Learning and Teaching English though internet resources

    On December 18, English teachers from Sumy and Sumy region attended a meeting at the Sumy Window on America Center. We told the teachers about the resources of the American Center, that might be helpful for the teachers in their preparation for their classes, spoke about the activities of the Center for patrons. The second part of this meeting started with the presentation on English language teaching and learning online resources. During the meeting the main eLibraryUSA databases, resources and tools for searching information were introduced to participants.

English Language Teaching and Learning Resources

   On December 11, 2013 Sumy Window on America center hosted a seminar for teachers of English . We carried out the presentation for teachers on online resources for learning and teaching English, focused on American English website, eLibraryUSA, computer game Trace Effects. Our guests trained to use Kindle and iPad and enjoyed the meeting. We invite them to come see our beautiful center again and participate in our programs.

Conversation Circle

In November there were four meetings of the Conversation Circle. The topic of the 1^st meeting of the Club on November 6^th was “Moustache and Beard”. The discussion was very joyful and vivacious. People exchanged views on the point, remembered good and not very good examples of using of moustaches and beards by famous people and their acquaintances. During the 2^nd and the 3^rd meeting on November 13^th and 20^th respectively were discussed topics “Home” and “American Football”. The last meeting of the month on November 27^th was devoted to the celebration of the Thanksgiving Day. The Peace Corps Volunteer Ashley told about its history and the way it was celebrated in the USA and by the Americans living in other countries. Members of the Club agreed to meet and celebrate it together. 

Mass media

Welcome to English-Speaking Club. Last month we had a variety of topics discussed:

5.11 and 12.11 – Leadership

19.11 - Discussing News

26.11 - Mass Media.

Today we've spoken about mass media and its influence on our life. The participants of our club tried to answer the following questions: What things should not news report on? What is censorship? When should the news be censored? Do you think that media focus too much on bad news and not enough on good news? The discussion was instructive and interesting and the participants were active.

Conversation Circle

October was the second month of the work of the Conversation Circle after summer break. During this period 5 meetings were held. The topic of the first one on October 2^nd was “Idioms and Adjectives”, during the second meeting on October 9^th members of the Club discussed theme “Food”.  “What do you like to do in autumn?” was the topic of the 3^rd meeting on October 16^th. It was real fun to learn how different people spent their free time during this rainy month. When the weather’s good people mostly prefer to stay outdoors, when it’s not it’s high time to visit cinemas, theatres etc. The names of the 4^th and the 5^th meetings of the Club held respectively on October 23^rd and 30^th were “Expressing likes and dislikes” and “Halloween”. During the last meeting of the month Ashley told about the history of the celebrating of Halloween and traditions used in the USA. Discussion was very intense and cheerful!

Being Brave

Welcome to English-Speaking Club. Last month we had a variety of topics discussed:

1.10 – How did I spend my holidays
8.10 – Why I learn English
15.10 – Our hobbies.
22.10 – Discussing Music
29.10 – What does it mean being brave?
What does it mean being brave? Today we tried to identify what it means being brave. In a form of conversation our participants expressed their thoughts and formulated that being brave means to speak to the public, to go to space, able to face and deal with danger, to tell someone a truth that paint you unpretty. Being brave means owning your fears. Being brave means trusting the voice inside yourself that says “you can do this” because you totally can.
What makes you feel brave? Come and speak on this and many other conversational issues!

Window on America Center Tours

 On October 28 and 29 Sumy Window on America Center run 2 tours for pupils of 6 and 8 forms of secondary school №17. Our center is a fun and interesting place for kids and families. Our center offers more than just books; there are many services, programs and resources available to help to like learning, reading, foreign languages. Our events are usually fun, exciting and educational. Children were introduced to the various center services and collection. Also they had a great fun playing Kinect games.

Pumpkin Carving Day

On 26 of October we gathered at the Window on America Center for Pumpkin Carving Day. PC volunteer David told about the history and traditions of the holiday, the way he and his family celebrate the Halloween in the United States. David showed how to do pumpkin carving and invited everybody to try. Those who visited the master class started to work with pleasure. It was the most exciting part of the event and the results were fantastic. All pumpkin decorations were different and excellent.

