English Class - Level 1
We began the new year with new themes in English Classes. I also split Level 1 into two groups as there was still more interest in the class! That means on Monday I have three English Class groups and 40 students total. It has been fun seeing how the different personalities of the classes show more now that the Level 1 group is split. The kids all jumped back into class with so much excitement and quickly becoming tight friends with their new classmates.
Learning the names of our new classmates by guessing who is under the blanket.
We began our new theme about "The House" as we are learning vocabulary words for furniture and items we find in different rooms of the house. So far, we have learned about the bedroom, bathroom, and living room. While the kids are very attached to our stuffed animal mascots Gerald, Piggie, and Pigeon, this group has been especially attached to our parrot puppet "Opakovačka". Opakovačka (meaning "One who Cutely Repeats") brings the vocabulary words for us to practice each week. The kids have created their own elaborate story of how Opakovačka flies from Africa each week to bring our vocabulary words and practice with us. The kids say Opakovačka must be tired after traveling for so long, so it has become our new routine to call for her to "Wake up!" from her nap. They have also begun to demand a proper goodbye before she sets off back to Africa... so Opakovačka makes her rounds and "kisses" each student on the cheek before she begins her journey back home. Thus is what happens when you bring a puppet to a class of 6-year-olds!
These kids are always so full of energy and lots of smiles! They enjoy trying the new games and repeating their favorites. What I love about this age is that there doesn't have to be a "winner," the game is just the game and the motive is learning English.
(1) The side-eyes and the little thumbs-up, this kid was letting me know he loves the game! (2) Always lots of smiles when playing games.
English Class - Level 2
Now that the first group is split into two, my Level 2 class is the biggest group (with 14 students). We began the new year with our theme about Winter. The students enjoyed practicing dressing quickly in their winter gear while saying the vocabulary in English as well as learning all about winter sports. They have been trying some of the winter sports as we have been getting some snow here, and it has been fun for the kids to come to class and say they were sledding, skiing, and skating on the weekend! Most recently we learned vocabulary for baking (ingredients and grains) so the kids can have the vocabulary for basic warm "comfort foods." The thing that is surprising us most with this group is their quick growth in translating! My translator and I tease that the kids are quickly moving her out of a job, but that is most encouraging as their teacher! Their confidence in trying the English translation for their classmates is amazing and they are often eagerly trying to be the first to translate or try English conversation.
Bingo is never a bad idea :)
Dressing the stuffed animals for outdoor activities and practicing the English vocabulary
Homeschool English Class
Due to a smaller class-size this past week (as the class typically only has 7 and 3 were gone), I scratched the plan I had originally created (some days, teaching is like that), and quickly created a new lesson that I enjoyed even more than the one I had prepared! (And the kids LOVED it too!) A few years back, I created this game for sentence building. Each part of speech is color-coded to make it easy to for the kids to remember "every sentence has a red and green card" (noun and verb). The game is played like Rummikub by adding words onto existing sentences to create longer, more complex sentences. To remember what each person added to the sentence, we used trains from a "Ticket to Ride" game. We used the train stations to end a sentence if we thought it was complete to teach the students to end sentences before they become jumbled.
We recently read a book in the Homeschool group about a man who discovered treasure, so he built a "house of thanksgiving" to share some of his treasure with everyone. To practice this, the students first went on a scavenger hunt throughout the classroom, finding different clues until it ultimately lead to a treasure box (filled with candies!). We then used the large LEGOs to build our own "house of thanksgiving." With each brick they laid, the students took turns saying one thing in English that they are thankful for. Then, without replacing or removing bricks, they had to communicate together in English where they would place their bricks to create the "house of thanksgiving" so there would be four walls, a doorway, and a window. It was encouraging to hear all that they are thankful for and seeing them work together on this project.
My American friend who was visiting for a couple weeks to be a part of the ministry helped a lot in this class by creating the activities and leading the lessons. I enjoyed encouraging her, and it was good for these students to become comfortable with another teacher as they have homeschool tests coming up and will be speaking English with an examiner.
Little Linguists
One of my Littles often bolts into the room and gives be a hug before doing anything else. Another will peek inside the door and then shout to her mom, "Kendra's here!" I love how much these kids are excited to come to Little Linguists each week, and I especially love giving the moms a space where they can let their child explore and learn. One friend recently said, "You aren't just teaching them English, you are teaching them about their world!" I was happy someone else noticed it too, because that is always one of the main goals at Little Linguists. We have enjoyed learning about Hibernation, moving like Dinosaurs, and playing Trains these past few weeks.
