Skype Discussion on the Topic of Higher Education in the USA.

The U.S.-Ukraine Foundation, a member of the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy (USCCD), helped launch a pilot project, a series of monthly discussions between Americans and Ukrainians via the Window on America Centers in Lutsk, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Embassy in Kyiv and USCCD.

In the framework of that pilot project on July 19, 2012 at 10:00 am (DC time) - 5:00 pm (Ukraine time) the sixth discussion with Lutsk Window on America Center was held and it covered the topic of Higher Education in the USA. New Methods of Teaching English. Using New Technologies in Education.

The format of discussion was a Skype video conference call: 20-30 minutes speaker's presentation, and 50 minutes - Q&A. The working  language was Ukrainian.

There was invited a speaker on the topic of Higher Education - Peter Voitsekhovsky who have lived and worked in three different political and social environments: a communist dictatorship — USSR, a liberal democracy — United States, and a ‘hybrid’ system of the post-Soviet Ukraine. It nourished his interest in studies of inter-cultural contact, especially the broad issue of ‘democracy in translation.’ Peter Voitsekhovsky tried to parallel the study of academic theory with practical work in the ‘real world.’ The latter included service in projects of the USAID, OSCE, international NGOs such as the Krieble Institute of the Free Congress Foundation, as well as journalistic reporting for the BBC and Radio Liberty and political commentaries for the Voice of America.

11 people - Svitlana Horbatch the English language teacher from Volyn National University, former English language teacher Kovalchyk Volodumur, the director of the Research Scientific Library Liudmyla Stasiuk, former students from Volyn National University, a journalist from Internet publication http://p-p.com.ua («Під прицілом») and others gathered at the Window on America Center in Lutsk to talk over the topic of High Education.

 The speaker Peter Voitsekhovsky started by sharing his knowledge on education systems in Ukraine and the US. The profound and interesting presentation helped the audience to share their thoughts about Ukrainian  exchange student life abroad, philosophies of each system, etc.

The next part of the Skype discussion was of great success as it was dedicated to A&Q. During it everyone could ask questions on the topic of education and get profound answers on them.

The conference was videotaped so everyone can visit WOA Center Blog http://woalutsk5.blogspot.com/ the Video Bar and learn more about Education in the United States of America.

Business Trip to Uzhgorod!

On July 10-14, 2012 the Window on America Center in Lutsk coordinator Olena Pyshniuk took part in seminar in Uzhgorod.

«Window on America Centers: Using New Technologies to Reach a Wider Audience Through Mobile «Drive-Up Windows» was the topic of the workshop that gathered 29 Window on America Center coordinators throughout Ukraine.

The program was designed by Valentyna Pashkova, IRC Director, Natalka Yasko, IRC Assistant, Oleksiy Vasylyev, “Informatio Consortium” NGO Director, Douglas Morrow, ACAO,Peg Walter, IRO and others.

The schedule of the workshop was full with presentations. We could learn more about:

• Student Programming and Youth

             Douglas Morrow

             Uzhgorod WOA: Maya Tarasova

             Ternopil WOA: Iryna Drach

• Panel Presentation: USCCD program: pilot projects

            Vinnytsia WOA: Yulia Kashpruk

            Lutsk WOA: Olena Pyshniuk

            Donetsk WOA: Halyna Chupryna

• Skype based web conferences and web chats

            Luhansk WOA: Iryna Shestopal

           Dnipropetrovsk WOA: Svitlana Usenko

To speak on the topic Education in the USA was invited Victoria Mykhaylenko, Manager of the Kyiv EducationUSA Advising Center/Alumni Resource Center. During the presentation the present audience learned more about Kyiv EducationUSA Advising Center/Alumni Resource Center and its support for WOA centers in Ukraine About Successes and Challenges of EducationUSA Advising Center at WOA centers shared their knowledge Olena Pyshniuk, Lutsk WOA Center coordinator and Tetyana Luchkina Sumy WOA Center coordinator.

Moderators: Valentyna Pashkova, Oleksiy Vasyliev and Peg Walther helped the members of the workshop to receive information on the topic eLibraryUSA, a collection of 30 authoritative databases on a wide range of topics and for users of all ages, learned a strategy for self-learning the resources, ways to find the full-text, and ideas for using eLibraryUSA for programming.

The second part of the seminar was devoted to exploring ways Kindle e-Readers may be used to extend the collection of the WOA Center and for programming.

It was a great surprise for us when Lutsk WOA Center received 4 Kindles so now the WOA readers could use the

already downloaded materials on Kindles.

This new modern technologies in the work are very useful but not always easy and we thank the organizers of the seminar for being so patient and professional.

The seminar in Uzhgorod is our next step in building bridges of knowledge and understanding between two countries – Ukraine and the United States of America.

