained to the students the colloquial phrases and idioms that were difficult for the understanding of the ESL students.
Number of participants – 14.

The Terminal is a 2004 American romantic comedy film directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones. It is about a man who becomes trapped in New York City's JFK International Airport terminal when he is denied entry into the United States and at the same time cannot return to his native country due to a revolution. The film is partially inspired by the 18-year-stay of Mehran Karimi Nasseri in Terminal 1 of Charles de Gaulle International Airport, Paris, France from 1988 to 2006.

Easter celebration in the USA - for kids

Today the WOA Center Dnipropetrovsk was visited by the group of the 5th grade students from the local high school No. 141 with teachers.
Within the framework of the “Discover USA” project the group was presented a slideshow about the Easter celebration in the USA. The presentation introduced the children to the popular Easter games - Egg hunt and Egg Roll. The information was illustrated with the images and videos about Easter celebration at the White House.
The kids were asked to compare the traditional symbols of US and Ukrainian Easter. 

They compared the methods of Easter eggs decoration and Easter basket content in two countries. The new vocabulary that was introduced will help the students to talk about Easter in English.
The highlight of the presentation were kids’ Easter songs in English with subtitles. Some of the students tried to sing along the merry tunes.
The presentation about American Easter was enjoyed by both kids and adults.
Number of participants – 22.

The Maltese Falcon

“Wednesday Movie Club” at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine offered screening of the drama film The Maltese Falcon (1941) to all who wish to improve their language skills.

The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 Warner Bros. film noir based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett.
Directed by John Huston, the film stars Humphrey Bogart as private investigator Sam Spade and Mary Astor as his femme fatale client. Gladys George, Peter Lorre, and Sydney Greenstreet co-star, with Greenstreet appearing in his film debut. The Maltese Falcon was Huston's directorial debut and was nominated for three Academy Awards. The story follows a San Francisco private detective and his dealings with three unscrupulous adventurers, all of whom are competing to obtain a jewel-encrusted falcon statuette.
The film premiered on October 3, 1941, in New York City, and was selected for inclusion in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry in 1989.
The Maltese Falcon was considered by Roger Ebert to be one of the greatest films ever made and was cited by Panorama du Film Noir Américain as the first major film noir.

Music Scene and Heard

The Dnipropetrovsk Window on America center presented to the patrons a paper show “Music Scene and Heard”. 
April is observed in the USA as the “Jazz appreciation month”, therefore the focus of the show was on the panels that deal with American jazz and other genres of music that Ukrainian audience associates with the American music. Pop/Rock, Musical theater and religious music complemented the information about Jazz.
The panels represent collages with the images of the American stars in the above-mentioned genres and provide comments to the images.
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Easter Celebration in the USA

Today’s session of the Gabfest English speaking Club at the "Window on America" Dnipropetrovsk started with an influx of new-comers. The most numerous was a group of senior high school students from the Pidhorodne suburb of Dnipropetrovsk. Their teacher brought the group prior to the beginning of the Club session in order to introduce the student to the FLEX exchange program. Several videos gave the students an insight into the process of candidates selection and other formalities for the program participants.
 

The official topic of the session was “Easter Celebration in the USA”. The group was offered several You Tube videos about the Easter story. The videos introduced the basic vocabulary to the topic and enabled the group to support a conversation about Easter in English. The most impressive was the video about the Holy Sepulcher as it visualized a lot of important historical details.
The video about the traditional celebration of Easter in the USA presented the popular kids’ games – Easter egg hunt and Easter egg roll – that were new to the group. We talked about the differences in Easter celebration in Catholic and Orthodox denominations. The Club members shared their plans for Easter weekend.
In spite of the complicated topic the group enjoyed the conversation and the new information received at the session.
Number of participants – 25 persons.

From mines to art heights - 7, The Sound of Music

Within the framework of the “From mines to art heights” project the "Window on America" Center (Dnipropetrovsk , Ukraine) was visited by the group of National Mining University students majoring in IT studies. The group was accompanied by the English language lecturer - Mr. Brian Chung, the Fulbright academic exchange lecturer from New York.
The WOA Center premises were used as a site for an out-of-class training session. The freshmen continued to watch and discuss an American movie The Sounds of Music (1965).
The Sound of Music is an American musical drama film directed and produced by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The film is an adaptation of the 1959 Broadway musical The Sound of Music.
Based on the book The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp, the film is about a young woman who leaves an Austrian convent to become a governess to the seven children of a naval officer widower.
Mr. Brian stopped the film on a regular basis to explain to the students American idioms and cultural phenomena presented in the movie. He also asked questions on the content of the film to check the students’ comprehension.
Number of participants – 16.

Music and Musician

Within the framework of the “U.S. ART Residence in Dnipropetrovsk” project the Window on America center presented a book and image display. The displayed books present to the patrons the wonderful collection of the authentic publications about the history of the American music, about the popular in the USA genres of music and outstanding personalities that have made great contributions to the American music culture.

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April - 2015