(1) little animals getting ready to go into the cave. (2) finding the cave bats with flashlights
(1) Dinosaurs and play-doh (2) making a train and taking turns checking the tickets (which is just saying "Good day!" and giving their friends a high-five)
Youth Club - Letovice
Our regular group that comes to our Letovice Club is typically older than the group at our other clubs. Most of the kids are upper middle school and high school students and many of them we have known for the majority of their childhood. Where many times we as leaders will suggest activities for the day, the kids in Letovice sometimes come with their own ideas of games they know they enjoy - like foosball tournaments, BINGO, and Kahoot! competitions. Sometimes we just sit on the couches or at the snack bar and talk about life. Since they grew up with us, we have developed close friendships with the students and get to be the encouragers when there was a hard test in school and other deeper life situations of middle and high school students. They are so independent now, and I love that they still come to us for advice and comfort.
Bingo... again, never a bad idea.
Kahoot! Competitions are perfect for when the kids want to be on their phones but also be together.
Youth Club - Boskovice
Our club in Boskovice is our most active group. Many of the kids like to spend club time out front of the building learning new tricks on their scooters and skateboards or inside playing Just Dance with their friends. The younger kids are quick to start a game of "running hide-and-seek" while some of the older kids jump between foosball, air hockey, billiards, and basket ball. One of the kids even created his own mini-bowling alley recently! Their imagination and creativity to make new games and to spend the time with friends is a joy to watch grow. Some of the younger kids have a hard time at school and at home, and they can be a handful when they all decide to team up, but when the older kids take some time to show them a new scooter trick or teach them how to hold a billiard's pool stick, I can nearly see their hearts melting in gratitude.
Bonus Youth Group
Youth group meets in Letovice each week, though we have noticed the students in our other clubs are hesitant to come. So we decided to bring youth group to them - extending regular club-time just a bit! Our first meeting in Boskovice was a success as many students stayed. They enjoyed the snacks and games and the short discussion. As we were getting started, one student I was sitting next to said to me, “My friend and I don't have Bibles.” I told these two friends I could get them Bibles, but the one replied with, “You know, actually I don’t think I’d use it.” I then suggested the option of also downloading the BibleApp. Again the first student said he wasn’t interested, but his friend held out his phone to me and said, “I’d like that!” I downloaded the BibleApp for him and opened it to the passage the leader was going to read from. As we were waiting for the leader to get to the verse, I suggested one of the students read it. The first student who didn't want the Bible took his friend’s phone, stood up, and bravely read the verse for everyone to hear!
Youth Club - Velke Opatovice
Each club feels so different and yet middle schoolers and high schoolers are pretty much the same everywhere. What I love about the group in Velke Opatovice is their dedication to games! We can play Mafia, foosball, or card games for hours and they will continue to ask to play again because they are determined to practice and get better. Last week, after play UNO for about an hour, I pulled out a new card game called Sushi Go. It was one I had brought and was hoping to learn with the kids, and after just a couple rounds, we were addicted. It is such a fun game with a unique point-scoring system and strategy as you pass your cards like "running sushi." These three and I played the game for probably an hour and a half before they had to leave to catch the bus. We are already looking forward to playing at club again soon!
Weekend Activities
Since my friend (a former youth student of mine in America) was visiting for a couple weeks to be a part of the ministry, we also took some short trips so I could show her a bit more of Czech. We went on multiple hikes around Letovice and Boskovice (since I love nature!), toured some villages (because my view of traditional Czech culture really lies in village lifestyle), and went to a couple castles (which are closed for the season, but it was an experience to see them from the outside!). Her energy was perfect for all the work we did and as she made friends with the youth students, they also invited her on outings to see other cities and to show her around to their favorite places too. We finished her time in Czech with a couple days in Prague, and I showed her all the traditional "touristy" spots as well as some of my favorite little "Prague Gems." It was great to see all the ways God used her in the short time that she was in Czech and the ways the students saw her heart full of love for them.
Walking around a castle
Touring Prague
One of my favorite parts about winter is the sports! When I moved here, I learned to downhill ski and quickly loved it! A few years ago, I tried snowboarding and knew I wanted to learn it more too. I had so much fun joining some friends and students last weekend on the slopes as we snowboarded and skied. We then came back together again the next day and went ice skating! It was a perfect, active weekend.
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