Much Thanksgiving!

Watch this short recap video to see all that was happening in autumn of 2019!

Last Saturday, we had the biggest party of the year in our new club location in Letovice.  With over 700 people in attendance, we celebrated and thanked God for the new building with space to grow and for the support of the city.  The only problem was that there were so many friends in one place and I would have needed another week to catch up with everyone!  It was a remarkable night, and by the time all the guests left, the leaders and helpers of the opening party all sat together and enjoyed talking about the night and playing card games as we talked about the eventful night we had all enjoyed.

Opening party!

Ribbon Cutting

We had asked the Connect Club girls if they would like to help us greet the guests at the start of the opening party.  Many agreed and were thrilled to be a part of the welcoming team!  The girls handed out balloons, bracelets, and information brochures with big smiles and laughter.  As the girls were emerged in their roles of the Welcoming Committee, a little sister of one of the girls who frequently joins in at Connect Club instantly jumped in to help also.  After a little while, this little sister noticed the other girls had on special Team Lanyards stating that they were a part of the Opening Party team, and this little girl was adamant about having a Team Lanyard also.  The leaders and I knew we needed the team cards to be able to quickly identify the helpers, but finally our little helper also convinced us and she wore the lanyard with pride all night.  During the week, I ran into this little girl's mother in the city, who told me the little girl wore the lanyard like a medallion all weekend, even tucking it under her pillow at night!  What had been a little thing to us - just a lanyard for the helpers - meant the world to this little girl who became a part of the team.

Spending time with the Connect Girls at the Opening Party

Friends from all around Czech came to visit on Opening day!

With such a big party, of course there was a big preparation team!  Everyone had a task, including cleaning, repairs, and party decorations.  (Even the littlest kids helped gather and test out the balloons.)  The space is so big that there were sometimes 15-20 people helping at one time, but we each had our different parts to work on and infrequently saw one another.  I was thankful for lunch when we all gathered together and shared a meal before continuing.  It has been so fun to see the progress of transforming this disco-club into a kid's club, and we still have many more plans for the future with this space.  The kids are really looking forward to having regular club times again and being able to do more in this new building as the space will allow more place for games, activities, and competitions.  Throughout this whole project, we have seen God's hand guiding the process.  We are so thankful to all the people who supported and encouraged us and continue to! 

Always time for pictures

We had our first church meeting at the new building for an evening of prayer and worship.

Beginners English Class completed their theme about rooms of the house.  The kids were thrilled to finally be taking home their home collages that they had worked on since the start in September.  What impressed me the most was that they were able to recall even after months of learning the material.  They are looking forward to what we will study next in the lessons together.

They worked together to build a house from big Legos as they used words like wall, chimney, floor, and ceiling.

Proud of their houses

In the Next Step Class, we have looked a different landmark in the USA each week, discussing, reading, and learning about the landmark to launch us into the theme for the day.  At the end of the day two weeks ago, we had five extra minutes, so I pulled out an Elephant and Piggie book that I had read to the Beginner Class.  Many of the students in the Next Step Class have already heard all the Elephant and Piggie stories (multiple times!), so I assumed they wouldn't want to repeat them.  Boy, was I wrong!  When I pulled out the book, the kids who knew the story cheered and immediately sat to listen to the story.  I looked over at one student who was belly laughing at the jokes in the story, which surprised me since that particular book this student has read for the past four years that he has been in my class!  The next week, I had a surprise for the kids... 7 Elephant and Piggie books!  Their task was to read the story with a partner (or by themself) and then collect the "token pictures" I placed in the back of the book.  Many kids said it was their favorite lesson so far!  We talked about the importance of learning about the USA - that in the future their teachers and examiners at high school exams will expect them to know landmarks in the states, be able to effectively describe pictures, read fluently, and understand new vocabulary based on context - all things we practice in the first ten minutes of each class.  After understanding all they are learning through the USA reading, the students had renewed energy for learning about another landmark.  Though I now know that Elephant and Piggie can still make appearances in this class!

