ChatGPT: a friend or a foe?

Do you believe that AI takes a huge role in our daily lives? It’s hard to find a person who hasn’t heard anything about ChatGPT, Gemini or even Siri.

Thus our last English Speaking Practice was dedicated to different tools of AI. We had a great discussion about this technology and how it’s shaping our world, exploring the benefits, challenges, and failures of artificial intelligence!
Key topics we covered:
☑️AI tools we use in daily life
☑️How AI (ChatGPT) help in our routine
☑️Negative points of AI.

Thanks to Alana Underwood, our friend, a VSPP, who made this meeting powerful and full of English. Who knew tech talk could be so fun? 🤩

Reading makes me feel...

Reading is more than just words on a page - it’s an emotional journey. During our last English Speaking Practice we explored how reading makes us feel through creative activities, engaging discussions, and storytelling challenges like “Read & React”.

We started off with a simple but a very engaging task - “Emotional Book Covers”. All the participants chose emojis which represented how specific genre/book made them feel. Among them there were Stephen King Books, Harry Potter books, Disney Books, Narnia etc.

After that we did another activity “Read & React”.

We took short excerpts from various books where each participant took a role and tried to act as a main character expressing his emotions.

And for our students creativity, they were given a task to Create Your Own Book Covers. Using such activities makes language learning more engaging and personal. Can’t wait to see their pictures in our Telegram Chat.

Laughter is the Best Medicine!

Laughter is truly the best medicine 😁💊!

In our latest English Speaking Practice for youth we had an amazing opportunity to explore how laughter influences our mood and wellbeing. It has an incredible impact on both our physical and emotional health. To start off, we remembered some funny moments that has happened in our life, and we shared some good stories from the past. Then, our American friend, a VSPP, Alana Underwood, made the session even more engaging by teaching us some fun and useful idioms related to laughter. To put our language skills into action, we played some hilarious games, including Mad Libs and Pictionary. In Mad Libs, we filled in random words to complete silly stories, which made us burst out laughing every time we read them aloud. Pictionary added another layer of fun, as we tried to guess ridiculous drawings, often ending up in stitches over the funniest interpretations.

Join us next session, and let’s keep the good vibes going!

My Plan, My Spring Ideas

Have you ever had a Spring Fever?

In our latest English Speaking Practice for Kherson and Mariupol youth, we embraced the arrival of spring by discussing what this season means to each of us. For some, it’s a time of new beginnings and fresh energy, while others associates it with longer days, blooming flowers, and the joy of warmer weather.

To make our conversation even more exciting, we learned spring-themed idioms that add color to our language:🧹🧼 spring cleaning; 💭spring to mind; 👧spring chicken; 🚶a spring in one’s step. We also shared our experiences and how the season affects our mood and motivation!

What does spring mean to you? How do you welcome this beautiful season? Let us know in the comments! 💬

Languages we speak

Last English Speaking Practice for Kherson and Mariupol Youth took a deep dive into the essential topic of language learning. From the easiest aspects to the trickiest challenges, we shared our experiences, techniques, and favorite ways to remember new vocabulary.

Some participants mentioned that listening and understanding spoken English feels intuitive, especially when exposed to movies, TV shows or music. Another key point was motivation - when we’re interested in the language, whether for travel, career opportunities, just for fun, learning becomes an exciting journey rather than a task.

Also most of students agreed that mastering grammar rules and exceptions can be difficult to understand. Another challenge is speaking fluently without overthinking or translating from our native language. However, thanks to our VSPP, Alana Underwood, our members feel free to speak and discuss different topics.

At the end of the session we all got inspired and motivated. And most importantly, we reminded ourselves that making mistakes is a natural part of the process - every error is a step closer to fluency!