«The Happiest Sound In All The World!»
“Wednesday Movie Club” at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine offered screening of the musical drama film «The Sound of Music» (1965) to all who wish to improve their language skills.
The Sound of Music is a 1965 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, with songs written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, the musical book written by the writing team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, and the screenplay written by Ernest Lehman.
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. The Sound of Music was filmed on location in Salzburg, Austria; the state of Bavaria in Germany; and at the 20th Century Fox studios in California, United States. It was photographed in the 70mm Todd-AO format by Ted D. McCord.
The film won five Academy Awards including Best Picture and displaced Gone with the Wind as the highest-grossing film of all-time while the accompanying soundtrack album was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year. The film has popularized songs from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, including "Edelweiss", "My Favorite Things", "Climb Ev'ry Mountain", "Do-Re-Mi", "Sixteen Going on Seventeen", "The Lonely Goatherd", and the title song, "The Sound of Music".
In 2001, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry as it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
On March, 10 DOUNB Library and WOA Center were visited the by representatives of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv - Ms. Rachel Atwood from the Cultural Affairs office and Ms. Natalka Vasyukhnik, the coordinator of the U.S. government programs’ alumni.
The honored guests were offered a slide show about the mission and the achievements of the WOA Dnipropetrovsk center. The meeting was also attended by the WOA’s partners in Dnipropetrovsk: Mr. Brian Chung, the Fulbright exchange lecturer at the Mining University; Mr. Jason Rush, the volunteer at the WOA’s “Gabfest” English-speaking club; Ms. Dasha Gerasymova, the FLEX exchange coordinator.
WOA Dnipropetrovsk staff members Svitlana Usenko and Tamara Gavryliuk informed the guests about the numerous WOA’s projects in the past and in progress. The local partners shared their impressions about the joint events and projects.
On behalf of the DOUNB Library administration the guests were greeted by Mrs. Tetiana Abraimova, the vice-director. She presented the guests with a local souvenir and offered the samples of the WOA’s promotional materials.The library received a US Embassy’s grant in 2014 to print these materials and promote the WOA’s activities.
We have great hopes for the future cooperation of the DOUNB Library and the US Embassy in Ukraine.
Today’s session was dedicated to the International Women’s Day.
Each year around the world, International Women's Day (IWD) is
celebrated on March 8. Thousands of events occur not just on this day
but throughout March to mark the economic, political and social
achievements of women.
Organizations, governments, charities and
women's groups around the world choose different themes each year that
reflect global and local gender issues. "Make it happen" is the 2015th
theme of the internationalwomensday.com website.
We have watched a funny slide show about the innovations introduced by
women – like coffee filters, water heater, chocolate chip cookies,
windshield wipers, Kevlar, etc. We have watched and discussed the video
show about women-leaders from numerous countries of the world.
The
final activity today was the introduction of the March, 8th traditions
to our American friends - Jason and Brian. We talked about corporate
traditions, school traditions and family traditions of Women’s Day
celebration. They told us some fun facts about the traditions of
equality they observed in Ukraine.
Number of participants – 15 persons.
The "Window on America" center hosted American Teen Club for teenagers, who are willing to improve their English language, get to know about the United States and have a good time!
The meeting was lead by the FLEX alumni Hanna Akastelova’13.
Today’s session of the American Teen Club started with grammar exercises. The group tried their luck with on-line grammar tests.
The next activity offered by the moderators was an action game that allowed to activate the vocabulary and helped to improve communication in the group.
The successfully completed tests and exercises as a rule triggered joyful bursts of laughter. Besides the new knowledge the teenagers received a boost of positive emotions.
The educational effect of the session was complemented with a visit of our American guests – Mr. Brian and Mr. Jason. The group had a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate their conversational skills to the native-speakers.
According to the Ukrainian traditions of International Women’s Day observance the girls and the WOA staff received spring flowers from the TeenClub’s gentlemen.
Number of participants – 9 persons.
Have a look at more pictures, please
“Wednesday Movie Club” at Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine offered screening of the drama/musical film ‘Moulin Rouge!’ (2001) to all who wish to improve their language skills.
Plot: A poet falls for a beautiful courtesan whom a jealous duke covets in this stylish musical, with music drawn from familiar 20th century sources.
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Writers: Baz Luhrmann, Craig Pearce
Stars: Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo
Number of participants – 7.
The WOA center has presented a new book display for the patrons. The title of the display is “The Women’s World of America”. The display showcases the center’s resources about outstanding female personalities in the USA - the books about;
- the famous first ladies of the country;
- the well-known American writers and poets;
- the jazz singers;
- the athletes, doctors and journalists.
All library patrons are invited to explore the book display!
The books will be on display until the end of March 2015.
In the framework of the “U.S. Art Residence” project Window o America Dnipropetrovsk center's staff prepared a session dedicated to the art of sculpture. The “Gabfest” Club members were familiarized with a row of American sculptors.
We started the presentation with the videos about the works of Augustus Saint-Gaudens. During the three decades of a remarkable career, he redirected and invigorated the course of American sculpture away from a Neoclassical aesthetic to a lively, naturalistic style, while also ardently promoting the nationalistic concept of an American school of sculpture. The video about the “Robert Gould Shaw Memorial” (1884–97) for Boston impressed the group. It depicts a procession of African-American foot soldiers of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry with their commander Colonel Shaw on his horse with an angel of glory hovering above, a stunning synthesis of real and ideal. Other videos illustrated his monuments for New York and the project for “the most beautiful coin in the world” – the 20$ coin.
Another name introduced to the audience was that of Frederic Remington .His artistic career took an unexpected turn when he learned the basics of clay modeling from a fellow sculptor. Remington's “Broncho Buster” was an instant success, admired for its moment-in-time rendering of a cowboy astride a bucking horse. His talent for sculpture was matched by his technical derring-do and predilection for storytelling detail, resulting in some of the finest American small bronzes of the time. The abstract US sculpture was presented by the works of American sculptors with European roots – J. Lipchitz and O. Archipenko.
The second part of the session was dedicated to the group conversation about the sculptures of Dnipropetrovsk. The club members tried to tell our American guest Mr. Brian about the famous local monuments and their symbolism. The topic was challenging and educational to all participants.
Number of participants – 22 persons.
The "Window on America" center hosted American Teen Club members, Dnipropetrovsk teenagers, who are willing to improve their English language, get to know about the United States and have a good time. The meeting was lead by the FLEX alumni Darya Gerasymova'13 and Hanna Akastelova’13.
The session of the American Teen Club started with grammar exercises. The group tried their luck with on-line grammar tests.
The next activity offered by the moderators was an action game that allowed to activate the vocabulary and helped to improve communication in the group.
The successfully completed tests and exercises as a rule triggered joyful bursts of laughter. Besides the new knowledge the teenagers received a boost of positive emotions.
Number of participants – 12 persons.
Have a look at more pictures, please
