Winter Retreat
Our annual Winter Retreat with the youth kids is my favorite part of the year! An extended weekend away with this group is always so memorable. This year, there were about 40 of us all together, and ranging from students who have just started attending youth group to young adults who have long since graduated. The connections we keep with these youth are so important, and I am so grateful I have had the opportunity to be a part of their lives and see them grow!
About half of our group of youth students enjoy the slopes on Winter Retreat. I am always excited to join them! That feeling on top of the mountain in sunshine with fresh snow powder and a group of joyful youth student is something that simply cannot be beat! We had so much fun this year riding down the mountain and trying some little jumps along the way. While the first day on the slopes was absolutely perfect weather, the second day was so foggy and raining. The rain froze to our clothes and helmets, but we laughed, pulled our scarves a little tighter around our faces, and continued on.
Back at the cabin in the afternoons and evenings, we play many games (including our favorite retreat game - Live Action Mafia), have talks by the fireplace, enjoy team competitions, and spend time all together listening to testimonies about God's divine plan. We had two guest speakers join us at Winter Retreat who shared their testimonies. One, an American Missionary, talked about how God lead him to Czech and the work he does here to serve in ministry. The other speaker who came was our church pastor, who shared how God changed his life to remove the things that were holding him back and how his commitment to these changes not only brought him closer to God, but to the woman he would marry. Sharing these stories brought the youth so much encouragement and facilitated many individual questions in later conversations.
While there is nothing to beat the rides down the slopes, I also really enjoy the time on the lift with the youth students. It is a special time when we can just sit and talk. They share how school is going, what they are enjoying most on retreats, and we talk about the program the evening before. Those 10 minutes when I get to just focus on one student means the world to me, and I know they enjoy it too! One buddy wrote after retreat that he really enjoyed the "interview with Kendra ski-lift talks."
Each year, I put together a video of the retreat for the youth kids to look back at the memories (mostly for the group on the slopes) as you may have noticed I wear the camera on my jacket to record them skiing and snowboarding. As I was putting this video together, the music really held my thoughts. The lyrics are about a person's journey into the wild and always on their way home. I have always loved thinking about Heaven and considering my life here on Earth as a journey to finally reach my home in Heaven. So, like the lyrics say, we are travelers and going into the wild and journeying and, at the same time, always on our way home. Somehow, in the white, pure snow of these mountains, it really does feel "heavenly."
English Class - Level 1
We have been continuing in our theme about The House with these youngest two groups. There is never a dull moment with this group as they giggle and often cheer in encouragement for their classmates. (They also found out this past week that our parrot friend "Opakovačka" is ticklish, and after they learn the new vocabulary Opakovačka brings, they can tickle her for a laugh!)
As we were learning about the kitchen, we played a game where I would show the kids a food picture and they would move to the side of the room if they keep that item in the "cupboard" or in the "refrigerator" (saying their vocabulary words at the place they move). When I held up "cupcake," the students paused and looked at each other, thinking where they would keep that food. My translator-in-training (a 12-year-old talented student) said, "Kendra, you don't keep that in a cupboard or a refrigerator... you just eat it!"
I love thinking about new activities that will be best for each of the students. I have a couple who are indecisive and processors, so they need a little extra time for each activity. A couple students aren't competitive, so we play most games that are either just guessing or following a leader and rotating who goes first. A handful who take a few minutes to "warm-up" to their classmates, so they get "premium" spots to sit next to me or a translator. Many of the kids go to different schools (I know of at least 3 different schools my students attend and some are homeschooled), so to be able to facilitate this time for my students to build new friendships and learn from other peers is one of my favorite parts of teaching!
English Class - Level 2
This group is quickly increasing their confidence and vocabulary in English, and my translator and I say they are rapidly running the translator out of a job! It is is fun to see their improvements - especially in confidence as I have learned that the confidence in speaking a foreign language makes all the difference.
We just finished our theme about Winter in this group and will move onto Spring next week! (For my Minnesotan friends, yes... it is beginning to feel like more spring weather here.) Our theme came to a close as we learned vocabulary for a trip to the mountains (as many children in Czech join their family or classmates in school trips to the mountains for ski lessons), hibernating animals and nature (the kids really liked learning new vocabulary in this lessons with "burrow", "frost", and "icicle"), and wrapped up the theme with holidays (and birthdays!) that we celebrate in winter months.
To see how much the kids remember from all the whole Winter theme, we had an online group quiz. They really enjoyed competing against other groups, cheering and high-fiving each other when they got the answers right. They asked if we could have another quiz again soon! I told them that we will definitely play again at the end of our next theme, so they are already excited to begin learning more to be able to have another quiz in a couple months.
This group has suddenly become talkative as they have all now become great friends! I am using it to develop their English and encouraging them to try only talking in English, and giving them lots of games with sentence structures to use to communicate. In a class with 14 preteens, I'm really enjoying how well they all work together and all the friendships they are creating!
