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 😉).

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!

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

Love Your Pet Day

On February 20th, pet lovers everywhere observe National Love Your Pet Day, so Window on America for Future Leaders Kherson held an online meeting of Speaking Club dedicated to animals and pets. Anna Reznik prepared some discussion questions and after that we learned some useful phrases and idioms. A lot of our visitors have more that one pet so they shared some funny stories about their domestic animals.

Whoever your pet companion is, we are sure you enjoy spending time with them. So don’t forget to show your appreciation to your pets 😊.

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.

Time will Tell

Yesterday there was an online meeting of English Speaking club which was dedicated to our childhood memories. We answered some questions in order to find out more about each other and shared the most vivid moments of that time. We also looked at some "Time expressions"  such as “Time’s up”, “Time after time”, “Take your time”, “At one time”, “At the best of times”, “In no time”. The most confusing for them were “In time” and “On time” #expressions . But after practicing and using them in different sentences it all went perfect 🤗

Knowing Martin Luther King Jr.

On January, 18th the USA celebrated the Martin Luther King day or the MLK Day - a federal holiday in the United States. The MLK Day of Service is observed as a “day on, not a day off”. And the topic we chose to discuss yesterday was dedicated to this significant person. We tried to find answers to such questions as:

Why is it important to celebrate MLK Day?

What is the main idea of MLK speech?

What do you like to do for others? 

What is your “dream” for our country?

It is always very interesting to get to know about different holidays from other countries and compare them with ours.

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.

Time will Tell

The great start of a new year and english speaking club that was held on January, 4th. Window on America for Future Leaders Kherson met its visitors via zoom. As a "Warm up activity" Anna Reznik, the facilitator of the club chose “Two truths and a lie“ where everyone should have told about his celebrations of the New Year. Then we shared our New Year’s Resolutions with each other and discussed some questions ⁉️. After that we found out the difference between "Make and Do" verbs and learned some really useful expressions. Thank our American friend who helped us to improve our English. 

 

Holiday season is coming...

Thanksgiving Day is only in a week but active members of English Speaking Club started to talk about this holiday today. Window on America Center for Future Leaders invited American volunteers to join the English practice in order to know more about the most popular holidays of America and their traditions and about the United States in general. We discussed and compared our favorite feast meals, holiday activities and family challengies that sometimes occur during holidays. We also had time to ask and answer questions just to get to know each other better.

Будь у тренді! Будь медіаграмотним!

Херсонський Центр «Вікно в Америку для майбутніх лідерів» долучився до Всесвітнього тижня медійної та інформаційної грамотності,  провівши для учасників розмовного клубу тренінг «Будь у тренді. Будь медіаграмотним!»,  за участі медіатренера Херсонської обласної бібліотеки для дітей імені Дніпрової Чайки – Срібної Ірини Сергіївни. Розпочали зустріч з мотиваційної гри, яка грунтується на дослідженнях польско-американского психолога і викладача, автора відомих экспериментів, присвячених конформності – Соломона Аша. 

Упродовж тренінгу, учасниками якого стали читачі бібліотеки як у форматі офлайн так і онлайн, вони навчалися розпізнавати інформування та пропаганду, фейки та маніпуляції, аналізуючи різноманітні відео та плакати, відшукували прихований підтекст та приховану рекламу в повідомленнях.  

Під час розгляду вправи «Моє Медіаполе» присутні розповідали про свої медіавподобання протягом дня та визначали свій рівень медіазалежності. 

На завершення тренінгу клубівці розрізняли фейки у заголовках, фотофейки та дійшли висновку щодо загальних правил перевірки інформаційного потоку.             

                                      

Тож бажаємо усім бути медіаграмотними та обізнаними у питаннях «споживання» інформацї. 

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.

 

The Countries We Live in

Yesterday Ukraine celebrated its holiday so this session of English Speaking Club Window on America Center for Future Leaders dedicated to the topic “The Countries we live in”. We started with an activity “My country” where all members of the club said one sentence about Ukraine one by one. After that we discussed our opinions about the two countries: the USA and Ukraine and then compared their lifestyles. And of course we had a chance to dream while we made up story about our perfect vacation. Overall it was a nice club where we spoke English a lot with American volunteers that helped us to improve it.

The Most Common Fears

Today Window on America Center for Future Leaders Kherson continued the topic about fears and emotions and had lots of fun activities. We came up with random questions and then we tried to think about situations that might have happened based on different popular GIFs . One of the creative tasks was drawing your fears this is where the participants drew pictures of their fears on paper. Overall it was really interesting and a very useful English practice where everyone improved their speaking skills with American Volunteers.

Emotions And Fears

Are you afraid of spiders? And heights? What feelings do you feel in an enclosed space? These and not just questions we asked today on online English speaking club of Window on America for Future Leaders Kherson.

After we voiced our fears by answering the questions from todays "Icebreaker", we moved on to a game called "Feelings" where we had six categories that we chose from by rolling the dice 🎲.

Throughout today's club, we've gotten to know each other and the fears of our participants!

How to Be a Good Friend?

At today's online English Speaking Club meeting of Window on America for Future Leaders center we discussed the topic of Friends and Friendship. At the beginning, we tried to characterize ourselves using the letters of our names. Then we talked about our best friends and reflected on how we first met them. After that, we named famous duos from movies and books, such as: Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, Frodo and Sam.

We also asked ourselves questions such as: What qualities should a true friend have?, What does the word friend mean to you?, and Do you think it is good idea to borrow money from a friend? At the end of the meeting, we tried something new and did some riddles! We tried to find the answers to some difficult riddles, and although difficult, it was a blast! We hope to see you next time!

Play and Learn

The motto of today's English Speaking Club of Window on America Center for Future Leaders was 'Play and Learn.' At the beginning of the meeting, we played a new Icebreaker game called "Strange Gift". Following that, we played another game "Name your Favorite", a really great board game from “Activate: Games for learning American English.” The participants not only said their favorite things, but they described them with only 3 words! To close our meeting, we played a game called "Taxi Driver" where participants role played different scenarios as taxi drivers from different countries, practicing English by small talking with the passengers! It was a blast, and we hope to see you next time!

Weird Question Game

Do you think it is possible to learn English by asking strange and funny questions? Of course! That's what we did today at our online session of English speaking club of Window on America Center for Future Leaders.

We started with a "Go Fishing Icebreaker", then we played a "Weird Question" game, where we discussed the answers to different questions such as: If you could solve the problem of hunger in the third world or repair the ozone, which would you do?, If you could live anywhere, where would you live?, If the whole world were listening, what would you say?

This Thursday will also be dedicated to Board games, so don't miss the chance to improve your English with WOA FL Kherson and native speakers!