English Class Level 1
The spring-like weather and the longing to be outside beautifully introduced our last theme for Level 1 English Class: In the Forest! We have learned vocabulary about lots of different items we find in the forest and things that grow in nature. Perhaps our favorite lesson so far has been about birds! The kids learned the vocabulary bird, egg, nest, and feather. The lesson was full of looking at different pictures of birds, carrying eggs on a spoon to a nest, guessing the color bird on their heads, and catching feathers. As we were playing a game on the terrace, a stork who has a nest nearby flew right over us! The kids loved this unexpected interaction from a real bird in their lesson. We also asked our parrot puppet friend, Opakovacka, some great questions about birds... mostly - "Do you live in a nest?", "Why don't dogs have feathers?", "Are birds ticklish?". Since Opakovacka simply repeats, some of our questions went unanswered, though the curiosity of 6-year-olds is something that cannot be replicated.
One of the greatest parts of teaching so many different ages is getting to spend years getting to know these kids (as well as their families!). It is always a joy for me to watch them grow and creating memories. During an English Class this past month, one of my students asked me to hold onto her hat while she participated in the game. I tossed the little hat atop my head (as a teacher, I often find I have a lack of hands...) and instantly recalled a picture I knew I had with this little girl from three years ago when she had on MY hat! It was fun to recreate this picture!
English Class Level 2
Spring is a continuing theme for English Classes as the Second Level group continues in their theme about spring. We spent the last few weeks learning about outdoor spring vocabulary among other things. The students were interested to learn vocabulary like "pollen," "dew," and "hammock" and more words that traditional English curriculum doesn't cover. We use the new vocabulary to play some of our favorite games (like Battleship and Bingo) as well as some new games. I often teach songs and poems as the repetition and tunes help students remember. Simply taking "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" and placing new words to the song - like the growth of a flower (sprout, bud, flower, pollen) - and then singing the song in slow-motion, super fast, like robots or opera singers makes for a silly, entertaining activity!
This group has formed many tight friendships. They are hard works and chatter-some, though I realized they often pick the same partners for familiarity when we do partner work. Since I knew they would all work well together, I had the students draw random partners for a scavenger hunt (that ultimately led us to our new kitchen on site!) and there were no objections. I was happy to see the students working with a new friend and collaborating together to solve the clues for the scavenger hunt! I will definitely need to add in more opportunities to mix up the partners in this group seeing that they all work so well together.
Homeschool Class
My Homeschool Group finished their theme about the Five Senses, and we celebrated all they had learned in a review lesson where we made popcorn and used all our new vocabulary to describe how the popcorn sounds, smells, tastes, looks, and feels. Then, naturally, we had a popcorn party by watching our favorite Pigeon Storybook animated on the television. We then jumped into a deeper study of English sentence structure and grammar - specifically adding adjectives to sentences. After realizing that many of the vocabulary they learned for the five senses were also adjectives, the students' understanding of the placement in sentences exploded! We are working to link adjectives together (not so easy as English language has an order of adjectives that isn't replicated in Czech grammar) and identifying opposites among the new vocabulary too.
Little Linguists
Making Friends!
(1) The giggles these kids got from their "hopping" creations (2 plastic cups, a rubber band, and some tape) was the happiest sound! The moms all decided their child's creation would make for good "anti-stress mommy toys" for when the toddlers all went down for naps later that day! (2) Matching little mouse to his house.
Youth Club - Letovice
Many of our kids at club in Letovice have grown up with us. Over the years, we have been a part of their lives and continue to be. It is fun to watch them introduce new friends to their favorite activities and sometimes even come solo because they know they will always be welcomed by the other youth and leaders.
This is one of our new favorite games - it's like Family Feud - 100 Czechs were asked a question and the kids try to guess the regular responses. On this card, it asks "What does a priest use for his work?" My girls replied saying, "God!" "Faith!" "People!" "The Holy Spirit!" "A Church!" "A Bible!" While a Bible was listed first on the card, the other responses on the card included holy water, incense, a cross, and a robe. I was so proud to hear my girls' responses (though they were baffled as to what else could be on the card to get the points!), and I realized how much they have learned by the ways we, as leaders, represent our faith. While I was really proud of their answers, it was obvious that the random pool of 100 Czechs didn't think about God or Faith or a Church of People as necessary for a priest... and that is the reality of faith in this country.
Some days at youth clubs, I am amazed at the concentration and patience these kids show, whether it is playing a game of Checkers or coloring.
