For four years, I studied Elementary and Preschool Education at my university. My teachers encouraged my passion to work with kids from another culture, and they pushed me to apply what I was learning through my experiences in Czech to my teaching practice. I am so grateful for these teachers and the values of teaching they taught as I can see my education working with the talents God has given me to reach these kids. In my Kid's English Class, I have developed a friendship with the students, so they all refer to me as simply "Kendra." The funny part is that some of the students will still call my 16-year-old translator "Mr. Teacher!" We have been working on writing PenPal letters, yet I decided I would like to challenge the students more with speaking - so we created a movie to send to our PenPals last week. The kids all loved their few seconds of fame on the camera showing an activity they like to do, and I am hoping to incorporate more film-making in the future as they are working on fluency and volume while speaking in English.
Waving at Our American PanPals
We celebrated our 50th club in our Boskovice club last week! I really enjoy getting to know these kids as many are regularly coming each week. Our club time normally includes lots of free time for the kids to play table games, ping-pong, pool, foosball, and cards. Then, we usually have some sort of group game at the end of club - favorites include hide-n-seek in the dark, Nerf War, and Mafia. Since I am learning more and more Czech, my understanding of Mafia is usually pretty good (unless there are too many people talking over each other!). Well, the problem now is that these Boskovice kids know my Czech is good enough, so I used to be able to play clueless in the game and they would think "Kendra can't be Mafia... she doesn't understand." Now, when I actually AM confused, I am accused of being the Mafia as they all think it must be a tactic! We added more characters to the game to make it more interesting for the kids (bodyguard, matchmaker, detective, doctor, etc.)
For two weeks in our Letovice club, we had competitions for the kids to participate in to see who of them is the best at the event. The winner(s) get their name and picture in our new Club Record Book. The kids had lots of fun showing off their strength and skill. My colleague and I also enjoyed thinking of the 10 activities for the kids and then organizing the two-day competition. Though some of these kids are small, their strength and determination to win is as great as the big kids and leaders!
Playing with the Girls
Record Day!
Waiting for Their Turn in the Competition
Awards Ceremony
Watch a short clip about Record Day here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDLIJxhBWZQ&t=20s
Youth group is never the same each week - not even the location stays the same! We are beginning to introduce youth group in our Boskovice club location as many of the kids who come to the Boskovice club came on with the youth group on the Winter Retreat. During the retreat, they developed friendships with the group from Letovice as well as enjoyed the Bible programs, so we are trying a "moving youth group" to incorporate everyone from Letovice and Boskovice as best we can. We are continuing the study of Acts. Two weeks ago, I was asked to teach about Stephen and last week our youth leader spoke about Paul. The group is starting to see a theme throughout the study of Acts to include the bravery of the first church and the expansion of Christianity. It is our prayer that these kids consider their own walk with God as many of them are new Christians or those being introduced to Bible stories for the first time.
Youth Group in Letovice
Youth Group in Boskovice
Even with everything going on around here, I am still so grateful to have time to spend with friends. One family who I have known since I started coming to Czech, invited me to come skating with their girls. I was so excited as I was itching to get back on the ice again! I could tell right away that I had lost some of my skill, but the time with the girls made up for it. We looped the rink multiple times and I taught both of the girls some basic skills. As I was teaching the younger friend crossovers (a skating skill), she was very resistant to try at first. After multiple rounds together, she became more and more confident, but still held on tightly to my hand. Near the end of the time, I knew she could try it by herself, but she was very hesitant, so I suggested we don't hold hands tightly, but just touch fingertips. Two loops around the rink later, she let go of me completely and called back to me saying "watch me!" I remembered then that while skating was fun, the most joy I had even when I peaked my skill was when I was coaching. Some things will forever remain the same.
Skating Buddies
Yesterday, I was thrilled to go to Prague for the day to see my childhood best friend! She has been traveling throughout Europe with a team for the year and witnessing to students on University campuses. While her team was on their way from one country to the next, they decided to make a stop in Czech for a day - so my best friend and I were ecstatic to be able to finally see each other on this side of the ocean! Since she had been to Prague already during the summer for her team training, I brought her to some of the "less popular" sights - the Summer Palace and the Lennon Graffiti Wall. We also found this great park tucked away in the city. At first, it didn't seem like much, but then we noticed that within the park were maybe a dozen peacocks! Even though the place was literally a block from the river, where all the tourists were taking pictures of the ducks and swans, the park was unknown to the groups of tourists and very peaceful. We spent lots of time roaming the city streets, sitting in various coffeehouses, and jumping into every English Bookstore we could find (we are both teachers after all!). It was an amazing time with my friend, and I loved getting to spend this day with her.
Summer Palace
Peacock Park
In the next couple weeks, I will be jumping into two new activities that I have been wanting to be a part of and praying for open doors. The first is that I met a wonderful teacher in the Boskovice School District who has invited me to her upper-level Elementary classes for English lectures. It is exciting because I know a couple of her students from our Boskovice Club and the teacher is also very excited about the opportunity for the students to learn American culture, slang, and idioms. The second activity is a Mommy and Me Playgroup. Two of my friends, who are young mothers, are beginning programs for mothers and young children within an existing playgroup program. They have asked me to teach an English lesson once a week for toddlers and preschoolers. I am excited about this opportunity as well as I have studied Preschool Education and look forward to teaching the littlest learners again!