Photo Exhibition "Macedonia: Cultural Diversity" by Ana Kotevska

AC Skopje intern Ana Kotevska would describe herself as a “photography aficionado” – an epithet she rightfully deserves after the great success of her first independent photo exhibition “Macedonia” Cultural Diversity”, hosted by the American Corner Skopje.

The U.S. Ambassador Reeker inaugurated the opening of the photo exhibit. Ambassador Reeker greeted the initiative, and complimented each of the photographs during the personal tour he received from Ana.
Having personally known the late President Boris Trajkovski, Ambassador Reeker said he is sure that the President
would have been pleased that indeed Ana is one of the recipients of the “Boris Trajkovski Foundation Scholarship”



To see all the photos from the opening, please CLICK HERE.
To see the photo gallery exhibited at the American Corner please CLICK HERE.

JAZZ Workshop with Kahil El’Zabar @ AC Skopje

October 23, 2010


The American Corner Skopje had the honor to host Kahil El’Zabar a legendary Jazz musician from Chicago and performer at the Skopje Jazz festival. El’Zabar is referred to as “one of the most prolific jazz innovators of his generation”.

The charismatic musician easily kept the audience’s attention as he talked about his background and artistic family, growing up surrounded by band players and understanding music as a social experience. He introduced some of the projects he has been working on, which include the ACM School of Music – Chicago, “OOH” with Stanford and MIT, founder of the “National Freedom of Expression” as well as a title that even the youngest ones in the audience understood: “The Lion King”. Kahil described his creative process as something that comes in his dreams. When writing ethno however, it includes waiting for midnight to come then throwing fabric on the floor: “..and I actually make clothes. As I am making clothes, I start thinking about melody. In the morning, I am writing these melodies.” he explained.

When asked why he chose Jazz, he laughs that although he was very exposed to music growing up, he actually wanted to be a basketball player. Luckily, he was asked to join a band as a replacement player, and received a lot of “loving and caring” in addition to discovering his true call.
El’Zabar treated the audience with several impromptu performances during the workshop, even without his instruments - using only the power of his voice.

His opinion on the contemporary musicians is that there were so many extraordinary people in the 20th century, and their legacy are the creative people today.

There is however one thing about Skopje that Kahil El’Zabar is jealous of, and that is the full 24 hour Jazz radio station!

see the full album on our facebook page.

The American Corner Skopje Celebrates its 5th Anniversary with an English Speaking Contest

It has been 5 years since the American Corner Skopje opened its doors to the general public and in order to mark this occasion, an English Speaking Contest was organized at the hall of the host institution, the public library “Braka Miladinovci”. About 50 students from Skopje, Kicevo, Kumanovo, Veles and other cities took part in the competition choosing to tell a story, recite a poem, or give a humorous, informative or persuasive speech. There were English language teachers and parents in the audience who supported the contestants enthusiastically.

Category 1 winner: Maksim Jordanski

The contest was organized with the help of the English Language Fellow – Ms. Mary Bromwell, the Public Affairs of the US Embassy in Skopje, the Peace Corps volunteers, the Fulbrighters in Macedonia and the American Corner Skopje staff.

H.E. Philip T. Reeker, US Ambassador to Macedonia

His Excellency, Ambassador Philip Reeker was the one who presented the winners with certificates at the ceremony, namely iPod Shuffles to the first place winner in the senior category - David Dlaka, and the first place winner in the junior category - Maksim Jordanski. The two of them had the privilege to perform their speeches in front of the Ambassador who congratulated them for having won the competition.

AC Coordinator Olivera Trajkova, Ambassador Philip Reeker and City Library Director Filip Petrovski

The story of the sinking of the Titanic (Maksim Jordanski) and the humorous speech as to why people should stop smoking (David Dlaka) were the ones that won the hearts of the audience and the jury too.

Ambassador Reeker encouraged all of the students present to look into the exchange programs the US Embassy has to offer and to apply for these, as well as to take advantage of the services all of the corners in Macedonia provide. We hope that this speaking contest will be organized annually from now on and are looking forward to hosting it next year!

The Category 2 Finalists

The AC Skopje Staff

Speaking Contest Workshop

The "Cross Country Discussion" exercise

Once again, the American Corner was just not big enough to accommodate everyone that came to learn how they can improve their public speaking skills, in order to apply to our English Speaking Contest!

