Letovice Club
Boskovice Club
I absolutely love these pictures of club the youth pastor's wife took this past week. Not only because of the excellent quality in the pictures, but there is so much movement and stories within the pictures! It shows how club regularly looks with different activities, conversations, and fun happening all at once!
Times at club are regularly irregular. It never seems to be the same mix of kids and new activities are constantly being mixed with old favorites. There are some days at club that I rarely find myself at one place in the room for long before jumping into a round of ping-pong, joining a foosball tournament, launching a table game, or joining the kids on the couch just to chat. Other days at club, I can be found in one place for hours. Last week, a group of girls and I played countless rounds of Rummikub for hours at the table! Another day, I played so many games of foosball that my hands were cramped towards the end of club, though I wasn't ready to give up our unofficial tournament just yet. While there always seems to be a flow of new kids, I find myself still getting to know kids who have been coming to club for many years! As they grow, interests change, they become more talkative, and share more about their lives outside of clubs. Though I may not know all of their families, and I have learned that "school" can be a "taboo" topic for some kids, I have so much joy in knowing that one day, these kids will look back on their childhood and think about all the years at club.
Girl's Day Leading at Club!
It just ism't club without the cheers and sounds of foosball.
Playing Mafia after a long time!
Beginners class is still working on their theme "In the City" as we learned about transportation in a city. The students are learning the new vocabulary so quickly. They are very excited to finish their cities to bring home to show moms and dads all they have learned. When I tell them we still have more vocabulary to learn, they say "The city's already full!", though I know they are looking forward to how our city will expand. The translators I have for this class are probably the youngest I have ever had translate a Kid's English Class, and I am continually amazed at their commitment and English abilities! One of the translators translated our Elephant and Piggie book better than anyone has ever read the book before. I tell so many of my students that half of the translation comes with the emotion you put into expressions, and this translator did it so well that the students' eyes were glued to him the whole reading time, giggling and waiting to see what happens next in the story. I was laughing right along with the kids, it was like a whole new story! The other translator celebrated his 14th birthday with the kids last week, even coming earlier to help me prepare materials for the class. His dedication to translating is heartwarming.
Though they are great friends, these translators are also wonderful competitors! Their encouragement to their teams challenged the kids to say their vocabulary words to win the race!
Playing a board game with places in the city.
Next Step Class is still learning about different places in our "Journey Across America" theme. We have recently bee traveling down Route 66, and the kids are asking lots of questions as they realize the famous road that Lightning McQueen (from the movie Cars) traveled on is real! As is our tradition before a holiday break, we had an Elephant and Piggie read-a-thon. (Next week is Spring Break for our region, so the kids won't have English Class.) While the kids read, I walk around the room to listen and give pronunciation corrections, and bring new books once they finish. Every time I brought a book to one of pair of girls, one of the girls would declare, "I'm Piggie!" After a couple books, her partner wanted to be the beloved character and shouted, "I"M PIGGIE!" before her partner could. While Piggie and Elephant normally have similar lines in length, this partner finally called the role of Piggie in the book where Piggie monologues! She and her partner couldn't stop giggling at the irony.
Read-a-thon with Elephant and Piggie
While waiting for mom after English Class, this student pulled out a piece of chalk from her pocket and drew Elephant and Piggie on the sidewalk.
The Littles had themes about Dinosaurs and Underwater the last two weeks. We had many new students come to try the class two weeks ago. In the lesson, marched like different kinds of dinosaurs, made dinosaur fossils in play-doh, and colored dinosaurs made from paper towel rolls. With many new students, I enjoyed talking with the new mothers about my work in Letovice and living here as a missionary. (Whenever someone learns I live here, their fist question is always "why?" and I love sharing the answer!) One of the mothers asked if I have some lessons for older kids, so I told her about my English Classes for Kids. She immediately asked if I had room for her daughter in the Beginner Class, of course, I was thrilled to add another student to the class, and I was happy to make a connection with another family! This week, the Littles sang about a very hungry whale and all the sea creatures he eats! We played with bubbles and went fishing with magnet fish of our own. After catching the magnet fish, a few of the kids decided that they would need to cook the fish for lunch, and bought the colorful, little fish to our kitchen set and began frying the fish! I love watching these kids grow and learn. One of the Littles loved the song so much, she requested I sing it on repeat! Her mom had to video record one round so they could sing it at home, but during one of the times I was singing and dancing with this one-and-a-half year old, I forgot one of the sea animals. The toddler grabbed my hands and said, "No! Again," and did the action for the animal I had skipped! They are so clever.
