The Art of Delegation

Despite those power issues in Ukraine 🇺🇦 we’re trying to catch up our meetings during English Practices. We started off with one of the summer speaking activities, which are always engaging and fun. Then we talked about chore delegation and our attitude to it, how often we want other people do something for us and what things we do ourselves. Of course we learned the grammar construction “Have/ Get something done” and “Have someone do something” and practiced using them in our speech, doing different activities.

What about you: do you prefer doing something by yourself or find people who can do that for you? 😉

Saying "NO": is it so easy?

Finally, after a week of break because of the electricity issue, we could meet up for an English Practice🤗. And how to say “No” to this such a nice group of people even if you’re tied up 🙃. By the way, how to say “No” politely and with gratitude - this and other questions we discussed during the meeting. Also we found out what are other phrases might be used instead of “I’m busy”.

Here are some examples of them: “I’m tied up”, “I have lots on my plate”, “My hands are full”, “It’s been a hectic day” etc. We all came up with an idea that it’s really not easy to refuse, but after watching a video we learned about some strategies which we could use in the future.

P.C. all the phrases, expressions and videos you can find in our telegram group, so please join us 👇

https://t.me/+TS58W2NYNenDOTg0

British Culture and Stereotypes: Facts or Caps

What do you know about British people? Do you believe that they carry their umbrellas ☂️ and drink tea 🫖 all the time?

On the last English Practice we explored British Culture and looked through some stereotypes that lots of people have. It was really interesting to find out that Brits love queuing for anything and everything. They also have a certain code of conduct when it comes to queuing and you can never jump the line.

Another stereotype which was new for me is that the British have a “stiff upper lip” and they traditionally do not express their emotions or talk about how they feel openly.

We also could compare those facts to our culture and shared our thoughts in English. Thanks to @peacecorpsukraine we have a native speaker from the USA 🇺🇸 who helps improve our English.

If you’re interested in exploring Great Britain 🇬🇧 or just want to boost the language we invite you to join our online meetings on Thursdays at 4pm 🇺🇦.

Family Relationships

That was a great start of our English Summer Practices 🙌 where active participants boost their knowledge on the Family Topic and improved their speaking skills meeting two American volunteers 🇺🇸.

We started off with the funny video to see royal manners and this way we tuned into conversation.

There were some expressions and phrasal verbs which helped us to speak out about relationships, core values and challenges that may arise in each family.

At the end of the meeting our visitors got a short home assignment to find out more about British Royal Family and discuss some questions in the telegram chat.

Coffee Culture

Have you heard the term “Coffee Culture”? That’s the culture where people like to drink coffee or visit cafes ☕️ 🍽️

The last English Speaking Practice we dedicated to one of the most popular drinks in the world - coffee ☕️. We revised the types of coffee, after that we shared our favorite flavors and best memories related to it. We discussed where the most delicious coffee is and when this coffee trend became popular in Ukraine 🇺🇦.

Is sport your thing?

Almost all Ukrainians are still excited about the professional boxing match 🥊 contested between WBC champion Tyson Fury and unified WBA champion Oleksandr Usyk where our 🇺🇦sportsman won by split decision 🙌. Congratulations 🎊

Of course our Speaking Practice could not be about something else but Sport Edition. We shared our thoughts about that match, we discussed questions related to our life and completed sentences with sport phrasal verbs. There’s a good tendency among people to take up new activities, sport events and keep fit.

Family Ties

All families are unique, but they all have some things in common - love ❤️ and support 👐. Thus the last English Speaking Practice was dedicated to relationships and Family Day which was celebrated yesterday in Ukraine. With the members of the meeting we discussed some topic questions, shared our pleasant family moments with each other, thought about family features and how to cope with common family issues. Traditionally we looked through some expressions and idioms in English, such as

- cut from the same cloth;

- an apple doesn’t fall far from the tree;

- take after someone;

- run in the family etc.

If you want to know more expressions or just improve your speaking, we invite you to join us

Solar Eclipse is a big deal in the USA

This week lots of people in Canada, the USA and Mexico could observe the solar eclipse 🌓? So we just can’t help but talk about this rare phenomena during our English Speaking Practice. Plus there was our friend, VSPP Varley Paul who shared some pictures and videos with our group. One thing that I was amazed with is that American people drove lots of miles to make sure they could see the total eclipse 🌑. Also we discussed wheather we could go far to see it or not. And if yes how we’d get ready for it.

Stand-Up and other jokes

Prank, Dad Joke and Pun? What is the difference between these words? And yes, they are related to types of jokes.

Thus, on our English Practice we talked a lot about different jokes and we remembered some of the funniest things happened to us. Varieties of fun activities helped us learn more about American and British humor: we watched Stand Up videos, Prank Videos, looked at the Pun Jokes and retold these jokes.
Overall that meeting was full of laughs and positive moments 😊.

