December started out by wrapping up our first "trimester" and theme in English Class. First Class finally finished learning about the Farm! We have been working on the farm vocabulary since September, and I have been very impressed with these students and all they learned. Each day, we added 4 new vocabulary words to our Vocabulary Picture (except for the first day, when we just started with 2 words). That made for a final count of 42 words in all! I was curious to see how many words the students were able to remember after studying the Farm Vocabulary for three months, so I sat with them each individually for a quick verbal assessment. I showed each student a picture with all the words they learned and asked them to say which words they remember. The students surprised me in averaging recalling over 2/3 of the vocabulary! One little girl surprised me the most. I asked her "How many of these words can you remember?"
"All of them."
"All of them."
*Me: not really believing the 8-year-old knows all 42 words* "Okay... sweetheart, I'm going to need you to show me."
*8-year-old recites all 42 words perfectly*
*Me: really surprised* "You DO know them all!"
For reference - they didn't have just simple little words, I had them learning words like "windmill" and "scarecrow" too!
They were so proud of their Farm Vocabulary Pictures!
As we finished our final lesson before the new year by putting together a nativity scene and talking about it. Since the students had just finished learning about the farm, they started imagining other things they thought would be in the stable with Baby Jesus - cows, hay, chickens... They also added our two storybook characters, Elephant Gerald and Piggie to the Nativity in hopes that Gerald and Piggie could be invited to the celebration of Baby Jesus too.
We did the same ending activity with Second Class as they created the Nativity and we talked about the greatest gift! They also added Elephant Gerald and Piggie to the Nativity, and I asked them "What would Gerald and Piggie say if they went to Bethlehem when Baby Jesus is born?" I loved their answers! Here are just a few:
"Maybe they would be surprised and say, 'Oh! A cute baby!'"
"I think Piggie would feel like she belongs there... because of the farm animals."
"Maybe Gerald would play a song for Jesus." (We read in a book that Gerald has music/language talent.)
"Gerald and Piggie might ask Jesus, 'Do you know the apostles? Where is your cross?'"
"I think Gerald and Piggie would just sit up with the angels and watch all that is happening."
The English Class kids and Youth Group colored some angels for me to bring back to the states and share with family and friends.
Our last lesson in Little Linguists during 2021 was a Christmas theme! We sang about the colors of lights on the Christmas Tree, and the kids decorated our paper tree with all the lights. Like many European towns, our city has a big Christmas tree in the town square for the month of December. The toddlers love to go to the square and see all the colorful lights on the big Christmas tree. The Littles also painted lights on their own Christmas Trees to take home, though my favorite part of the lesson was the Live Nativity that I had set up for dramatic play. Throughout playtime, the kids visited the stable and sat with the sheep under the big star.
(1) In our Bethlehem Stable. (2) Painting the Christmas Tree lights.
Shining colored flashlights on the Christmas Tree "lights" to make them glow.
I traveled back to my home stateside for Christmas with my family, and I got to spend time with a few friends too! I was so happy to have the time with my family, though it always seems to go by so fast. I was able to meet with many church leaders, supporters, mission committees, and share at church/bible studies all that God is doing in the Czech Republic. It is always so encouraging and exciting to share all that is happening with my prayer team back in the states - I'm never just sitting around for a couple weeks before Christmas! Like everyone else, I am also running between different activities even stateside, but I'm so happy for all that I got to do. Here are some pictures and captions of a few things I was able to do on my quick trip back to America.
Blanket tying for the residents at the local nursing home one evening at the youth group I helped at when I was stateside for 6 months last year.
Christmas Party Game Night with my stateside Bible Study group!
(1) Hard saying goodbye to these kids that I connected with in the states - but always so happy to see them again! (2) Christmas Cookie Decorating Contest with Grandma!
Christmas Get-Together is always so fun to see all the relatives after so long! I really enjoyed reconnecting with many of my cousins and aunts & uncles. I also had lots of fun playing with my cousins kids - this little guy reminded me of how much I love my Little Linguists class!
(1) A Christmas picture with my parents and grandparents after Christmas Eve service! (2) I had the MOST BEAUTIFUL view of the cities as I left back to Czech. It made me almost wish we would turn around so I could enjoy time in my home-state and with family and friends again, but after an already really, really long delay at the airport, I was mostly just thrilled to finally be in the air. (For reference: first flight continued to get delayed until it was finally 9 hours later, when they canceled/postponed the flight to the next day... thankfully, my parents rescued me from the airport in the middle of the night and brought me back the next day.)
Since I was still on jet-lag for New Years, I had a quiet New Year's Eve at home as neighbors set off fireworks. I didn't mind my quiet evening reading, watching movies, and playing a new solitaire logic card game. It took me a little longer to get over jet-lag this time (though I am attributing that to already being tired from the extra 12 hours at the airport the previous day...). We jumped back into the new year so fast, and I am so excited to see all that 2022 holds!
Decorating our board at club for the year 2022