Teachers from Sumy region visited Window on America Center

Teachers from Sumy region visited Window on American Center for the first time. Our guests got to know about the main objectives of the Center - to provide information about the United States, to maintain an open dialog through programs, to provide access to English-language resources, computers,the Internet. We told the teachers about the resources of the American Center, which were designed to help them in their work, spoke about the activities of the Center for patrons. Leaving many participants said that they discovered Window on American Center and  they will be happy to visit it again with their students.

English Games Night

15 people came to our first week of English Game night.  We started with Kinnect games, and played darts, and rafting on the television.  Then because we had a good number of people arrive, we decided to split the group into two groups and half of us played Uno while the other group continued to play Kinnect games. This was very successful as some people had never played UNO before.

On 21 of October we completed a world geography puzzle together and then we split into groups and played the following games: Scrabble, Taboo, and A 10 day trip across America.  We will play some new games for next week, so come see which new games we will play!

Conversation Circle

 Our English-Speaking Club named Conversation Circle started to work In September. Now it is led by the new Peace Corps volunteer Ashley Wichman. There were four meetings of the club in this month.  The topic of the first meeting on September 4^th was “Introduction”. Ashley introduced herself and told about her plans as for the work of the club. Old members and friends met and new ones introduced themselves. Communication is a real fun especially when it borders with the mastering of English and it is the main goal of our club. Topic “Travelling” was discussed during the second meeting. Mostly people told how they spend summer, where they traveled, spared impressions and discussed future plans. The third and the fourth meetings of the Conversation Circle on September 18^th and 25^th were devoted to the discussing of the topics “Life Goals” and “Winter Sports”.

Pumpkin Carving Day

 

Books Donation

  We would like to express our sincere appreciation to Martha and Don who donated books to our Window on America Center. Thank you so much for the books.  They arrived in excellent condition. We are absolutely thrilled at the selection. Now we have full list of the Harry Potter books.

Thank you for your interest in donating to the Window on America Center!

Thank you again for supporting the Center!

Games Day!

Attention All Game Players!!!

Every Monday at 5.30 pm “Window on America” center will be hosting an afternoon filled with games and fun. Games that will be offered, include:

XKinect, Scrabble,Taboo, Monopoly, Mafia,UNO ….                                                                                                  

Question and Answer session with American diplomats

     A group of English- Speaking club members gathered at the Sumy Window on America center to meet a distinguished guests – diplomats Liz Horst and Jermel McGaskey from the American Embassy. We enjoyed more than an hour long discussion with our guests. During the meeting we participated in discussion on some economic issues, knew more about work of economic department of the American Embassy, spoke on general topics such as cuisine, transport, culture, movies of the USA and Ukraine.We express our appreciation for our guests informative discussion and their enthusiasm for interacting with the audience.

English-speaking club

English-speaking club had its 2 meetings in August and you are welcome to visit us!

6.08 – What do you think about America?

13.08 - Competition. Its role in our life.

Together with our volunteer David the guests of our club discussed the importance of competition in our life and other psychological issues. The participants read the text, enriched their vocabulary with new words on the topic. Everyone had an opportunity to express his point of view and to speak about real-life situations that depict the importance of competition.

The first club meeting in September will be held on Tuesday, September 17th at 5.30 p.m.

Question and Answer session with American diplomats

On September 5 at 5.30 Sumy Window on America center will host meeting with Liz Horst and Jermel McGaskey ( Embassy of the USA, Ukraine). We will speak on general topics with stress to economic issues.

You are welcome!

English-Speaking Club

English-speaking club has its 2 meetings in July and you are welcome to visit us!

We've discussed plenty of topics (social, psychological issues), created posters and enjoyed American sweets. The participants of our club had an opportunity to improve their English with David and Ashley, our volunteers.

