This past week, as I quick ran into the local market to grab something for lunch, an English worship song I had never heard before was playing on the store’s background music. I wandered through the aisles of the grocery store a little longer than I had planned just to hear the whole worship song and thank God for the little uplift during the day. The store normally plays music in the background, and I can’t guess how this one worship song ended up on the playlist. I only hope it happens more often!
School started the first of September, and most of our regular activities began the following week (Youth clubs as well as English Classes; Youth Group started this past Friday and Kid’s Bible Class will begin the first Friday in October.) Registration for my English Classes this year brought in a new group of students, and I was very excited to meet all the new kids and plan lessons. After the first class, I knew already that it was going to be a good year! First Class has seven students and Second Class has twelve, and all the kids are so kind, bubbly, and talented. One mom of two new students in my class said her kids said, "I could go to English Class every day for at least three hours!" I am so happy the kids are enjoying the class so much, and I am having just as much fun planning and teaching. I also have two new translators this year, and both are extremely gifted 9th graders, and I am so glad they can translate this year.
In First Class, we have the theme "Farm." Each week, the students add onto their Farm Art with the new vocabulary words they practiced that day. So far, we have learned ten new farm vocabulary words (sky, grass, sun, tree, cloud, flower, tractor, wagon, barn, and tool). Surprisingly, one of their favorite games was jumping over a rope my translator and I were holding when we said "sky" and crawling under the rope when we said "grass." It was such a simple game, but they were so excited to play and now remember those two vocabulary words the best! Since the kids in this class are still learning to read and write, we spend most of the time learning English through pictures, actions, moving, and LOTS of repeating.
(1) Guessing what picture they have on their head. (2) The boys acting a farm tool to practice the vocabulary.
The kids in Second Class became friends almost instantly! Actually, two of my students in this class are bilingual (one American English and the other British English), so they are excellent little helpers and are great to encourage and help their friends. We are working on identifying nouns and verbs. To practice verbs, we have been doing a lot of moving in this class too! The students really enjoyed Action Memory where two students took turns to call on their classmates to find who had the same action verb. They also enjoyed Action Telephone where they passed an action to the front of the line to see if they could guess the right verb that started at the front of the line. It was quite funny to watch how "march" would become "dance" and the kids thought it was so funny to see how their verb keeps changing!
Second Class has Interactive Notebooks to record all our learning.
Playing Action Memory
Playing Action Telephone
My Little Linguists Class has started again; however, I'm no longer at the Mother's Center, but at our ELIM organization building! It was a change I had dreamed of for when our space was ready to use, and with changes at the Mother's Center this year, it just made sense to move Little Linguists into our building. We have had two lessons - "Circles" and "Zoo." I pulled out our Twister Game and the kids and jumped on the circles and then one of the littles gathered different circle toys to match the circles on the Twister board. We used circle stencils and circle stickers for an art project. One toddler would use the stencil to trace a circle and then place a sticker atop the traced circle. His mom explained he has a workbook at home to match the shape stickers to the right spot, so he had created his own worksheet! He held up his art project for me to see and asked me (in Czech), "Isn't it beautiful?" I agreed and he put the paper on the table, and then he said very confidently, "So probably now Mr. Artist should get a snack, right?" It is always so fun with these toddlers and their moms!
(1) Our Mega Legos are a big hit for these toddlers! (2) Looking for Zoo Animals with binoculars.
These Littles were so excited to look through the homemade binoculars, and one mom wrote me a week later that her toddler was still walking around the house with the binoculars around his neck and looking for animals in his house!
Some days at Youth Club in Letovice we have a room full of kids and other days there are just a handful of youth coming to visit us at the Youth Center, though this is normal as the school year is still getting started and the kids are still figuring out their after-school schedules. When there are less kids, we have enjoyed table games, playing foosball, and I taught three of the girls how to play 4-Square one afternoon! It was the perfect activity for the small group. On the days when there have been more kids, we have had Ultimate Nerf Battles and Foosball tournaments! It's so fun getting to hang out with these kids and seeing how club is helping them learn to work together with peers they may not connect with otherwise.
The younger kids were in an Ultimate Nerf Battle when a group of older kids showed up at club. I was worried they might be annoyed that the whole room - all the couches and tables - were being used as barricades in our Nerf Battle. The older kids looked around and then one said, "Well... someone get me a pistol!" They split up among the teams and the younger kids helped one of the older kids who had his hand in a cast to prepare his pistol!
Table Games!
Youth Club in Boskovice is always full of activity! There are multiple little groups of friends who join us for youth club, and I love jumping between their different preferred activities - pool, table games, ping-pong, basketball, and just chatting together. Sometimes, we are able to get all the kids together for a group game - like dodgeball - and we always have lots of fun playing together!
Always multiple games to choose from
These three started coming to club years ago when we first opened - at that time, they were all smaller than me!
Nerf Battles happening also in Boskovice!
Over the weekend, I went back to the village where I was for both English Camp and VBS Camp this summer. On Friday afternoon, I joined in with the little kids programs. Some of the kids from camp were so excited to see me again and others just chatted with me like no time had passed at all! I was also really happy to meet some new kids who hadn't been at VBS camp with us. Many of the youth students help with the kid's program, so we stayed after for youth group. The youth pastor had asked if I would be able to lead the program for the youth, and I was happy to be able to share with them and encourage the group. It was great to see friends that I had made at English Camp and to hear all about the start of their new classes, and for some, new schools.
Coloring Pictures for each other
Silly faces! Like no time had passed at all with these girls.
The youth pastor planned a great hike for us on Saturday. We enjoyed the beautiful views in this region and just chatting together. Some other friends from camp joined us briefly on our hike as they came on bike and motorcycles to a restaurant meeting point at the top of one hill.
Youth Group Hike
I don't think I will ever get used to the views in this region! On hikes, I frequently stop conversations mid-sentence and just declare "Look at that view!" One friend always comments, "Just normal..."
A couple weekends ago, a friend and I biked to nearby city to see a ceramics festival. Walking around in the downtown streets, eating food from vendors, looking at the different booths of ceramics, and listening to Czech music in the background reminded me so much of my childhood Fall Festivals in my Czech-American hometown!
A friend and I biked to a nearby city for their Ceramics Festival and enjoyed a beautiful day together.