My translator told me last week that when she is at school and all her classmates are complaining that it's Monday, she says, "Monday's are my favorite because we have English Class!" I couldn't agree more - Mondays are also my favorite! These groups are so much fun and they are exceptionally clever kids! This second group has bonded very quickly, and I love watching them learn and piece together the English we are practicing. (I am definitely a really lucky teacher with this group!) When I told the Second Level Class that they would have a month off for Christmas Break, I was surprised the news was received not with cheers, but groans and statements like, "But Kendra, we want English MORE times during the week... not a whole month off!" The kids understood when I explained I'll be visiting my family for Christmas, though they did all offer to cram into my suitcase and tag-along...
Working on sorting words into comparative and superlative categories (adding -er and -est)
We have finally finished our Farm Theme in Level One English! We have been working on the Farm theme since we started in September, and the kids are anticipating our final lesson before Christmas break when we will review ALL the words they have learned! They are also looking forward to finally bring their Farm Projects home to show their parents all they learned and practiced in the last three months. (I am also excited to show some of their final work here next month as their projects look amazing after all the effort these kids put into their farms!)
Counting how many words they learned from the start of English Lessons in September to Christmas!
After reading an Elephant and Piggie book about a friend who "stole a big ball," it seemed only fitting that we would practice our vocabulary words with a game of "pickle-in-the-middle"! They each had a vocabulary word on the mat in front of them, and they would read the word when they caught the ball. When the person in the middle caught, everyone switched vocabulary words and a new person was left in the middle to try to steal the ball. It was a fun new way to practice the words and move around.
In one of the recent lessons, we were practicing the words "scarecrow" and "bell" for our Farm Theme. The students were "live scarecrows" trying to move slowly to the center to ring the "bell" on the little lamb without being detected by the farmer. My translator and I often join in on the games because they are just so much fun with this group!
The Littles are so comfortable at our ELIM space. They roam around the room, sit on my lap, and pull me to help them with different toys. Recently, the kids have started using the ping-pong paddles that we have for the club kids and trying to balance a soft ball on top of the paddle! Some Littles are even trying to pass the ball on their paddles. I told my club kids that they will have some tough competition in a few years as we are now starting to "train" our littlest ELIM kids in ping-pong!
We've been working through a few different themes in Little Linguists including Dinosaurs, Farm, Trains, and Hibernation. Some of the moms are surprised that their toddlers are already using words like "hello" and "bye-bye" correctly and frequently. It's really one of the highlights of my week to watch these kids learn about their world and explore everything!
(1) Making Dinosaur Fossils in Play-doh. (2) After learning about hibernating animals, we made a LEGO house for us to "sleep" too.
(1) We made a train for the kids and the stuffed animals. The moms and I were very surprised that the kids were content just sitting on the train and changing out which animal passengers were next to them. (2) Looking at the sleeping bats in our cave with mini-flashlights!
With some smaller numbers at recent clubs, we have been able to really invest in the same group of kids who come. I have played more table games this past month than I can remember during any other time at club. The kids seem to be so excited to play together (and I believe they are finding out that cards and board games can sometimes be even more exciting than their phone games).
This is a club favorite - Ligretto! (Similar to Dutch Blitz) We actually have two packs so we can play a crazy game with 8 people! The boys were trying it out for the first time, and they definitely surprised the girls with how quickly they caught on.
Jenga and Spikeball are games that we find are perfect for just two, but pretty easy to add in another player who joins in late.
These two and I played Carcassonne twice last week! We play a little simpler (more for me than the kids...), and we also sometimes play cards that help out someone else. Both times we played, these siblings were disappointed we didn't get to finish the game as they had to catch the bus home. I guess 2hours was still not enough time!
In Kid's Bible Study, we are continuing on our Pirate journey as we learn how to be a team and apply the storied from the Bible to our lives today. While traveling on our Pirate ship, we needed to stop for food and medicine, and we also came across some sunken gold! We shared the stories of Jesus feeding the 5,000 and Jesus healing the lame man and talked about how Jesus still provides us with food and healing today, though it may look different. The kids enjoy playing different games and working together to find a solution. After a few activities, they quickly learned that creating an assembly line, encouraging each other, and sharing tips was the fastest way to get the tasks done. My helper and I were very impressed when they figured it out as we were trying not to tell them how to complete the task, but letting them learn how on their own.
Always lots of energy on Fridays at Kid's Bible Class!
Balancing ping-pong balls on a spoon to the basket.
The last month at youth group, we have been looking at the theme "Relationships" we talked about relationships between friends, romantic relationships, and parental relationships. It was an interesting theme for these teens as many are beginning to have first crushes, conflicts with parents, and finding a fit in a friend group. Starting last September, we moved youth group to an earlier time on Friday evenings, and we have been finding that while the time we have with the students is shorter, it is now more intentional as many are committed to coming each week. They are eager to learn about the Bible and how to apply it to their own lives. One of the girls at youth group (who had previously been in Connect Club with me) was working on a report last week for school about how many people have multiple sides/personalities. She was struggling with how to organize her thoughts and asked me and some of her friends for some ideas. That evening, she wrote me, "I had the best idea for the report! I used a verse from Proverbs!" I was so proud that she had come to this idea on her own to realize that God doesn't want us to act and have facades, I was also proud that she had the bravery to submit this assignment to her teacher. (Many teachers in the Czech Republic aren't Christians because it was banned during Communism and many of the seasoned teachers still hold onto this.)
Youth Group Team Building Challenge
After nearly 2 years, we were finally able to have another ELIM Sleepover! The kids have been asking about a sleepover for so long, and the opportunity finally came! (Thankfully, we had the sleepover just before Covid cases started increasing, and all the kids were tested at school the day before.) The evening was filled with many games of ping-pong, foosball, Jenga, Mafia, Pictionary, and Nerf battles! There was so much going on that I didn’t think I’d get the chance to talk to everyone, but we played a Speed Conversation game and was able to touch base with nearly everyone. Six of my English Class students came to the sleepover. They banded together at first and then began to expand their group with neighbors, classmates, and others they met! It was fun to watch this group of six throughout the night as they’d re-group during the evening after making new friends - almost as if they were checking in with each other.
One tradition we have at Sleepover Club is to have a “Bedtime Story” where we share a Bible story and discuss in small groups. After the youth pastor talked about the Good Samaritan, my group of six students grouped around me, and they shared times they helped others or others helped them like the Good Samaritan. Then I asked the group if they think God has ever done anything for them. One boy said, “I think God must do a lot for us, and I think He wants us to try to copy Him and do good things for others. Maybe that’s why we’re here.”
