It's time to ...improve your English!

What is a good way to improve your English? It becomes much easier when you have people who you can talk to this language or listen to them telling some stories. During every meeting we love to use different activities. Thus this English practice we played a game “Jeopardy” and revised some grammar while answering the questions, filling the gap and rephrasing sentences. Thanks to our Canadian friend Drake we find out some interesting facts about English and the way it’s used in such countries as the USA, Canada and Europe.

This week speaking club sessions were on Monday and Thursday with lots of activities, topics discussions and fun. On Monday we talked about money 💰 and what we are good at - saving or spending 🧐. We also learned some useful phrasal verbs and idioms.

                                  

                                       

On Thursday we discussed some everyday problems that happen all the time in our life + plus we learned how to give advice in English. 

Some great websites such as #bamboozle , #wordwall and #youtube make English practice exciting and interesting.

Language: Do you speak slang?

Is it easy for you to learn foreign language? What difficulties do you usually have? 👇

Last meeting of English Speaking Club for adults was about languages and studying experiences. That was great to hear people’s funny stories when they use English and other languages. Then we looked through some slang words, which are more common in speech than writing, and are typically restricted to a particular context or group of people. After that we tried to use them in different speaking activities. 

Overall the practice was snatched (any ideas what it means 😉).

"Never Have I ever..."

 

“Never Have I ever” is one of the Window on America Center for Future Leaders Kherson favorite games which is fun and educational. Yesterday’s meeting of English Speaking Club we started with an icebreaker “This or That” and discussed some items we prefer most of the time and then we talked about different experiences we’ve had in our lives. After discussing some questions we played a hilarious game “Never Have I ever” that helped us not only revised Present Perfect Tense but we also could get to know each other better.

Let's meet summer

The last meeting of English Club this season was held at the Kherson Oblast Library for Children. Kids came to improve their English and revise the topics they’ve learned during the school year. With  the little ones we played "Jeopardy" and "Logical reasoning" games. And teens used their gadgets to work on the Kahoot Learning Platform". We also talked about summer and our favorite things about it. 

Also there was a Game Session meeting for the members of English Speaking Club. We met some visitors online (who currently lives in different cities) and in person. For that meeting we chose a speaking game called "This or That" where the participants had to choose one option they prefer and then explain why in 30 seconds ⏱. There were 2 options like dogs /cats; youtube /netflix ; phonecall / textmessage; music /podcast; apple / android; swimming /sunbathing etc. And at the end we played another fun game - "Spelling Bee".

On the Move

On Thursday, May 20, Window on America Center for Future Leaders was happy to meet its active members of English Speaking Club. And we continued to talk about Road Trips and Vehicles. At the beginning of our online meeting we did an activity “Road Trip Planning” where participants told about their perfect road trip using the following information such as kind of vehicle they would drive 🚗, people they would invite 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦, things they would pack 🔦🧳 and places they would see 🏝🗽. Then we looked through some useful transport idioms and learned some essential vocabulary to use when you’re traveling. Volunteers from Great Britain, the USA and Canada helped us improve our speaking which was great 😊. We’re looking forward to the next English Practice on Monday. So join us and find out interesting facts about English language.

Travel Around

Yesterday’s meeting which Window on America Center for Future Leaders had online was dedicated to traveling 🧳🚘✈️🗺. Active members discussed some questions and learned some useful phrasal verbs. 

Here are some of them 👇

- set off / hit the road;

- get around;

- deal with something;

- put up with something;

- see somebody off etc. 

To practice these phrases visitors were asked some questions and told about their last holidays. Also we played a game called "Name5" which was great because we all had to think about 5 different things (related to the topic) in a really short period of time. Our friends, volunteers from the USA, Great Britain and Canada helped us improve our English. Thus practice makes perfect every time 😉. Remember that and keep up learning.

Amazing Places

Our world is full of amazing places and it’s important to notice them! Yesterday, members of our English Speaking Club gathered online to talk about some of those places! The topic was sightseeing holidays and to start off, we learned some vocabulary such as famous places to visit; sightseeing activities and idioms. Then we practiced using them by doing a picture description activity. After that we all had a great opportunity to improve our speaking with a game called small talks, in which our visitors were given only 2 minutes to keep a conversation going. The participants from different cities in Ukraine and countries made this meeting fun and a blast! See you next time!

Discover America

Young readers of the Kherson Oblast Library for Children visited Window on America Center for Future Leaders yesterday to increase their knowledge about the USA. We played a board game “50-star game land: Discover America” which was designed by librarians. To find out more interesting facts about the United States children answered different questions on 5 categories such as nature, history, inventions, culture and disneyland. Besides questions visitors also looked at the US map and found different states on it. At the end of the game we also had 3 winners who got small presents - notepads and pens with WOA logo on them. Hope this game helped our readers to find out something new about the USA.  

What's in your name?

What’s in your name? That was the topic we discussed yesterday at Window on America for Future Leaders Kherson with visitors who joined online. We answered the questions related to the topic and then compared the names in different countries as well and explained why we like ours. We also learned some useful expressions started with “It’s...” (it's doesn't matter; it doesn't make any sense; it's doesn't prove a thing; it's none of your business; it's a lie; it's all the same to me; it's beside the point; it's new to me; it's out of a place; it's up to you; it's waste of time) and made up life situations using those phrases. And for a speaking game activity we chose “D-Icebreakers: feelings“. 