Looking forward to meeting you.

Bring your friends with you!

Let's speak English!

Photo Exhibit ” America the Unexpected”

  On July 16 the photo exhibition” America the Unexpected” has opened at the Sumy Oblast Research Library, Window on America Center sponsored by the American Embassy in Kiev. Ivan Dudkin is arguably the finest photographer of his time, and without a doubt the most prolific. He is known not only in Ukraine but abroad too for his photography. There were 67 his personal photo exhibitions in 24 cities of Ukraine also in the USA, India, Poland, Vietnam. His photographs have been published in such magazines as “International Tourism” and “Welcome to Ukraine”.  Ivan Dudkin visited the USA for 7 times, traveled to 28 states and thinks that the United States of America is one of the most unique and comfortable country in the world.

 If you want to see wonderful photos, to know more about the USA you are welcome!

Exhibition will be on display till 29 of July.

Playing Games

Welcome to English-Speaking Club. Last month we had a variety of topics discussed:


4.06 – Playing game “Family Feud”

11.06 – Free conversation and playing game “Feud”

18.06 – Summer projects. We are enjoying summer together with our English – Speaking club. Summer is a time of holidays and vacations. Together with our PC volunteer David we are also having a great time. Various board games are getting more popular among our patrons, as they help to entertain oneself, to learn new vocabulary easily, to communicate. Learning English is getting more pleasant. Everyone is invited to enjoy these or other activities at our English – Speaking club in September after summer break.

Games Day

On 12 of June Sumy Window on America center was visited by the high school students. In summer when the time of vacations and holidays comes, our center becomes a favorite place of leisure activity for many schoolchildren. They just came to the library to learn some new games. We showed and tested  new collection of board games such as “Taboo” and “Monopoly”, also our guests collected puzzle map of the United States. Our staff and schoolchildren worked together to help each other to learn new games because the best way to learn new game is in a group. We had a great fun playing board games!

 

New information and fun for children

On June 3^rd Sumy Window on America Center run two tours for pupils of the 6^th and 11^th forms of the school №2 and the tour for the pupils of the 9^th form from the school №17. On the whole our Centre visited 78 children. We told them about printed resources of the Sumy WOA and made brief demonstrations of the Kindles and iPads.  Besides we gave them information about Rosetta Stone program designed to help learn English and told about work of the PC volunteers in Sumy, about our clubs and courses of foreign languages. After that each group of children played Kinect games.

Conversation Circle

There were four meetings of the Conversation Circle in May. During the first one on May 8^th the members of the club played the card game “Uno”. During the second meeting on May 15^th topic “What I am going to do in summer” was discussed. After that the members of the Circle played the game “Mad Lips”. The third and the fourth meetings of the Conversation Circle on May 22^nd and 29^th were also devoted to the developing talkative habits during the playing learning games such as “Hot Seat”, “M’n M’s” and others. The fourth meeting was the last one under the leadership of Jennifer Alton. She is leaving for home after two years in Ukraine. Members of the Conversation Circle wished her good luck. We are very grateful Jane for her active participation in the work of our Conversation Circle. The meetings of the club have been extremely fascinating and everybody really enjoyed them. A lot of various interesting topics and situations that were of great use for the English learners were discussed during the latest period. Good luck, Jane!!!

English - Speaking Club

Welcome to English-Speaking Club. Our club is not lesson, our club is games, dialogs, it will help you to speak. Last month we had a variety of topics discussed. We ask our PC volunteer David to tell some words about our last meeting.

Resources for studying English.

On May 30, Window on American center hosted meeting with high school students. Our guests learned about the main objectives of the Centre - to be a partner in promoting mutual understanding between Ukrainian and American people, to provide accurate information about the United States, to provide access to English resources. . We presented “American English” website and eLibraryUSA to which all Window on America centers in Ukraine were signed up by the Department of State. We also presented Kindle and iPads and students got especially interested in an educational game Spelling Star available at the Kindle, which helps to improve language skills.

Fun and informative programs for kids.

