On April 20-21 a team of students from the 8th form (Vladyslav Telezhenko, Kateryna Taranenko and Viktoriia Dmytruk) participated in All-Ukrainian Students Forum “Friendship without Borders through Leadership Movement” that took place in the town of Horishni Plavni, Poltava Oblast. The Forum was conducted within the framework of the project “The Centre of Global Youth Partnership”.
The team of our students took the II place in the competition called “Self-administration – This Is Us”. There was a workshop for students called “Raising the New Generation of Leaders”, where they were taught how to become a responsible and active citizen. The students had an opportunity to visit Erystiv Mining Factory, where they observed the work of the miners. There were many interesting excursions, competitions, where the students received not only positive emotions, but a rich experience, many new friends and unforgettable memories.
The star basketball player from “Cherkaski Mavpy” visited the basketball training session in our school where young players born in 2009 were having their practice.
Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk came to Cherkasy just several days ago, but he has already given several individual basketball lessons, visited home playoff match of “Cherkasy Mavpy” and conducted his master class for the youngest members of the Club, whose basketball coach is O.Molchanov.
Today Sviatoslav has had a meeting with the principal of the school S.I.Sayenko and the vice-principal S.O.Vynohradova. It is pleasant that Sviatoslav has remained an ordinary and extremely humble young man. And he always pays a visit to the Gymnasia and the gym where he started his professional career.
From Wikipedia: Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk (born June 10, 1997, Cherkasy, Ukraine) is a Ukrainian basketball player who currently plays college basketball at the University of Kansas.
P.S. It has become known that one more basketball player from FCG ANTON BILOUS has signed an agreement with a prestigious US team. But we’ll talk about it later.
On April 10 Kyiv Lyceum of International Relations hosted an International Forum for UNESCO Associated School called “Europe and Asia in a Dialogue of Cultures. Life Lessons from Confucius” . Two students, Volodymyr Kahramanov and Polina Striletska, along with a teacher of English Y.S.Brovchenko had a chance to emerge into eastern culture. They participated in four workshops: Chinese and Calligraphy, Paper Cutting (chuang hua), Making Weaving Knots Jewellery and Chinese Tea Ceremony. The tea ceremony was probably the highlight. It impressed all the participants of the Forum – it was so unusual and interesting. Tea making in China – is a real tradition, which includes many rituals. After the workshops the participants had a discussion about lessons from Confucius, his influence on humanity and oriental countries in particular. Confucius is highly appreciated in China. In this country you will see many statues with his image and come across different engraved quotes of this philosopher.
The Forum enriched the students with knowledge about eastern countries and left many unforgettable impressions.
P.S. Kyiv Lyceum of International Relations has been an official partner of FCG for a number of years.
One more exhibit was added to the ABC-Book Museum at our Gymnasia. It “arrived” to Cherkasy from Thailand. This was a gift from a student of the 1st form whose parents visited this exotic country, and brought this book as a present for dear Gymnasia. The ABC-book is written in the Thai language and contains pictures of cultural life of this country. Everybody will be able to see this exhibit in our museum starting from today. We thank the Semenovs family for the great gift. ***The Administration of our Gymnasia will be grateful for all who can bring ABC-books from a faraway country.
We have already announced that this year from 29 May till 16 June there will be a summer language camp for the students of 5-10th forms as part of the project Go Camp – 2017. The organizers of the project have prepared special workshops for teachers where they receive trainings on new methods of work with kids. Thus, on 3-5 April a teacher of German N.K. Karnauhova is taking part in a workshop at Goethe Institute both as a trainer and “a trainee”. On Friday a director of the camp Y.V.Pais and French teachers T.H.Mokrushyna and Y.O.Ovcharenko are heading to Kyiv for the special training. There won t be seminars for Spanish teachers this year. The administration of the school is planning to invite children from other schools of Cherkasy to join the Spanish, French and German groups at the camp. ANNOUNCEMENT: the Administration of the Gymnasia is looking for a host family for the foreign volunteers during their visit to our school (see the above-mentioned dates).
