Christmas is coming…

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

7.12 Playing the Game “Mafia”

14.12 Christmas Carol ( party and movie)

Christmas is coming… It is the time for the whole family to get together at Christmas dinner. Christmas is one of the most popular and important holidays in the USA. And today we had a chance to learn more about Christmas traditions of the American people. We watched the film “Christmas Carol”. And it was a pleasant surprise for us that our volunteer Arden arranged a small stand-up party. So we enjoyed the national American drink and food.

Thanksgiving Day.

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

2.11 Communication

9.11 Playing the game "Let's get Acquainted"

16.11 Thanksgiving Day

23.11 Thanksgiving Party. Thanksgiving is a holiday in November and it is a time for people to think about the things they are thankful for. Families and friends come together to celebrate Thanksgiving. They gather around a large table to give thanks for all blessings they have received during the year.
On Tuesday our volunteer Arden decided to make a Thanksgiving party and everyone was welcome to enjoy the warm atmosphere of the holiday. Every guest tried to bring something to eat: fruit, sweets, chocolates, cookies, juice, rolls, and buns. Some people made their best to cook something themselves so they brought home-made food. Before sitting down to dinner, all the participants paused to give their thanks in turns. Then they learnt about Thanksgiving in the USA, discussed interesting issues, took part in playing activities and just communicated with each other. The party was of great success.

30.11 Signs of the Zodiac.

The Launch of the Virtual Library Databases

WOA center is pleased to announce that access is now available for the global virtual library databases
All EBSCOhost Resources - Cross Searchable A set of databases from EBSCO Publishing - mostly full-text periodical collections, with an emphasis on peer-reviewed journals. Major components are Academic Search Premier with over 4,600 full-text journals and Business Source Premier with more than 2,150 full-text journals. Smaller, more specialized full-text databases include Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text, Regional Business News, and Fuente Academica.
All Gale Resources - Cross Searchable
Gale Virtual Reference LibraryGale Virtual Reference Library is a database of encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. These reference materials once were accessible only in the library, but now you can access them online from the library or remotely 24/7.
Ebrary Public Library (with Elibro & Elivro)Online, full-text collection of over 20,000 books in English, and 35,000 books in Spanish and Portuguese. Covers a wide range of topics, including sociology, psychology, history, political science, medicine, language and literature, philosophy and religion, education, business, the hard sciences and more.
Encyclopedia BritannicaBasic introduction to over 75,000 different topics, including encyclopedia articles, maps, news, definitions, and statistics.
Encyclopedia Britannica for KidsPerfect for students 8 years and above, this resource includes thousands of images, videos, animated timelines and of course, encyclopedia articles. It also has learning activities for English and language arts, mathematics, science and social studies.
Pop Culture UniverseAn authoritative digital library of information on American and world poplular culture, past and present, in a dynamic package. Built on hundresds of award-winning titles for all levels of researchers, PCU provides a safe haven for investigating topics that appeal to students-without the bias, advertising, suggestive content, or questionable authorship of commercial of fan sites.

English Language Teaching

On November 11 WOA center hosted a seminar for teachers of English language of Sumy and Sumy region. We acquainted them with teaching materials ( books,magazines,CDs, DVDs collections), presented online resources for teachers(English Language Learner Reference Center, Encyclopedia Britannica, Pop Culture Universe). A lot of request for future seminars of this kind were received.

Rosetta Stone

On November 5 over 30 pupils of secondary school attended our "Window on America" center for the first time. Pupils were told about the activities held in our center and were acquainted with the center's collections of books, CDs, DVDs. Our pupils were acquainted with the Rosetta Stone for learning English.This program uses a combination of images, text, and sound, with difficulty levels increasing as the student progresses, in order to teach various vocabulary terms and grammar without translation. They call this the "Dynamic Immersion method".
Our pupils took an interest in this program.

Michael Jackson, legendary king of pop

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

5.10.Elvis Presley

12.10. Quiz

19.10. Social issues

26.10. Michael Jackson

For two weeks the main topic of discussion was American culture and especial attention was paid to American music. We learnt much about two singers, who had taken the top of popularity not only in the USA but also around the world and both of them undoubtedly, had become the symbol of the American pop culture. They are Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson. Our volunteer Arden made the meetings full of activities to make the new information easier to capture: the participants watched music videos, listened to music, read and discussed the articles concerning the topic.

American Exchange Programs

On 27 and 8 of October our guests Nataliya Bulgakova, director of Educational Advising center "Osvita"(Kharkiv) and Oleg Tseluyko, program coordinator PH International USAID Community Connections program( Kyiv) delivered presentations on american exchange programs for students( Undergraduate Exchange Program) and for office employees, specialists, leaders of local commynity on topic law enforcement and preventive measures in dealing with crime among young people. Our local TV Channel put this event in it's evening news program.