On 27, 28, 29 of May we run tours for kids to help them explore our collections. The events were attended by schoolchildren aged 10-13. Kids had fun with books, iPads, board and Kinect games. We hope that visiting the Window on America center motivated our guests to study English language, and know the USA better.

Spelling Bee

On 22 of May we were glad to host meeting with kids from Classical gymnasium. Our meeting was devoted to Spelling Bee, a competition in which contestants are asked to spell words. The concept is thought to have originated in the United States and Spelling Bee events are now held in many countries around the world. Participants of this event could not only get the information about the history and rules of Spelling Bee, watched movie trailer about Spelling Bee but also took part in contest, which was organized by PC volunteer David. After our contest kids played Kinect games with David. All of them left the Window on America center in the wonderful mood.

The Ukrainian American Connections Photo Contest

The Ukrainian American Connections Photo Contest is sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv and the Window on America Center in Sumy. The purpose of this Contest is to engage Ukrainians in telling America’s story. Take an original still photograph which demonstrates “Ukrainian American connections.” From 2 of July till 15 of July you must provide a copy of your photograph, digital or analog, to the Sumy Window on America Center.

 The winner will receive one Canon IXUS 1100 HS Silver.  

For more information visit Sumy Window on America center or call 22 31 43.

Сharity in our society

Welcome to English-Speaking Club. Last month we had a variety of topics discussed:

9.04 "How do you feel giving other people money"

16.04, 23.04 Project "Spending money in different ways"

One of the issues we’ve discussed this month was charity and it’s importance in human society. During the club meetings many people shared their attitude to this question. We can’t but mention an interesting and unusual project, held by our volunteers, David and Debbie, as they gave our participants an opportunity to do charity themselves. In a week the guests of our club told about their impressions from charity. One can say with certainty, that this project found a warm response in the soul of everyone, who took part in it.

Conversation Circle

In April there were three meetings of the Conversation Circle. During the first one held on April 10^th the members of the Circle played educational and very informative game “Three words”. The next meeting on April 17^th was devoted to the exchanging views on the topic “What makes the story interesting”. Took place an interesting discussion. People exchanged views, interesting facts and ideas on the point. During the 3^rd meeting on April 24th members of the circle played a game named “Word association”. It was a real fun with a lot of laughter and positive emotions and of course with the improving of the talkative habits of English.     

 

6th grade students at the Window on America.

   On 24 of April more than 20 students of the 6^th grade from Classical Gymnasium visited Sumy Window on America center. We told our guests about printed and e resources of the Window on America center, which were designed to help them in learning English, presented Rosetta Stone, spoke about the activities of the center. We told the students about the various new projects of PC volunteers in Sumy, in which they can participate. We gave them a brief demonstration on kindle and iPad. Also they had a great fun playing table and Kinect games.

 

 

Discover Connecticut

On 19 of April students from Classical gymnasium came to the Window on America center to meet PC Volunteer David and to know more about his native state Connecticut. Our young guests asked too many questions, concerning American teenagers, food, school life, entertainment, American holidays, and so on. The conversation was very lively and positive. They played Spelling Bee and didn’t want to go home. We thank David, students and their English teacher for the interesting meeting and we are looking forward our future joint events!

Welcome to Window on America center!

   On April, 17 Sumy Window on America Center hosted a group of school students, they got acquainted with our center. Also we introduced children to popular American board games such as Scrabble, Monopoly and Taboo.The kids were pleased to participate in joyful and informative board game Taboo, learnt new words and phrases in English.

PC volunteer Julia Lee was our guest of the event. Children learnt about San Francisco and demonstrated their knowledge of English, asking her a lot of questions. In the end everybody enjoyed playing kinect games and left the center in the wonderful mood.

 

XBox Kinect in the Library

  On 10 of April 29 high school students from Classical gymnasium visited Sumy Window on America Center to learn more about its activities, e-resources and e- devices. We believe that games are an important part of development. It was a great experience to try Xbox Kinect and we hope to be able to add it to our offerings soon. Students played the Kinect games which allowed to dance, play sports, exercise, and more. Xbox Kinect games took them into the action and let them interact in the game.

