American Culture Moment: Volunteering

I recently began including a few minutes of "American culture" as a part of Intermediate English club. Many of the students who come are interested in traveling to the States for a study or work program, so I thought it might be appropriate. Last week, our slice of culture was Volunteering. It was interesting to me when I first got here to see a large contrast between American emphasis on volunteerism and Ukraine's approach to it. In most colleges in the States, you can find any number of opportunities to volunteer or donate for some cause: natural disasters, cancer research, abuse victims. Most all American school children have participated in Thanksgiving food drives. It's just kind of a part of our lives, I guess.

We discussed these things, and I asked questions about volunteering in Ukraine. We came up with a list of things that occur here, as well as a list of things that could been done here. We discussed words like "charity", "donate", "give of your time", etc.

As an emphasis, I gave the students a "puzzle" to work out; I created a word scramble puzzle for the verse John 15:13: "No one shows greater love than when he lays down his life for his friends." The girls' team actually worked out the whole puzzle! The boys were a little bitter about it. :) Then, we discussed the meaning and importance of the verse and how we could apply it to our lives.