The results of the IV Stage of All-Ukrainian School Olympiads which took place during the spring holidays have become transpired. Six students of our Gymnasia have become winners and received Diplomas of level 1, 2 and 3. Yelizaveta Orel (form 11) – 1st place in Law (teacher – V.A.Sylenko) Vladyslava Pronina (form 11) – 2nd place in Law (teacher – V.A.Sylenko) Pavlo Paliichuk (form 11) – 2nd place in the English language (teacher – L.D.Tkachenko) Kateryna Velko (form 8) – 3rd place in History of Ukraine (teacher – V.A.Sylenko) Tetiana Shvets (form 10) - 3rd place in the Ukrainian language (teacher – L.V.Hafinova) Mariia Samohvalova (form 10) – 3rd place in the French language (teacher – T.H.Mokrushyna) Altogether 10 of our students took part in All-Ukrainian School Olympiads. The winners of the IV stage of the olympiads have benefits when entering higher educational establishments of Ukraine. They also become the President scholars (for 1st place) or the Mayor scholars, and get money awards and gifts from the city and regional authorities. Congratulations to the participants and winners, as well as their mentors, on the high performance! Wishing you new achievements!
In cooperation with Polish language Centre “English Point”, a group of our students have been granted an opportunity to study at International Language School “Atlas Language School”, Dublin, Ireland. This year our students will take a class on “Irish Culture and Communication”. This programme gives the opportunity to get acquainted with Irish culture, literature and art. The students will stay with Irish host-families which is a wonderful chance to improve English in informal environment. The excursions around Dublin will show the atmosphere of the city and tell about its famous people – St.Patrick, Bernard Shaw, Jonathan Swift and Oscar Wilde.
English is the official language of Ireland and it is spoken everywhere. In this country many dialects can be heard, and the teaching combines contemporary methods. To improve your English in this picturesque country is the music to your ears. Gorgeous nature, an expanse of woodland and the friendliness of its people will not leave you indifferent. In Dublin there are many offices of world businesses, but in spite of this one can feel the atmosphere of everlasting celebration. Several students of our Gymnasia decided to immerse into the atmosphere of this holiday by attending English language courses beginning from March 18th. The study which will last for two weeks is in the framework of O Henry Project. E.V.Kirsanova, a coordinator of the project, is in Ireland, too. We are looking forward to receiving an update from the participants of the project.
On March 17th is the world celebrates St.Patsrick s Day . St.Patrick is the patron of Ireland, who brought Christianity to the island. It is believed that St.Patrick used a shamrock (a three-leaf clover) as an analogy to explain people about the Trinity of God. On this day people wear green clothes as a symbol of spring, shamrocks and Ireland. According to the tradition Irish people have special parades with lots of songs and jokes, as well as famous Irish dances. The festivities take place not only in Ireland, but in New York, Melbourne, Buenos-Aires and other parts of the world. This holiday came to First City Gymnasia. Upon an initiative of the teacher of English Y.K.Rabenko for the second year in a row there was a traditional parade for the students of primary and middle school. This year the students of 3-6th forms were dressed in green and had special shamrocks as a decoration. They recited poems and rhymes as they were walking on parade. In the lead of the parade there was the student of the 11-B form Ivan Vozniuk, who later conducted the themed quiz show for the participants. The winners received the lucky shamrock which they could use to raise their mark in English the following week. In addition, the participants of the parade could enjoy the traditional Irish dance performed by Illia Zarubin and Olena Liapkalo from the Dance Studio “Nightingale” of the Community Centre named after Kulyk. Everybody enjoyed leprechauns, who revealed where their treasures were buried to those who could catch them. On a final note the participants of the parade sang a traditional Irish song.
On March 16-18, 2017 the VII International Exhibition “Modern Educational Establishments” and the V International Exhibition of Education Abroad “WorldEdu” took place at Kyiv Palace of Children and Youth. The organizer was “Svotankovyi Svit” company under the auspices of Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine.
This year there were785 participants from 25 regions of Ukraine and 14 countries (Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, the USA, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Moldova, Georgia, Slovakia, Hungary, China).
The exhibition was followed by content thematic program, which includedconferences, presentations, seminars, round tables, master classes, discussion panels, workshops, demo lessons with the participation of heads of educational establishments, experts andscientists of Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, National Academy of Educational Sciences, Institute of Modernization of Educational Content of Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, practical workers of educational field, representatives of foreign educational establishments, agencies, international offices and graduates, pupils, parents, general public.
The participants received 13 medals: 7 gold, 5 silver and 1 bronze medal.
Our First City Gymnasia was awarded the gold medal in nomination of “Partnership as a Strategic Resource of Innovative Development of Educational Establishments”.
The Principal of the Gymnasia took part in the exhibition.
