Today’s session of the Gabfest Club at the "Window on America" Dnipropetrovsk / Ukraine was dedicated to the National Flag day in the USA. The flag of the United States represents freedom and has been an enduring symbol of the country’s ideals since its early days. Many people in the United States honor this day by displaying the American flag at homes and public buildings.
This year the group focused on the history of the Flag and the background of Betsy Ross. We watched a slide show about the important facts from the US history. On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress replaced the British symbols of the flag with a new design featuring 13 white stars in a circle on a field of blue and 13 red and white stripes – one for each state. This flag may have been made by the Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross, who was an official flag maker for the Pennsylvania Navy. The number of stars increased as the new states entered the Union, but the number of stripes returned to 13. The American flag is nicknamed as “Old Glory”, “stars and stripes” or “star-spangled banner”.
The second part of the session was dedicated to topic of LGBT civil rights. President Obama has selected June to be LGBT Pride Month. The date commemorates the 1969 Stonewall Riots in which police raided the Stonewall Inn, a New York City gay club. On civil rights progress, “our journey is not complete until our lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law,” said President Obama in one of his announcement.
The group was introduced to the Rainbow flag (the symbol of the LGBT movement) and shared the ideas about LGBT community in Ukraine.
Number of participants – 21 persons.
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A group of young and ambitious IT students from Dnipropetrovsk National University decided to start a learning project and try to win a funding opportunity on a globally known platform KICKSTARTER based in the USA.
The team of creators visit Window on America Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine) to find information for their project that will help Ukrainians and other people to study the English language.
Some of the brainstorming sessions also take place at the WOA premises.
We wish the team to succeed in reaching their funding goal and launching the project that will be beneficial for the learners of English both in Ukraine and globally.
Number of participants – 4 persons.
"Window on America" Center Dnipropetrovsk completes its project of collaboration with students of the National Mining University «From mines to art heights».
American lecturer at the Dnipropetrovsk National Mining University – Mr. Brian Chang – spent 10 months in our city. During all this time he encouraged students to visit the library and participate in its activities. He particularly recommended the WOA’s film collection and screening of the best American movies.
During today’s visit the NMU students watched iconic adventure film about the time travel «Back to the Future» (1985).
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.
We hope for further cooperation with the Mining University students and lecturers!
Number of participants – 11.
Today in Wednesday Movie Club was held in unusual format. All those wishing to improve the level of English were asked to review and discuss in English video lectures by globally known psychologists available at You Tube’s TEDx channel.
The International community organizes events at TEDx in TED-style (Ideas worth spreading) to present to the public ideas that can change the world.
Today TEDx covers the following areas of our life – education, art, science, sports, sociology, medicine, business, energy and others. TEDx project provides the opportunity for the world's leading scientists, political scientists and sociologists, artists and designers, programmers and university professors to share their ideas with millions of people.
Number of participants – 5.
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Today’s session of the Gabfest Club at the "Window on America" Dnipropetrovsk / Ukraine was dedicated to the World Environment Day.
The 2015 theme for World Environment Day (WED) is Sustainable consumption and production. The slogan for the theme is 'Seven Billion Dreams; One Planet; Consume with Care'. We have discussed the WED posters than recommended the following actions to keep the planet clean and safe:
-Eat vegetarian at least once a week
-Fly with an e-ticket
-Telecommute
-Dine in! instead of fast food places with plastic utensils
-Fix leaky pipes
-Recycle old electronic devices
-Rethink bottled water
-Change your light.
The second part of the session was dedicated to a Success story. The Club’s loyal member Yulia shared her story of finding employment abroad and her experience of living and working in another culture. All the club members were grateful for the shared experience and became motivated to improve their spoken English.
Number of participants – 21 persons.
«Wednesday Movie Club» at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine offered screening of the comedy film «Morning Glory» (2010).
WOA’s patrons who wish to improve their language skills enjoyed the film and the discussion that followed.
Plot: An upstart television producer accepts the challenge of reviving a struggling morning show program with warring co-hosts.
Morning Glory is a 2010 American comedy film directed by Roger Michell, written by Aline Brosh McKenna and produced by J. J. Abrams and Bryan Burk. It stars Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, and Diane Keaton, with Patrick Wilson, John Pankow and Jeff Goldblum appearing in supporting roles. The plot revolves around young and devoted morning television producer Becky Fuller (McAdams), who gets hired as an executive producer on the long-running morning show DayBreak, at a once-prominent but currently failing station in New York City. Eager to keep the show on air, she recruits a former news journalist and anchor (Ford) who disapproves of co-hosting a show that does not deal with real news stories.
After some delays, the film was released in the United States on November 10, 2010, and abroad in 2011. This marked the first time that Bad Robot Productions produced a comedy film. Morning Glory received mixed reviews and had moderate success at the box office, grossing $60 million worldwide. The theme song of the film is "Strip Me" by Natasha Bedingfield.
Summer – is a time for trips with your camera.
The "Window on America" Center Dnipropetrovsk presented to the patrons a new book display "The Art of Photography".
The showcased books and albums present the American view on the art of photography. Each visitor can look through these books and get the tips that will help to make better photos.
The highlights of the book display: a colorful album "America 24/7" and original photo booklets – gifts from the American photographer Yanos Enyedi who works in the genre of industrial photo collage.
Summer has started. Get ready for summer!
