http://usa.ural.ru 2008-05-11 19:48:30 http://usa.ural.ru/v2/news/042508.php Jazz Appreciation Month traditionally held by the Smithsonian Institution in April was vigorously supported by a variety of significant events in Yekaterinburg, Russia. The month opened with a spectacular performance of the Paul Winter Consort at the III International World Music Festival Izumrudny Gorod that took place April 9th. April 12 the two leading local jazz departments for youth at Children Musical School #1 and Art Etude School held their concerts devoted to JAM. Students aged 6-18 performed their favorite jazz compositions, instrumental and vocal, solo and ensemble, again proving the abundance of talent and the high quality of musical education existing in Russia. http://usa.ural.ru/v2/news/032708.php March 27: the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Consulate General in Yekaterinburg conducted a digital video conference with Dr. Richard Slotkin as key speaker. Richard Slotkin is a cultural critic and historian. He is the Olin Professor of English and American Studies at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. His award-winning trilogy on the myth of the frontier in America, which comprises Regeneration Through Violence, The Fatal Environment, and Gunfighter Nation offers an original and highly provocative interpretation of the United States' national experience. http://usa.ural.ru/v2/news/031408.php Through a series of workshops at two local universities, the regional teacher training institute and the American Corner, Yekaterinburg teachers and university students explored the ways teens, computer ‘geeks’ and Hispanic Americans in the U.S., to name but a few linguistically creative groups, express themselves. English Language Officer David Fay introduced approximately 200 English language pre- and in-service teachers to expressions such as ‘wachale’, ‘get hyphy’ and ‘shut up’, the last a show of surprise or admiration teens often use in the U.S., and discussed the impact these various sources of linguistic divergence from the status-quo have on language and society. http://usa.ural.ru/v2/news/030608.php On March 6th, the Yekat consulate took part in a four continent DVC uniting indigenous youth in ecological projects. Bashkir and Tatar children from the small rural village of Ufa-Shigiri—celebrating its 360th anniversary this year—shared a common cyber space explaining the importance of composting in their management of their own environments with American youth from the Kiowa tribe, Ugandan youth from the Bugandan ethnicity, and Malaysia students from the ethnic minorities of Sarawak.