On March 7, 2017 a visit of friendship from the professors of LCC University from Klaipeda (Lithuania) William and Hannah Acton and Ella Mayer took place at the premises of our Gymnasia. Ella Mayer, the Head of the Department of International Education, addressed the senior students on the topic of “Globalization, Diversity and Cross-Cultural Education”. In her PPt presentation she emphasized some important issues of youth integration into multilingual and multicultural community, and the problems that young people face in the modern global society. Students had an opportunity to work both in groups and individually using their mobile phones and they discussed questions on religion, nationality, culture, etc. The presentation was interesting and insightful. In the afternoon there was a TOEFL test for anybody who wanted.
According to the Decree of the Department of Education and Science of Cherkasy Regional State Administration (#57 dated February 27, 2017), it has become known that 58 students (8 from FCG) will represent Cherkasy Oblast at the Fourth Stage of All-Ukrainian School Olympiads. Only the students from our Gymnasia will represent Cherkasy Oblast at the French, German and Law Olympiads. One student of FCG (out of two) will participate in the English Olympiad. First time after a long break our students will also represent Cherkasy Oblast at the Ukrainian Olympiad.
The largest delegation will be from Cherkasy Physics and Mathematics Lyceum (10 students), then goes our First City Gymnasia (8 students) and School # 17 (5 students). From 1 to 3 students will be sent from the Lyceum of Humanities and Law, Gymnasia # 9, Collegium “Berehynia”, Schools #28, 32, 19, 26, 33, Gymnasia # 31. 80% of all the representatives will be from the City of Cherkasy. School Olympiads have been an old tradition and very prestigious events. There are four stages: school, city, regional and all-Ukrainian. As a rule, winners of the Fourth Stage have benefits when entering higher educational establishments and those who get the first place will receive a scholarship from the President of Ukraine.
Debates are becoming more and more popular among the students of the Gymnasia. This time the judges and the audience were greatly impressed by the performance of the 10th formers: Polina Striletska, Nataliia Kostian and Kseniia Ozaran. Everybody noticed their thourough preparation, confidence, logical and closely knit arguments when they had to discuss quite a tricky topic “The Language of Money Is Clear to Everybody”. The fair and objective judges consisting of V.M.Potiomkin, N.V.Khvorostantseva and Y.O.Ovcharenko identified the best speaker – Kseniia Ozeran (Form 10B). For the team of Anton Potiomkin, Pavlo Paliychuk and Oleksii Chuhai this was the first defeat. But they have a chance to take revenge: on March 3, 2017 there will be another debate called “Kobzar Unites Ukraine”, which will be a part of the festivities dedicated to 203rd anniversary of T.H. Shevchenko’s birth.
Join us, if you have a desire to get new knowledge and skills in eloquence and critical thinking.
On the eve of St. Valentine’s Day, the holiday that catches more and more hearts of Ukrainian people, the six-formers of our Gymnasia (teacher of English – Y.K.Rabenko) received a real surprise! The students of our Gymnasia have been taking part in the International e-Twinning Project “Building Bridges” and they have become pen-pals with the students of Salvado Sanroma School from the town of llinarsdel Valles, Spain. Both parties have got acquainted with the cultures and traditions of Spain and Ukraine, and thus have become real friends. The relationships are becoming stronger and stronger and the result of this – the unexpected Valentine cards from Spanish friends. The six-formers got very excited, because these cards had not been planned within the framework of the project this year. Isn’t it pleasant to know that friendship doesn’t have borders!
As it had been announced earlier, the citizens of Cherkasy were the first to see the Polish-Ukrainian theatrical performance “Dub”, which was staged by the representatives of the sister-cities – Cherkasy and Bygdoszcz.
On 2 February at 3 p.m. the Community Centre named after Kulyk was rather crowded. Most of the audience was the senior students, but there were also a lot of adults, as well as representatives of the Polish community in Cherkasy. Among the guests there was I.Kilomiiets, a Deputy Mayor, I.Voloshyn, the Head of the City Department for Education and Humanitarian Policy, representatives of the Department of Methodology, etc. About 30 percent of the audience was the students and teachers of First City Gymnasia.
The theatrical performance was unforgettable. It had a lot of allegory, grotesque, pantomime, etc. Part of the play was dedicated to the events of Maidan. The audience was mesmerized with the imagery of the three-year-old events. The out-of-the-box solutions of the Polish producer Andrzej Struj captivated the audience and took everybody to the whirl of turbulent events of the contemporary history.
The storm of applause was a true gift for the young actors from Ukraine and Poland. The Head of the Department for Education I.Voloshyn expressed his appreciation and thanked all the participants of the project. He also invited the guests to come to Cherkasy again and bring new projects.
Tomorrow the theatrical group will stage the performance in the city of Kropyvnytskyi.