English Language Fellow Mary Bromwell

The workshop, led my ELF Mary Bromwell started with two videos of a good and a bad public speaker – the audience was asked to comment their styles an give them a grade from 1-5. Mary then covered the basics of Public Speaking: what to do and what not to do; getting the audiences attention, using gestures and movement, voice variations, choosing an interesting topic, using a “hook”, as well as tips on speech delivery.

PCV Elizabeth Hanely, who is leading the Kids Club at the American Corner, shared her story telling tips. YouTube videos were used to illustrate the examples for what does it mean to be a good storyteller.

Elizabeth giving Storytelling tips

Strahil Todorov, who is a debate coach form a youth organization in Veles, delivered an informative speech for the audience and then shared his tips.

Strahil Todorov delivering an informative speech

Ivan Mickovski and Vesna Velevska, also debate coaches from the Youth Educational Forum gave a presentation that started with the presenters answering their cell phones and chewing gum, as a way of how NOT to start your speech. Their presentation then continued with tips on how to deliver a successful persuasive speech.

Ivan Mickovski and Vesna Velevska giving examples what NOT to do

At the end, there were several speaking games prepared for the attendees: from delivering a persuasive 1 minute speech on “Which profession should be saved if the world came to and end, and why”, to talking about something that you are worst at – as if you are the best, trying to talk to your partner at the end of the other room, while the others are interrupting, speaking for 30 seconds without using filler words Umm, Like, Ah, Er and lost of other fun, but useful activities.



Here are some examples of their speeches:

American Corner Skopje 5th Anniversary Contest!

English Speaking Contest Information


1. PURPOSE

A. To provide an opportunity for speakers to improve their speaking abilities and to recognize the best as encouragement to all.

B. To provide an opportunity to learn by observing the more proficient speakers who have benefited from their English education.

Along with a certificate from the US Embassy, Contest winners in both categories will also win an Ipod Shuffle

2. APPLICABILITY

Contestants must fit within the age/grade requirements of the contest level that they wish to compete in. Junior contest applicants must be between the ages of 12 and 14 . Senior contest applicants must be between the ages of 15 and 18. All applicants must be English as a foreign language speakers, with their mother tongue being a language other than English.


3. RULES AND REGULATIONS

A. Students who wish to participate in the English Speaking Contest must complete an English Speaking Contest Participation Form and return it to the American Corners by the date indicated on the form. People who have not returned a form will be ineligible to compete.

B. Presentations will be 3 to 5 minutes in length. Participants will lose points from their score if they go below or over the allowed time. A green sign will be held up once the participant reaches 3 minutes. A yellow sign will be held up at 4 minutes. A red sign will be held up at 5 minutes.

C. Participants may choose to present in any of the following formats:

1. informational,


2. persuasive,


3. humorous speech,


4. storytelling,


5. poetry recitation, or


6. literary reading.

All content must be original, or as in the case of poetry recitation and storytelling, credit must be given to the original writer.

D. On the day of the contest, the judges will randomly determine the order of the contestant’s presentations in a way that is fair and unbiased.

E. As this is an individual competition, students must present by themselves. Group presentations are not permitted.

F. Students may use 3 by 5 inch note cards to refer to as notes during the presentation. Please note that students will lose points for referring to their notes excessively (example: reading off of the note cards).

G. Props are allowed, but must be necessary for or add to the quality of the presentation. Powerpoint or other electronic presentation types are not allowed. Examples of acceptable props include: pictures, books, demonstration materials, or other. For more information, contact the American Corners nearest you.

H. Following their speech, there will be a short question and answer period where contestants may be asked questions about their presentation by the audience or judges. Their answers will not be used by the judges to determine their score.

I. All participants will be scored using a rubric, which will be available to them prior to the contest. If you need a copy of the rubric, contact the American Corners nearest you.

J. The contest will be scored by a panel of judges who are English language experts. Possible judges may include American Corners staff members, English language fellows, Fulbright scholars, English teachers, and American embassy representatives.

K. Immediately following the final presentation, the judges will tally all of the participant’s scores to determine the winners. Awards and certificates will be presented the evening of March 27th, 2010.


Download the Application form


***Application Deadline is March 18th***

February Monthly programs!- Update your calendars!

American Corner Skopje - updated

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American Corner Bitola

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American Corner Skopje monthly Program

TOEFL and GRE testing dates

Dear test takers!

As a certified ETS testing Center, we would like to announce the testing dates for the upcoming months.


