Celebrating Halloween

On October 27^th there was the meeting of English-speaking club on the occasion of the coming holiday Halloween. The club was led by the two students of Ternopil national economic university, Kristina Kernitska and Natalia Kovalchuk. These girls prepared a presentation on the topic “Halloween” with a lot of interesting activities for participants.

16 participants were present; among them 1 volunteer from Canada, 1 librarian, 2 pupils, 4 specialists, 8 students. They listened to some facts about the holiday, took part in discussing different ways of celebrating Halloween, worked in groups and made two Halloween pumpkins, watched a Halloween video and had fun in general.

Different opinions were expressed concerning the meaning of the holiday for it touches the item of evil. As not all people celebrate such a holiday and not all of them appreciate such a celebration, the following conclusions were made. Those families, who do not celebrate Halloween, they switch off the lights in their houses for about two or three hours in the evening. Those who celebrate the holiday but do not like evil creatures may dress up in any costume of an animal or any other nice item. So everyone should feel comfortable during the eve of celebration of the beautiful and tricky holiday of Halloween.

TOEFT Test Takers Club with a PC volunteer

On October 26^th there was a meeting of TOEFL Test Takers Club. The club was led by a student of Ternopil national economic university Diana Goliash together with a Peace Corps volunteer Sharece Michelle Bunn.

There were 6 participants, among them 5 students and 1 PC volunteer. They trained in listening and speaking sections of TOEFL iBT test. They used a book with tests and audio-CDs. The topics of speaking were: “A Marriage Partner” and “News”.

The main problem in speaking was the limit of time. Students were supposed to speak for 45 seconds and the preparation time was 15 seconds. So the native speaker, Sharece Bunn, tried to explain how to manage to cope with such a task. After some training the participants had a success in speaking.

English-speaking club - Steve Jobs & Apple products

In Window on America center on October 20^th there was a meeting of English-speaking club on the topic “Steve Jobs & Apple products”. The club was led by a PC volunteer Amanda Norton. She prepared a presentation about some facts from Steve Job’s lifetime and a text about Apple products.

There were 19 participants, among them 2 PC volunteers, 2 pupils (11^th formers), 2 specialists, 1 librarian, 12 students. They listened to Amanda’s presentation and then read a text in groups. Afterwards the participants presented the information about the six Apple products themselves. While preparing they actively used both iPads to search information.

The topic of discussion was actual enough and people got to know about such a prominent personality of 21^st century as Steve Jobs. They also had the opportunity not only to get information about Apple products but also to use one of them, the iPad.

TOEFT Test Takers Club

In Window on America center  on October 19^th there was a meeting of people who are preparing for the TOEFL test. It was decided to name it TOEFL Test Takers Club.

The club is led by a second year student of Ternopil National Economic University Diana Goliash. Resources used for training are: TOEFL iBT / Pamela J. Sharpe. – 13^th ed., TOEFL iBT audio CD pack & CD-Rom, Internet resources (http://www.graduateshotline.com/sampletoefl.html), dictionaries (English-Ukrainian). All resourced were donated thanks to the American Corners project of the US Embassy in Kyiv.

There were 9 participants; all are students of Ternopil National Economic University. They trained in reading and used one model test. One of them trained also in listening and used one model test. Four students used iPads and passed through one TOEFL Practice Test. They all checked their results and discussed them. For the next time PC volunteer is invited and a training in speaking is planned.

We hope this new activity in center will get popularity as this is a great opportunity to train English language skills.

English-speaking club - Octoberfest

On October 13^th there was the meeting of the English-speaking club. The topic of discussion was an Octoberfest. Two Peace Corps volunteers, Amanda Norton and Sharece Bunn, led the discussion.

The event started with reading the information about when is Oktoberfest, beer and food, history, opening ceremony and other countries, were the fest is celebrated. There was mentioned that in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States there are 500,000 participants plus visitors and in Denver, Colorado, United States there are 450,000+ visitors.

After reading the game was played, based on the questions to the text. The participants were divided into four teams with two and three players in each. One of the participants took part in the Octoberfest in Germany. His name is Vitaliy Chemenko, who is the citizen of Vancouver, Canada and he also has Ukrainian roots. That is why the participants of the club had an opportunity to communicate with one more English-speaking person.

14 participants were present, among them 8 students, 2 specialists, 2 PC volunteers, 1 librarian and 1 guest from Canada. They all were practicing in using an iPad and decided to meet in a week and talk about Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple Inc.