On 27 February 2017 Burns Night event was held in our Gymnasia by the 6th-formers upon the initiative of a teacher of English Y.K.Rabenko. Burns Night is an annual celebration which takes place in Scotland, as well as all over Great Britain, and it marks the birthday of the famous poet and bard Robert Burns. On this day men usually wear traditional kilts and women and children wear tartans – a symbol of Scotland. Burn’s poetry is heard everywhere: New Year’s song “Auld Lang Syne”, unofficial anthem of Scotland “Scots Wha Hae”, etc. Thus, the pupils of the Gymnasia put on checked clothes and recited poems by Robert Burns in the original and in Ukrainian translation by S.Marshak, M.Lukash and M.Novikova, and sang “Auld Lang Syne”. They have also decided to prepare greeting cards with Burn’s poems in two languages and send them to their pen-pals in Great Britain.
Two international projects are taking place in our Gymnasia today: 3rd Public Speaking Competition in English for senior pupils organized by LCC University, Klaipeda, Lithuania, and International Polish-Ukrainian Theatrical Project, organized by Ukrainian Friends Club from our sister-city Bydgoszcz upon an initiative of the friend of our Gymnasia – the vice-principal of this club Rafal Marcinkowski.
The first project will last for two days, while the Polish project will last till 8 February.
We welcome dear guests and the participants of international projects in our Gymnasia.
On 13 January the Teachers’ Staff Meeting approved the results of the Competition “BEST STUDENT OF THE YEAR”, 1st semester 2016-2017. The winners will receive their Certificates on 23 January at the meeting of School Activists.
Judith Enders, a US Peace Corps volunteer, has been working at Cherkasy First City Gymnasia since the 1st of September, 2016. When she got to know about the possibility to contribute personally to the development of new Ukrainian education, she decided to devote two years of her life to developing the level of English of Ukrainian teenagers. Judith has been teaching in the 8th and 10th grades. Her teaching load is 16 lessons per week. When she understood that the teachers of English had many problems with technical equipment in teaching English, she had instantly begun looking for the ways of assistance and thus she contacted International One World Foundation (the founder R. Ignatova, Bulgaria). After intensive corresponding by e-mail and substantiating the necessity for the gymnasia assistance, Judith became the initiator of the SKYPE conference with the representative of the Foundation Ms. Diana Totinska. The gymnasia administration including Serhiy Sayenko, the Principal, Nadiya Ananyeva, Vice-Principal and Nina Ovcharova, a teacher of English and Judith’s Ukrainian counterpart took part in the SKYPE conference.
And really soon we received good news: International One World Foundation presented the gymnasia teachers of English with the money (4250€) for the purchase of 10 laptops. The administration of the Gymnasia, teachers of English, students and their parents express the deepest gratitude to the International One World Foundation for their assistance in improving the level of the technical supply of the gymnasia and providing the teachers of English with the possibility of effective implementing informative-communicative technologies into the educational and upbringing process and further development of English teaching level.
The theatrical performance of the fragment from Shakespeare’s “King Lear” and the presentation of the students (5-12 year olds) called “English in my life” were part of the Official Ceremony of the Closing of the Year of English in Ukraine. In 2016 the world celebrated 400th anniversary of the death of the great English poet William Shakespeare, and it is not surprising that we decided to stage an extract from his masterpiece. The actors were: Yelizaveta Odokiienko (11A), Tetiana Hnatenko (11B), Semen Bohatko (11A), Anna Ohol (11B), Kyryl Myronenko (6B), Sofiiia Liapkalo (5B), Vladyslav Kambur (11B) and Nikita Sushko (11B). The performance was directed by Estella Volodymyrivna Kirsanova, a teacher of English.
The students of 5-12 years old Anastasiia Harnaha (5 years old, Saturday School “Rainbow”), Polina Sytnyk (2A), Veronika Stohniienko (3B), Polina Kvasova (5B), Svitlana Samotuha (6B), Kyryl Myronenko (6B), Arsenii Rabenko (7A), Kseniia Avdeienko (6B) and Yelizaveta Ozeran (7A) shared with the audience what they think of English, how they use it and what role this foreign language plays in their lives. At the end the students sang a wonderful Christmas carol. The performance was directed by Yuliia Valentynivna Pais, a teacher of English.
By the way, on 15 December the students were invited to Cherkasy Regional Institute of Postgraduate Education of Teachers and their performance at the Closing Ceremony of the Year of English in Ukraine - 2016 won a storm of applause.