Table Time Crafts
Magnet Fishing
(1) Frying the fish in the kitchen set. (2) Bubble Fun!
Over the weekend, the Mother's Center where I teach Little Linguists put on a Princess Ball for the toddlers and preschoolers! At the Princess Ball, the children learn how to formally greet the princess and then dance with the Princess at the ball. Suddenly, the Princess loses her favorite necklace and cannot find it anywhere. (It is a traditional Czech fairytale rhyme.) The children were given the task of visiting various challenges stationed around the ballroom to collect beads to make the Princess a new necklace to replace the one she lost. The kids worked at collecting as many beads as they could and would frequently stop by to see the Princess in between tasks to have her marvel at their creations. Towards the end of the afternoon, the children had mostly finished creating their necklaces for the Princess to choose the most beautiful one to replace her own. At the last minute, as the children presented all their necklaces to the Princess, the Princess found her lost necklace so the children were all able to keep the necklaces they had made. It was so much fun playing this role of the Princess for the preschoolers and toddlers. I loved counting the beads they had collected with them and dancing throughout the hall. As we were finishing, one little boy came to me with his necklace saying, "Princess, I know you found your necklace, but I would like you to have the one I made also... in case you lose yours again." After the families had gone and I had changed out of my "Princess Costume", I was walking out with the organizer's family. Her toddler son didn't need the Princess costume to remember who I was and noticing I was no longer wearing a necklace, pointed to my neck and asked, "You have the necklace?" I jumped back into character explaining that I put the necklace somewhere very safe so I couldn't lose it. I patted my backpack, and this seemed to satisfy the compassionate toddler.
Little Princesses at the Ball!
Dancing with the children
A couple weeks ago, we had to cancel Connect Club for the day because all the leaders were either sick or unavailable to be at the group. I wrote the girls, and they were understanding, though the next week at club a group of the Connect girls came to me and said, "Please, never cancel Connect again. It was a horrible Friday without Connect." The other girls in the group nodded. "Why was it horrible?" I asked. The responded, "We just went from school to home and then to volleyball practice. Actually, the whole weekend was really boring since we didn't have Connect." I realized how important this time is for these girls to have together, to encourage each other, be encouraged, and to grow deeper in understanding Jesus' love. We came back together last Friday and continued in learning about Jesus life. I am excited for all the questions they are asking and how they are going deeper in understanding who Jesus is in their own lives.
Collaborative Game
I taught at youth group last week about the armor of God. We went through the pieces of armor and learned how each different part is important in protecting a Roman soldier and how it is important to protect us from the evil ones attacks. I asked the youth students to put a star sticker on the piece of armor they really wanted to concentrate on this week. I showed the youth how the armor of God helps keep us from sinking like an orange peel keeps the orange afloat. The whole room was focused on the oranges in that moment, and for the first time all evening, I believe it was completely quiet. I stood letting them soak in the example, praying that they reflect on it more during the week too. It is always so fun when some of our older club students start coming for Friday night Youth Group, and even more exciting when they start really understanding and asking more questions about God. I am so thankful for their openness and can see God working through their hearts!
Our Roman Soldier and orange demonstration.
With four of our youth kids all graduating this spring from the same school, many of the teens in our youth group spent the Friday evening at the Graduation Ball! I was thrilled to also join in with the celebration. We had so much fun together, and around every corner there seemed to me another friend from youth group. I'm so proud of these students as they study for their final exams and are still trying to make the time for leadership on the youth group team.
Most of the Youth Group at the Graduation Ball; alas, it was impossible to get everyone in one picture together.
I loved spending time with these two beauties at the Graduation Ball! Both longtime friends of mine, and both miracle cancer survivors!