Partner Reading

Reading with Gerald

It's amazing how the start of winter quickly adds 5lbs just with all the warm gear we need to wear before walking out the door.  Though, I believe the mothers of toddlers have it the hardest.  As we leave Little Linguists, the mothers are zipping little jackets, gathering mittens and booties, and trying to keep a hat on the two-year-old long enough to get out the door should automatically nominate these mothers for Nobel Peace Prizes!  It is all a part of experiencing winter for these curious toddlers.  I've opened my winter-themed lessons for the Littles, and we have enjoyed lessons about hibernating animals and lighting the Christmas tree.  We created caves for the stuffed animal bears and draped white scarves over the cave forts as snow for the bears to sleep.  While creating the caves and covering them with "snow" was fun, the main attraction was when the Littles would yell "It's spring!  Wake up!" and run to collapse the cave and retrieve the sleeping bear!

Covering the Caves with "Snow"

(1) Finding the Hibernating Animals.  (2) Sleeping Bear Project

The first weekend in December, there is the traditional lighting of the Christmas tree in the town square.  Many of the children go with their families to see the lighting of the big tree and awe at its size as they pass the tree on their way through the city.  The Littles enjoyed decorating their own paper Christmas tree with paint and singing about the different colored lights on the tree in class.  At the end of class, I was waiting for a couple of the students to come join us in the circle to sing "Bye-bye" together.  As it turned out, the Littles who were already seated in the circle didn't understand why we were waiting and started singing by themselves!  Since it was my last lesson before Christmas break, I jokingly told the mothers, "It looks like the kids can run this class on their own while I'm gone!"

Painting Christmas Trees

Czech tradition celebrates St. Nicholas Day on the 5th of December, and the good children are visited by St. Nicholas and an angel who bring them gifts.  This year, my colleague and I were asked to role-play St. Nicholas and the angel for the Mother's Center where I teach Little Linguists.  Many of the kids were very excited to sing for us and receive their gifts, and we definitely had a fun time dressing up and acting for the kids.  The mothers were so pleased with the morning program and a few wrote me that afternoon to say how much they also enjoyed the day!

Ready to meet the kids

Passing out gifts

Amidst all the work we were spending on the new building, we continued to enjoy the time with the club kids in Boskovice each week.  It is fun to see how the kids from Boskovice are also interested in our new space in Letovice and came to see the new club building.  Through it all, the kids are developing friendships that extend across the city as they move between club locations.

After completing the story of Joshua, the leaders and I decided it would be beneficial to review the stories we had learned thus far with Connect Club. These girls recalled each story in detail!  Abraham - Isaac - Jacob/Esau - Joseph - Moses - Joshua... and the names of their wives and stories of God's promises through them.  (I mean, how many of us can recall the name of Joseph's wife?  These girls know!)  In our first review activity, a couple leaders had put together a Mystery Box where the girls pull out an item and recall the story the item represents.  Red twine - "That's for Rahab."  Jar of flax seed - "That was Joseph's plan to save the people from famine."  Picture of stars - "Abraham's promise!"  Our favorite was when the girls pulled out the unleavened bread.  Even before it was unwrapped from the dishtowel, the girls recognized the homemade unleavened bread and quickly exclaimed - "Passover bread!  Can we eat it now?"  Our hearts were so full as the girls found so much joy in recalling the stories, and I am so excited to further show these girls how understanding these stories helps us better understand Jesus in the New Testament!  One of the Connect Girls told me, "Next week is Gideon right?  I read ahead in my Bible."  God is moving through these girls to impress His work on their hearts so they study Scripture on their own!  We started now with the theme of Advent, and I'm looking forward to hearing all about what they learn together during this Christmas season.

During this season of Thanksgiving, even with everything in high gear to get the building ready, my good friends still found the time to celebrate Thanksgiving with me!