U.S. SCIENCE FICTION AUTHORS

Asimov, Isaac
    Foundation series
    I, Robot

Atwood, Margaret [Canadian, not U.S.]
    The Handmaid's Tale
    Oryx and Crake

Bradbury, Ray
    The Martian Chronicles
    Fahrenheit 451

Card, Orson Scott
    Ender's Game

Cherryh, C.J.
    Foreigner series

Delaney, Samuel R.
    Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand

Dick, Philip K.
    The Man in the High Castle
    Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
    Ubik
    VALIS
    
Gibson, William
    Neuromancer

Heinlein, Robert H.
    Starship Troopers
    The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
    Stranger in a Strange Land

Herbert, Frank
    Dune

Hubbard, L. Ron
    Battlefield Earth

Le Guin, Ursula K.
    The Dispossessed
    The Left Hand of Darkness

Robinson, Kim Stanley
    Mars trilogy
    The Years of Rice and Salt

Stephenson, Niel
    Snow Crash

Twain, Mark [Samuel Clemens]
    A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Vonnegut, Kurt
    Cat's Cradle
    Slaughterhouse Five
    Breakfast of Champions

American science fiction writers

May 13^th, at 2 p.m.  we had English Speaking Club with Peace Corps Volunteers Jun Blore  and Andrew Brož. There were 20 people, among them students and teachers.

We discussed American science fiction writers. This meeting turned out to be very interesting, useful and helpful. We talked about well-known writers and also got information about some of them who we didn’t know before.  We discovered such trend as pulp fiction, a bit of its history, representatives and their works.

Of course many famous writers were mentioned but also some contemporary representatives of this genre were discussed.

The visitors exchanged their experience in reading science-fiction works, shared their famous authors and preferences. Science-fiction turned out to be quite popular and even favorite among other genres.

It was extremely interesting to observe such discussion. 

American humor

 April 1st, at 2 p.m.  we had English Speaking Club with Peace Corps Volunteer Jun Blore. The topic of our meeting was American humor. There were 18 people, among them students and teachers.

Humor is seemed to be understood in all countries all over the world. But we found out that there are different kinds of humor, which are specific for each nation.

American humor is also something worth talking. During our meeting we found out that there are various types of humor in America. We watched stand up comedians, listened to slapstick humor, black humor, nonsense humor and self-appreciate humor.  

It turned out that American humor is very different from, for example, Ukrainian one and that’s why sometimes we don’t understand foreign jokes as well as foreigners don’t understand us. 

We also had Skype session with Daniel - Peace Corps Volunteer who works in Doneck. She is from North Caroline, so we had an opportunity to follow American humor of different states.

The meeting was very interesting, funny and exciting. 

St. Patrick's Day

March 18th, at 2 p.m.  we had English Speaking Club with two Peace Corps Volunteers Jun Blore and Andrew Brož. Our meeting was devoted to one of the American states - Ohio. There were 16 people, among them students and teachers.

Our session was devoted to St. Patrick’s Day which was celebrated on March 17^th. We talked about peculiarities of this holiday, its history and where it’s usually celebrated. By learning information about this day we learned a bit of history and facts about Ireland. We listened to impressive Irish music, watched colorful Irish dances, observed how Irish people celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in their country and even had a  
                                                                                                                                          quiz.

During our discussion we found out that this holiday is also celebrated in Ukraine, which appeared unexpected.  

 

And, of course, we continue practicing the TOEFL tests.

                                                         

Ohio

March 11, at 2 p.m.  we had English Speaking Club with two Peace Corps Volunteers Jun Blore and Andrew Brož. Our meeting was devoted to one of the American states - Ohio. There were 15 people, among them students and teachers.

We talked about the history of this state, its geographical position, population and places of interest. The visitors heard some interesting facts about Ohio and knew what Ohio is famous for.

As we have already discussed some other American states during our previous club meetings, this time we compared what we knew before and what new we found out now.

It is always interesting for the visitors to get to  know some interesting and new information about foreign country and its people. 

                                                   

Valentine's Day

February 12, at 2 p.m.  we had English Speaking Club with two Peace Corps Volunteers Jun Blore and Andrew Brož . This session was devoted to St. Valentine’s Day. There were 15 people, among them students and teachers. We watched presentation which dealt with history of this holiday, traditions of celebrating and peculiarities. There was an interesting discussion about the aim and main idea of this day. We also ate sweets and were surrounded by the romantic atmosphere of red hearts.

The visitors were interested in the way of celebrating Valentine’s Day in the USA and compared it with Ukrainian’s.  

Recently this holiday gains more and more popularity among Ukrainians and especially among youth.

Valentine’s Day is a great holiday for couples and everyone who is in love in all countries all over the world.

Doing TOEFL

Every time before  the meeting of the Speaking club we practice TOEFL tests and activities with Peace Corps Volunteer. It became very popular among the club visitors. We read texts, do different grammar tests, discuss  various topics and speak on aspects and peculiarities of TOEFL itself. Recently we began doing free-write.  Club members enjoy this activity very much. It turned out to be very useful for them and after some time practicing we got good results.