Youth Club - Velke Opatovice
With the warmer weather peaking though on some days and beautiful walking trails around out club at the Palace in Velke Opatovice, we have been enjoying the outdoor activities with the kids. Walking a little ways on the paths, challenging each other to races, and using an outdoor stage for spontaneous talent shows. We enjoyed the time outside before the breeze picked up and the cool wind pushed us once again back inside to our warm clubroom. I love playing table games with this group of kids! UNO, Sorry!, and Memory are classics we continue to grab along with their other favorites - like Sushi Go. The kids recently learned to play Logic - a fun guessing, logic game for two players, but we split up into small groups and make it a team building game since these kids like to all play together!
Youth Club - Boskovice
There are so many kids that come through our cub doors in Boskovice each week. I always enjoy the time with these kids as we spend time on scooters and skateboards in front of club and always play lots of foosball and billiards pool. Every couple weeks, we have a special club called Plan B+ with a "youth group feel" for the last part of club time. We gather the kids together and typically have a short game, program, and then dinner. This last week, we had a guest speaker from America who spoke at all of our youth groups/Plan B+ Clubs. In Boskovice, this speaker shared with the group about crazy near death experiences and tied in stories of Jesus's 12 disciples and how nearly all of them died for the gospel. Later, as I was talking with a group of our youngest kids at club, I asked them if they had ever had a near death experience. One said he was almost hit by a car in the crosswalk, another said a sparkler got really close to lighting his hand on fire, and one of the boys sat rather quietly. This third boy is one of our Ukrainian Refugee kids, and he has said before he doesn't like to talk about what Ukraine was like, but he surprised us all by sharing that he had been in a near death experience in Ukraine (I think he referenced seeing an explosion nearby). I was proud of him for opening up this part of his story and pray that the stories at youth group were an encouragement to him to continue processing his own experiences.
Youth Group
A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to speak with a group of youth kids from a neighboring village. I knew most of them from visiting their school for a lecture and their priest asked to bring the kids one week for a short program and to visit ELIM. Some of them had come once before and were looking forward to coming again. I enjoyed sharing ways I've seen God move in my life with these youth and challenging them to keep their eyes open for what God may want to show them.
Youth Group games is always a great way to be together. While we have learned that this group of kids aren't keen on the traditional "getting to know you" games (maybe because they are already a pretty tight knit group), we know that a foosball competition, pick up games in billiards pool or ping-pong, and online group quizzes are their favorites. In one recent online quiz I created for them, the kids guessed if the text displayed on the screen was Taylor Swift lyrics or verses from Lamentations in the Bible. The kids had a lot of fun trying to guess the text!
Mission Church
I love seeing the youth become more and more involved in Sunday Morning Church! We often have a couple of our youth who volunteer to help with entertaining the kids and join in at Sunday School. One of our youth kids is always ready at the coffee bar to serve snacks after the service and others of our youth kids have told their parents that Sunday Morning Church is important to them - even respectfully ask their parents if they can go to grandma's house or on family strolls after church on Sunday instead of in the morning so they can be at service with us. It is evident to see that they love the time together and enjoy learning what encouragement and challenges the speaker may have for them.
Girl's Sleepover
This month, we had a girls sleepover with our youth group ladies. We started the evening with a trip to the city for some fast food treats and then went back to our club building for evening program. It was a great night, full of lots of laughter and diving into some deep topics. One leader shared a short program with the girls discussing self-esteem and how God sees them. We then gave the girls small mirrors and expo markers and had them write and erase the lies they feel about themselves. Then, the girls received permanent markers and wrote all over their mirrors encouragement and truths of who God says they are. To finish out the evening, each of the girls got a plate. They wrote all over the plates with the permanent markers - anything that they wanted to write that was on their hearts. The atmosphere in the room was heavy and I could tell on the faces of the ladies that many of them wanted to get rid of their plates. We brought them into our big space, which is still being renovated and has a cement floor, and we shattered the plates! The relief was evident instantly as the girls were able to make this little release. I love these girls' friendships and seeing them come around each other.
Outreach
To celebrate Earth Day, we annually join one preschool in our city and spend the afternoon outdoors with the kids. We take a couple bumper-balls and roll the kids around the little garden as they giggle and comment on how they feel like little rolling bugs! While the activity is for preschoolers, we also get some older and younger siblings of the preschoolers who join in the fun. I often see students from English Class there and, of course, Little Linguist students too. It is a great way to make more connections in the community and to share a little joy with the kids at this special event.
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