Time for Culture

The last English Speaking Club meeting was dedicated to Cultural features and we started with a question trying to find out what it it members love more movies 🍿 or plays in the theatre 🎭 . There were some who voted for both and some who chose movie option. Unfortunately Theatre becomes less popular among young generation but there are still so many good things about it. As we always do during our meetings - we discussed themed questions, revised the vocabulary and pretended to be film starts reading some monologues from famous movies.

Are you a cinema or theatre person?

"I wish I could..."

Do you know that sleeping is possibly the most important thing we can do for our physical, mental and emotional health? So last few sessions of English Speaking Practice we talked about sleeping routine, dreams and health.

We all dived into that topic and learned some common vocabulary, such as

*nod off

*feel dopey

*crash out on

*hit the sack

*sleep like a log etc.

After that we looked through some 9 common dreams that most of us have had at least once in our life and found out their meaning.

A big appreciation to all who takes part in these meetings, whether you’re a participant or a native speaker

Are you a saver or a spender?

Are you a saver or a spender? 🤑 That’s a very tricky question was asked our participants of English Speaking Club 🗣️. Most people said they were 50/50 and of course the expanses depend on different situations. As you understood the topic our last meeting was dedicated to money 💰 and purchasing 🛍️. We learned some phrases and expressions to talk about money and how to do the shopping in English; we discussed questions and had fun 🤩.

Do you want to learn English and improve your speaking while having fun? Join us 🤗

Life Lessons

How to be positive and successful in everyday life? Does it happen by chance or you have to work hard?

Last English Practice we talked about how to succeed in everyday life, how to be optimistic and of course how not to give up after some failures. Our friend and volunteer from Canada taught us some useful phrases and idioms which are very common. We all could improve our English practicing the vocabulary.

The life we used to have

How often do you dream about your future 💫?

Sadly nowadays that’s a tricky question for Ukrainians because when you’re away from home or your family you easily get worried. However we looked through some of the which are used to talk about the past events:

*a blast from the past,
*trip down memory lane,
*living in the past,
*turn back time,
*the good old days.

We all were reminiscing about the live we used to have using these phrases and shared positive experiences.
We do believe that we’ll have a peaceful life soon with our beloved ones 🙌

Being Unproductive

Why do many people like weekends but others can’t fully enjoy theirs? And would you say they are usually productive or unproductive?

The last English Practice we dedicated to the weekend and discussed different questions. Also there was one video shown “How to make the most of your weekend” with lots of great ideas and vocabulary. So after watching it we shared our thoughts and compared those ideas with our own activities we usually do during this time.

Thanks to our friends from the USA and Canada who taught us some useful phrasal verbs to talk about our days off.

What is your signature dish?

 

Do you like cooking ? What’s your signature dish ?

This topic we had last English Speaking Practice where we improved and boosted our vocabulary. There were two native speakers from the United States and Canada, who shared favorite dishes of their countries. We were impressed that they also cook borscht, varenyky and holubtsi. Our visitors were asked some of the discussion questions, after that we recalled our cooking new dishes experiences and shared how it went. One of the tasks was to read the Spaghetti Carbonara recipe and find new cooking expressions. It was fun and engaging class which made our people get hungry at the end.

New Years Resolutions

It’s been a week of 2024 and we’ve already conducted 2 meetings of English Speaking Club dedicated to New Years Resolutions.

We started with some reflections and shared our happiest memories, biggest challenges and things we are grateful for. After that we examined the list of the UK’s top New Year’s resolutions according to Forbes and related them to ours.

Of course we learned some vocabulary and practiced it reading the article “Tips to keep your New Year’s Resolutions”, watched a video clip of Friends TV show and discussed some questions according to this topic. Hope everyone can keep their goals till the end of the year.

Christmas Traditions

The day after Christmas 🎄we gathered with VSPP Varley Paul and participants of Speaking Club. We talked about weekends and holiday season, we also imagined our perfect destination for the Christmas and New Year. Places were different: the Caribbean islands 🏝️, New York City 🗽, European Countries. After that our American guest, Varley shared some of her travel pictures and her dad, Peter told about his adventures. What a nice meeting we had ☺️. Thanks everyone who took part and joined us.

What’s your choice: city or countryside?

Living in a big city or a small town - which is the best option for you? As for me I prefer cities with lots of interesting places to visit and entertainment for all family. However there are some advantages of living in small towns such as lack of traffic jams, quiet streets and moderate lifestyle. Yesterday with the members of English Practice we compared lifestyles, found pros and cons and imagined how our lives would be different if we lived in different places.