For TOEFL

Choose American Educational Center (STN11667A) on the following dates:

• October 10, 2009
• November 7, 2009 and
• December 4, 2009

To register for the TOEFL, click HERE

For GRE

Choose American Educational Center (10743) on the following dates:

• GRE General: October 24, 2009

• GRE Subject: October 10, 2009
• GRE Subject: November 7, 2009

To register for the GRE, click HERE

Creaive Writing Summer Camp

After the huge success last year, the U.S. Embassy in partnership with Writers in the Schools of Houston, Texas, will organize again the Creative Writing Workshops!
These workshops are hosted by the American Corners in Macedonia.

“Writers in the Schools” Writer and Professor Merrilee Cunningham, is traveling to Macedonia again. She will spend three weeks in Macedonia, leading the creative writing workshops in Skopje, Bitola and Tetovo

The groups were completely filled only few days after the announcement was sent out, and there even was a large waiting list.

Here are some pictures from Bitola and Skopje and Tetovo:

Ambassador Reeker vsisted the AC BItola Workshop

The atmosphere during in AC Skopje

The Camp in AC Tetovo

Read more on Merrilee's blog : The Macedonian Expess

Observing the 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11 Moon Landing

July 20, 1969: One Giant Leap For Mankind

At 10:56 p.m. EDT Armstrong is ready to plant the first human foot on another world. With more than half a billion people watching on television, he climbs down the ladder and proclaims: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." Read the full story here. (nasa.gov)



at the American Corner Skopje:

"40th Anniversary of Apollo 11 Landing"
With Charles Hornbostel, Consular Officer at the US Embassy in Skopje

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

A multimedia-rich commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing was held by Mr. Hornbostel who the audience was already familiar with as this was his third presentation at the Corner this year.
The 20 attendees enjoyed the brief overview of the origins of spaceflight and the 1960s space race between the United States and the Soviet Union that culminated in the Apollo 11 landing on July 20th, 1969.

The video clips from the JFK library and NASA websites brought all of us back in time as the voice of President Kennedy and his “The Race is On” speech filled out the room. Everyone got a glimpse of the countdown and the lift off of Apollo 11. Tribute was paid to the astronauts and cosmonauts who were lost along the way.

Thanks to Mr. Hornbostel’s Undergraduate degree in air and space engineering very insightful and professional explanations providing evidence were given to those doubting that the landing ever took place.

Many were wondering why the next mission is going to take place in 2014 and why the moon has not been inhabited yet. In the long discussion that followed different opinions were offered on the matter. The members of the Skopje Astronomic Society who were in the audience took part in the discussion too and invited everyone present to attend their celebration of the landing of Apollo 11 which is going to take place next week.

See part of the media presented during Mr. Hornbostel's talk:

American Corner Skopje Monthly Program

American Corner Skopje Monthly Program

American Corner Skopje Monthly Program

American Corner Skopje monthly program

Semifinalists and finalists of the 4th Anniversary Photo Contest

"America Seen Through Macedonian Eyes"

Winner:
Mihajlo Naumovski

Caption: L.A. Staples Center and Hollywood stars (kids playing)

Finalist: Kiril Gjorgov

Semifinalist: Tome Kolev

Caption: My idea of the picture is how Macedonians follow the trend of shopping in America.

Caption: A closeup of skyscrapers,
that makes a landscape of a modern city.

Finalist: Andrijana Naumovska

Caption: Skopje like New York

Semifinalist: Jadranka Jovanovska

Finalist: Ana Velkova

Caption: Shot of 42nd and St. New York (Times Square)
One of the busiest McDonald's locations in the world.

Caption: My idea is to represent the Macedonians and the Americans

through children. In spite of some differences, they could be good friends.

Semifinalst: Elena Prendzova

Caption: NY via SK: tourists - connection between the nations

Semifinalist: Natalija Jovanovik

Finalist: Jovanovski Mihajlo

Caption: Incontrovertible.
There must be better ways to look at the World.

Caption: Chrystler Building among the NY skyline at night.
I love this building, as great bacon of orientation for lost visitors,
like me when I was in NYC.

Semifinalist: Angela Stojanovska

Finalist:Ekatarina Labovik

Caption: Road to Freedom, power, literature, rock music...road to America!

Caption: New York feeling!

Semifinalist: Jovan Ambarkov

Caption: My brother and Ronald McDonald remind me of America