Come to us to play and have a good time! You are guaranteed to have a fun and share laughs!

Explore the Site of Learning English

LearningEnglish.voanews.com is a site that provides engaging and interesting content based on news and information. Special English is “special” because stories are read at a slower rate of speech than regular VOA English programs. Also, the stories are written at the intermediate and upper-beginner level, and in some cases at lower levels. The content changes regularly. There is something for everyone of all ages and fields of interest, whether learning or teaching English. Additionally, users can access content on foreign policy issues to review, discuss, or debate.

Explore the site! Regular use of Learning English will help teachers and learners use and improve their English, while learning about a broad range of topics, in an innovative and creative way.

1. Go to http://learningenglish.voanews.com/

2. Choose a story that is relevant and interesting to your learners or related to your curriculum.

3. Read and listen to the story. It may take a moment to explore how to listen and read the story at the same time. (Print the story or cut and paste the text to a word processing document to be able to make copies or work with it offline in a classroom setting.)

4. Decide what activities go best with the story or for your class. Activities like discussion groups, giving speeches based on the topic, vocabulary study, and word games are some of the many options.

5. Now try the YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/voalearningenglish). How can you best use this resource? Over 1,000 short captioned videos on many different subjects are available.

6. Gather participants to use the material. Take this opportunity to preview ECA’s American English website (http://americanenglish.state.gov/) and Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/AmericanEnglishatState) as resources to use. Ask participants to "like" the Facebook page. This will give you a way to organize activities in advance of the arrival of Rosetta Stone and Pimsleur products, integrating these into American Spaces and other venues.

7. Organize a lesson around a Special English story. You may wish to focus on the story itself, reactions to it, or aspects of the language presented in it. This is a good way to work in foreign policy topics and promote discussion as relates to learners’ lives.

8. Let students work online or explore how they can use the stories working from their mobile devices or CDs you burn for this purpose (or on computers where you have downloaded a number of text/audio files.)

9. You or your participants may be able to take part in a Skype call-in show with VOA in Washington. Watch the VOA Learning English Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/voalearningenglish) for details.

Xbox @ the library

  On 3 of April about 30 students from high school visited Window on America center. They learned more about collection of children's literature in English, about American board games. Most of attention was attracted by Kindle and iPads.  Our guests expressed great interest in learning about Window on America center events, our resources and services. We tried the Xbox Kinect in the library for the first time. It was a great experience, we had a real blast. The children had a great time, had a lot of fun, a lot of laughs and really enjoyed it. Leaving many participants said that they could not imagine that library was so cool place with iPads and Xbox and were going to return here again.

Playing the Game “100 Really Dumb Things”

Welcome to English-Speaking Club. Last month we had a variety of topics discussed:

5.03 Playing the game.

 Would you like to do a Chicken Dance around the room, to meow like a cat or to wear a cat nose? You can do it at our English – Speaking Club! That day the participants of our club played the game “100 Really Dumb Things”. The players drew cards, that told them to tap their heels together and to say “There is no place like home”, to do a hula dance using a tambourine, to pretend to jump rope, to hiss like a snake or to do some other dumb things. Everybody seemed to enjoy it, as it made all the players laugh uncontrollably at each other.

12.03. Writing a letter

19.03. Playing the game “Guess Who I Am”

26.03. What Do You Think About Charity?

Conversation Circle

There were three meetings of the Conversation Circle in March. During the first meeting on March 6^th was discussed topic “The International Women’s Day”.  Members of the Circle compared the ways it was celebrated in different countries and exchanged views about it. The topic of the second meeting on March 13^th was “St. Patrick’s Day”. People remembered the history of the Irish tradition and exchanged views on the topic. The 3^rd meeting took place on March 27^th and was devoted to the playing of two conversational games: “What to choose” and “Scattegories”. It was a real fun and pleasure.