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 🇺🇦.

Світовий тур бібліотеками

І знову віртуально подорожували 🧳 бібліотеками світу з учнями 4 класу ЗЗНЗ 54 м. Херсона. «Відвідали» топ-8 книгозбірень по всьому світу, дізналися цікаві факти про них та перевіряли свої знання, граючи у вікторину «True/ False». Звісно ж увагу діток привернула й @library_kherson_ua . Адже неповторний дизайн кожного відділу захоплює та змушує зупинитися, щоб розгледіти все. Тому для дітей теж була представлена гра на уважність Scavenger Hunt, де учні займалися пошуком різних предметів. Ну і якже без практики англійської 😁. Наприкінці заходу усі присутні ставили питання та давали відповіді щодо існування певних предметів у нашій книгозбірні 👐. 

My world of technologies

Are you addicted to your phone or any other gadgets 🤔? That’s a really tricky question, because lots of people use their phones 📱/ tablets or computers 💻 for studying or working. I even don’t tell anything about entertainment, like playing games or watching movies. I decided to talk about different technologies with the 7th grade students from Kherson school and hear what they think about them. We started off with an ice-breaker “This or That” and voted for one of the options like “phone calls vs text message”, “Instagram vs TikTok”, “Smartphone vs computer” etc. After that we read a short text about a 15 year-old guy, who told about his experience of using his phone. We looked through some useful phrases and students compared their experiences according to the text. As a result we got the same idea that most of the students were addicted to their phones as well. At the end of the meeting I presented a short animated video “Like and follow” which teaches us how important sometimes to turn off our phones and enjoy the life, spending time with family or friends. 

Бібліотеки без кордонів

Бібліотека📚- це місце спокійного затишку з улюбленою книгою. Це «магічне» місце, у якому розкриваються усі твої таланти та збуваються мрії. Це просто приміщення з примірниками, де ти можеш знайти будь-яку книгу на твій улюблений смак. Такі відповіді ми отримали під час заходу «Бібліотеки без кордонів» з учнями 3 класу ЗЗНЗ №54, м.Херсон.

Під час нашої зустрічі ми віртуально мали змогу «подорожувати» найкращими бібліотеками світу та дізналися багато цікавих фактів про ці унікальні книгозбірні. Наприклад, у Норвегії можна повернути книгу у будь-яку публічну бібліотеку, не обовʼязково в ту, в якій ти її взяв. Або що публічних бібліотек набагато більше у США, ніж закладів швидкого харчування McDonalds.

І звісно ж що ми не оминули увагою нашу улюблену Херсонську обласну бібліотеку для дітей імені Дніпрової Чайки. Деякі учні побували там сьогодні вперше за допомогою VR туру, який представлений на сайті бібліотеки. Також ми пограли у захоплюючу гру “Scavenger Hunt”, де усі присутні знаходили певні предмети у відділах книгозбірні.

Дуже сподіваємося, що наша наступна зустріч вже відбудеться у стінах закладу оновленої будівлі 🙏

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 😊.

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 🙌

Happy Birthday, dear library

 

February 1 is a really special day for our @library_kherson_ua because it’s the library’s birthday 🎉. And this year we’re celebrating its 100-anniversary. During this day we’d had different events for the visitors. Members of English Speaking Practice joined online and had a fun and engaging meeting. With the help of our American friends, former Peace Corps volunteers and VSPP we improved our English and revised some expressions and phrasal verbs playing “Namits” game.

Thank you dear friends and my beloved library for having such great events 🫶

Wish you all the best. We’ll definitely come back to Kherson and make you more beautiful for our guests 🙏

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.

Walt Disney World

I had a nice class with schoolchildren of @dieslovo.ks which we dedicated to the events in the past. Because mostly kids love Disney characters we decided that they could help make the lesson more entertaining.

We looked through some Past Simple rules and consolidated them having different activities. I’m so glad we have zoom meetings cause we all can be united even if we’re far away from each other. 

I believe that one day we’ll meet each other at the @library_kherson_ua and @dieslovo.ks 

When in Rome do as the Romans do

When in Rome do as the Romans do. Probably everyone heard this saying before but what exactly it means.

It was great to learn some other Countries Idioms (e.g. Go Dutch, Take French Leave, It’s all Greek to me etc.) with the group of students who join English Speaking Practice. I’m really happy that native speakers take part in our meetings and help us improve our English. I’m glad to see our friends from all over the world, so we can share our experiences of living in different countries. Yesterday we compared lifestyles of the USA , Albania , Ireland , Canada and of course Ukraine - countries where lots of people fled to from the war. It’s great to understand that there are people who support refugees and help them feel like at home in many countries. I do believe that we come back to our hometown and meet each other in person.

What a great way to start a week with English

What a great way to start a week with English especially with people you have a lot in common. This time we talked about relationships and learned some phrases to talk about them in English.

Our friends from the USA and Canada taught us some useful expressions and at the end of the meeting we had a free speaking conversation. I do love this Practice because it helps me not to give up and do my job