These three siblings are all in one class together, and I remembered back in 2018 when I met them, I wrote here on the blog how I hope I get the chance to teach all three of them at English Classes in the future as I had taught their three older sisters. It was a beautiful realization that I finally have these three, who I prayed I would one day get to know more! I love seeing how God answered this prayer from so long ago, and knowing this family is such a great joy!
2018 vs. 2023
Homeschool Group
We have been learning vocabulary for sorting and practicing following instruction in English in our Homeschool Group. Since these seven kids meet more often as homeschoolers, I have remarked to the parents that they sometimes all act more like siblings than classmates! They will lovingly tease, compete, and help each other, and it is fun to see how these characteristics carry over into our English Class time. We have just started our theme about the senses and took two weeks to cover "taste." The kids really enjoyed the Jelly Bean Taste Testing, and we ALL got hungry for lunch looking at old American menus. In these lessons, the kids become divided and joined quickly... "how can you like pineapple pizza? You eat olives? Broccoli?!? Gross! Oh, you also like cake! It's like we're twins!" ;)
Little Linguists
If you ever want to instantly make a random Tuesday morning a little better, swing by our Little Linguists class! These toddlers brighten my morning with their hugs, smiles, and giggles! They are all starting to talk more, and deciphering toddler-talk in a foreign language is one of my improving "language developments." We had a theme all about hats, celebrated Valentine's Day with a play cafe, learned about sea creatures and looked for treasure, and looked for a dragon in a fairytale kingdom. As the Littles learn about their world AND learn English, we are also learning social guidelines (being gentle, not breaking a tower you didn't build, taking turns, asking for a toy you want, etc...). Most of the kids are getting really good at sharing. The Valentine's Cafe helped with that as they took turns being the one to give cookies and cupcakes and receiving. One Little brought me a new cup of "coffee" every three minutes, and her mom and I joked that she could stay and continue to bring me coffee all day!
(1) hats! (2) Valentine's Cafe
(1) We asked her mom, "does the princess have the dragon, or the dragon have the princess?" This Little's mom replied, "Hard to say...!" (2) sharing Valentine love!
(1) Bubbles! (2) Looking for sea treasure
Youth Club - Letovice
After coming back from Winter Retreat, we noticed many of our youth kids (who were already really good friends) had grown even closer. As many of these teens have various struggles in dealing with home situations, school conflicts, difficulties in relationships, they are really feeling the oasis that club time is to break away from it, rest, and share their thoughts with friends and leaders. Seeing these youth come together three times a week at youth group and clubs shows just hoe important this time is in their lives.
One of the other single leaders and youth club and I specifically asked to be put on rotation for leading on Valentine's Day! Our thought, since we don't have dates, all our love go into our youth kids! We ate lots of candy, played special Valentine's Day games, and had hearts EVERYWHERE!
Our group in Letovice is currently addicted to Kahoot! Quizzes. We don't understand it because they come from school complaining about tests they had, but are extremely excited for the online quizzes at club. (If only school tests could be this fun!) After a couple recent conversations with the kids, I realized there were some practical life skills that would be good to learn. I created a quiz about some general life information, including some safety information, and these teens said they learned something from the quiz! I'm hopeful that they will be able to remember the information if they were to ever need it.
Youth Club - Boskovice
Our Boskovice Club is our most active group! Last week, we had nearly 50 students come through our doors to play games and hang out with friends. These kids love to play dodgeball, riding on scooters and skateboards, and playing lots of billiards pool and foosball. When the weather is nice, I like to join the kids outside and just loop around them on my pennyboard (skateboard) encouraging them and taking videos of their jumps so they can see how they do.
(1) Winners of Foosball (2) Scooter fun
Youth Group Activities
As our youth students are all great friends, it is fun for us to join them in different activities on the weekend too. We had fun with some of the kids at the skating rink this past weekend and at a Formal Dance the weekend before. I love making all these memories with these youth!
Skating
Dressing up for the formal dance with friends and youth kids
Mission Church
The work on our building seems never-ending, though there is one space that is now usable - the cafe! Most people wouldn't be able to tell that this space was originally the garage of the building as it now has a beautiful snack bar, tables, chairs, windows, and a patio! We love using this new space for our Mission Church on Sunday, allowing the Sunday School kids to have more space in the other rooms. I love how inviting it is to sit around a small table, listen to a sermon and worship, and then join friends in conversations with coffee. Many of our youth students are also coming more frequently on Sunday mornings too! A couple of them love helping at the coffee bar, and I am so excited to see them develop this act of service and leadership in an area where they thrive.
School Outreach
During the spring, I often have multiple invitations to visit schools for various lectures. I have a list of lessons that are divided by grade so teachers know exactly what I have prepared for that age. However, one school that I visited last year asked if I could create a new lesson for them about Valentine's Day and Winter Sports. This school is a village school with 32 students in the entire 1st-5th class. I enjoyed creating the new lesson for these kids and hope they also learned something about the topics.
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