We are always happy to see new people on our practices so if you would like to become part of it - please do it. 

See you on Monday

English in Use

English is one of the most spoken languages all over the place so that’s very important to enrich vocabulary every day. Last Monday Window on America Center for Future Leaders Kherson gathered its members via zoom where we improved our speaking skills. To start off Anna Reznik prepared a boardgame “What do you know about…

? and we all tried to write down as many facts as we knew about bananas, English, Tokyo, jazz and the USA. After that we all had an opportunity to learn some of the really useful idioms and fixed expressions such as "hang on", "What's Up?", "go ahead", "never mind", "it's up to you", "get rid of it", "keep an eye on something", "get nowhere", "on the tip of my tongue" etc. And of course all the participants got they homework - to make up sentences using these phrases.

Can’t wait to have our next English Practice which is on Thursday. And as always it starts at 4pm.

Happy Valentine's Day

Today, February 14th when lots of people are celebrating the Valentine's Day, Window on America for Future Leaders Kherson had two meetings of English Club for kids and teens. We were so happy to meet children at the library after a long break. And of course we talked  about “St. Valentine’s Day” holiday, learned some words and phrases related to it and played games such as "Bingo" and "Pictionary". 

Teenagers discussed some questions and worked with the presentation to know more facts about this holiday. We all had an opportunity to practice our English with each other and looking forward to our next offline meeting.

Let's Talk about... the future

Another great session of English Speaking Club was yesterday where we continued discussing the future. But at the beginning our visitors made choices between two different items like tea or coffee, sun or snow, early mornings or late mornings etc. and explained their choices. After that we all got to know new phrases for taking about the future. Here’s the list of them :

- it will happen any minute now;

- it’s just around the corner;

- near future;

- in our lifetime;

- it’s a sign of things to come;

- I’m counting days until...;

- sooner or later; 

- I’ll get around to it;

- I’ll do it right away; 

- Time will tell. 

And then we did a fun activity “What happens next” trying to guess the end of the stories. Join us to practice your #english because there you can hear the language from the native speakers.

Every Day English

An online meeting of English Speaking Club was yesterday and we practiced our English with each other. We played a game “Name 5” and revised our vocabulary in different topics such as "Jobs", "Movies and TV Shows", "Sports" and "Containers". We discussed questions and shared our favorite items. It was amazing 🤩 to meet active members from different places and can’t wait to see all of them next time. Join us every Monday and Thursday and learn English with pleasure.

Let's chat

English Speaking Club is continuing its online meetings for active members every Monday and Thursday. And yesterday we all gathered via Zoom and practiced our English. There is a tradition to start an English practice with "Icebreaker" questions which help people to get to know each other better. Then we had time to review some grammar rules and the difference of using “used to”, “be used to” and “get used to”. To consolidate the material we played a board game called “Tell me about ...”.

We are what we do!

"We are what we do" - that was the topic we discussed yesterday during the English Speaking Club. Window on America for Future Leaders Kherson gathered its visitors via Zoom and we all practiced our English with native speaker, our American friend. We talked a lot about habits and shared some good and bad habits, eating habits, exercise habits and sleeping habits etc. Then we looked through some habit quotes and explained their meanings. At the end we played a game called "20 Questions" which was great because we all tried to #guess someone’s habit. Thank you dear friends for joining us and practicing English. See you all on Thursday at 4pm.

Easy English

English Speaking Club for kids and adults was held today at Window on America Center for Future Leaders Kherson where we talked a lot about household chores and about ourselves. With the youngest visitors we learned some vocabulary related to this topic, watched some funny videos and then discussed them. And we also practiced to write and to speak in English. 

With adults and teenagers we talked about our favorite things such as place to spend a day; season; music and tvshow; time of day; person in the world etc. And for that activity we used the boardgame “Name your favorite” from “Activate: Games for learning American English.

English in Use

Do you have a person you can count on? Or is it hard as finding a needle in a haystack? Do you know any of these phrases? Yesterday the members of English Speaking Club gathered at Window on America Center for future Leaders in order to learn and improve their English. We all got to know some common phrases that are popular in the daily speech - here are some of them "24/7", "Draw the line", "Easier said than done", "Every cloud has a silver lining", "Fish out of water", "Pull yourself together", "Sick and tired", "Sleep on it", "Step up your game", "Tip of the iceberg" , "Break a leg", "Think outside the box" etc. So we all found out the meaning of them and discussed the situations in which they can be used. We were also really happy to see some visitors that joined us online and could also participate. And it is plain as day that learning English can be fun so we want you to be a part of our club.

 

Getting Acquainted

Today, September 6 Window on America Center for Future Leaders Kherson resumed meetings of English Club for kids at the Kherson Oblast Library for Children. And the first offline session we dedicated to acquaintance with each other. With younger kids we asked and answered simple questions and then we played the "Logical Chains" and "Pictionary" games in order to remember some words. 

With the older participants we talked about different summer activities that we did and after that we played "About Myself" board game from "Activate:Games for Learning American English". Overall we improved our English and had fun 😃.