Skype Discussion on the Topic of Intercultural Education.

The U.S.-Ukraine Foundation, a member of the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy (USCCD), helped launch a pilot project, a series of monthly discussions between Americans and Ukrainians via the Window on America Centers in Lutsk, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Embassy in Kyiv and USCCD.

In the framework of that pilot project on June 21, 2012 at 10:00 am (DC time) - 5:00 pm (Ukraine time) the discussion with Lutsk Window on America Center was held and it covered the topic of Intercultural Education.

The format of discussion was a Skype video conference call: 40 minutes speaker's presentation, and 40 minutes - Q&A. The working  language was Ukrainian.

There were invited two speakers on the topic of Intercultural Education:

Elvira Kizilova and Lyudmyla Melnyk.

Elvira Kizilova worked on her Masters’ in Public Administration at the University of Arkansas and headed the Department for Foreign Cooperation and Image Policy which was responsible for international relations and promotion of the Crimean tourism overseas.

Lyudmyla Melnyk worked as a cross cultural technical facilitator for the U.S. Peace Corps in Ukraine (TEFL and youth development) in 2010-2011.  She has served as a facilitator, coordinator, and an interpreter in a variety of cultural programs both within Ukraine and abroad (USUF, Sister-City, Open World, CDC).

9 people - teachers from local schools and Volyn National University, librarians gathered at the Window on America Center in Lutsk to talk over the topic of  different  cultures, mainly Ukrainian and American. The speakers made the informative presentation of the main concepts of Cultures.

The next part of the Skype discussion was dedicated to the question of Education that was of great interest among the present teachers.

We believe every person can make a positive change to society and received knowledge on Intercultural Education will help the Ukrainian people to understand American way of life, its culture.

We Will Miss You, Melissa!!!!!!!

On June 17, 2012  15 Movie Club Members gathered at the Window on America Center to have interesting and lovely talk based on a movie  «Muppets» (2011), comedy and family by genre.

The Movie and Speaking Clubs (discussion after the movie) was led by America Peace Corps Volunteers Melissa Krut and Dominic Huether. It was the last Movie that Melissa led at the Center and to say

goodbye to the America Friend came 15 people.

Two and a half years ago our city had honour to meet Melissa Krut with a concrete mission - to promote world peace and friendship. During these years she worked hard teaching students of Volyn National University, working with English language teachers, etc. Also she was a part of Summer Camp ACT project that provided a chance for Ukrainian pupils to practice English, explore creativity and develop new skills in leadership, teamwork, and healthy lifestyles.

It is surprising but Melissa found time to come to the WOA Room in Lutsk every Sunday and to organize different informative events for whose people who wanted to get knowledge about the United States of America.

Time flies and Melissa’s time of work in Ukraine came to the end. So the farewell party that was organized at the Center on that day was a small but thoughtful gesture that let Melissa know how important she was to Ukrainian people and Ukraine in general.

Thank you, Melissa, for your great help! We will miss you a lot! We’ll be glad to meet you in Ukraine again)!

Camp ACT 2012!

On June 16, 2012 the Window on America Center hosted Camp ACT Planning Meeting for 13 America Peace Corps Volunteers from Rivnenska, Lvivska, Volynska Oblast and 3 Ukrainian Volunteers.

This camp will be held in early July in Shatsk and will provide a chance for Ukrainian pupils looking for a summer experience to practice English, explore creativity and develop new skills in leadership, teamwork, and healthy lifestyles.

The Camp ACT staff made up of half Ukrainians and half American Peace Corps Volunteers, will give all participants a truly special international experience.

See you soon in Shatsk!

Welcome, Film Lovers!

Regular Movie Club that took place at the Window on America Center in Lutsk on June 10th gathered 13 people who had great chance to watch movie «Best in Show».

 

Melissa Krut, the American Peace Corps Volunteer in Lutsk, led the related speaking discussion session after the movie. The present audience had a great chance to practice their English with native speaker.

 The film was shown in English and included subtitles.

The Movie Club members spent great time talking about and debating the quality of acting, characters, script, directing and music.

50 Pupils of Gadyach Gymnasium Visited the Window on America Center in Lutsk

Lutsk Window on America Center gathered about 50 pupils of Gadyach gymnasium. The aim of the meeting was to learn more about the United States of America using the resources of the Center.

During the excursion the pupils learned about the WOA Center that provides accurate and current information about the United States of America. They were proposed to get brief but informative fragments of events with American and Ukrainian guests that were organized in the Center.

The excursion showed that the pupils were interested in the WOA Center materials and resources, mainly books and CDs on subjects ranging from history to culture to politics and films on DVD discs.

 Hope that our Center will help the pupils to make progress in English language learning using many types of reference materials that one can find at the Window in America Center in Lutsk. And, as always, enjoy your English learning and use up to date information!