Love is a Universal Language : May 2023

English Class Level 1

Typically in the spring, I see my class numbers go down slightly as kids begin summer activities, family trips, and weekends at grandma's house. This is not the case this year! In the past month, I've added another three students to the classes as my students continue to invite their friends. The classes are now maxed out, just in time for summer!

When teaching a language class of 6-8 year olds, one of the biggest challenges is learning how to say the words correctly with missing teeth! Last week, five of my students came to class with resent missing front teeth in their little smiles. Needless to say, words like "moth" and "snail" were a bit tricky... and "squirrel," a difficult word regardless of missing teeth, made for a fun challenge!

These Level 1 students are progressing in their theme about the forest and are happily learning about forest animals. When planning the lessons, I made sure to include some things that are specific to Czech forests, which includes a wild forest boar! Maybe you ask what to do if you accidentally meet an angry wild boar in the forest? All my little kids know and were taught by their parents... Climb a tree!

Teamwork Game

Outside English Class Vibe ;)

English Class Level 2

We wrapped up our theme about Spring with the kids' favorite online partner quiz. If I would have known that they love taking quizzes so much, I would have created more questions! We kicked-off our theme about Summer with weather and summer clothing. With summer just around the corner and school ending soon, this unit will be a bit shorter, but we are loving this theme in anticipation for all the upcoming summer activities!

(1) Partner Test. (2) Summer Vocabulary Fun

Watching the kids develop friendships is one of my favorite parts of this class. These two boys are my "translators-in-training." When one of my translators was sick last week, I called these two boys to come save the day! As they both have younger siblings in the first couple classes, they happily agreed. I love seeing their talents grow and their understanding of English improve even more as they become even more confident. When it was finally time for their class to begin, one of the boys said, "Kendra, I am going to read our class book for the third time today!" I replied, "Sounds like you are volunteering to translate again." He replied, "By now, I think I've figured out all the words!" I smiled. That's exactly what I had planned.

Homeschool Class

Since we had two Mondays this month that were national holidays and another Monday that I was out sick, I have really enjoyed the time prepping and teaching the Friday Homeschool Group. For two weeks, we worked on action and helping verbs and for the next two weeks we learned about community helpers and occupations. I felt the best way to learn about action verbs was to look for actions around the city. (Find someone running, climbing, jumping, etc.) Each child picked a handful of words that they were specifically responsible for finding and then using in a sentence. One of my students picked "crying" and it was our joke the entire walk of how he was going to find someone crying. As we neared the end of the walk, I rewarded my group with ice-cream and as we were walking, one little boy with his mom walked past us and started crying to his mom that he also wanted ice-cream! My student (perhaps too excitedly) thrusted his ice-cream into the hand of his buddy and pulled out his notebook and recorded his sentence. The mother was able to console the child, and my class continued on their way with all their vocabulary completed!

Homeschooling isn't normal in Czech culture, so this group is special! Sometimes, as we are on walks outside, I have to explain to curious (or even judgmental) adults that I am teaching this group and that they aren't skipping school - we are currently IN school. To still get our outside-time (which we all love) and to have uninterrupted lessons, we picnicked by the river and had the best time in the fresh air and engaged in learning.

A couple cooler days forced us inside for part of the lesson, but we practiced recognizing community helpers and occupations in English. I learned my students have huge dreams to be an athlete, artist, architect, vet, and doctor! As we were talking, one student asked, "Kendra, why are you a teacher? And why are you a teacher HERE in Czech?!" We spent the last 15 minutes of the lesson sharing one my favorite story - how God brought me here.

Little Linguists

This month, my Little's class has enjoyed themes about the Alphabet, Things that Fly, Music, and Cookies! One of my favorite parts of the week is watching these toddlers explore the materials and activities I have prepared for them and encouraging their interactions with each other. Some of the older toddlers were beginning to recognize the letters their names start with and trying to find that letter in other activities I had set up at our "learning station."

The Mega Legos always make for a great addition to the toddler classroom! One week it is a stage for the Music lesson and the next week it is a Cafe for the Cookie lesson! Whether standing up to perform or passing play cookies through the window to their friend, I love seeing how these kids explore their environment. One of my toddler at the cafe always greeted, "Good Day, would you like something?" I enjoyed encouraging this role-playing with the kids and sampling their "delicious cookies!"

Youth Club - Letovice

We are quickly outgrowing our outdoor space at our center at Fabrika. The terrace is filled with kids shooting hoops, hitting badminton birdies back and forth, playing board games on the grass, and catching baseballs. We've gotten 5 birdies stuck on the roof, rescued the volleyball numerous times from the river, and the baseball was nearly lost in the mud, and somehow that just makes the game a little more exciting! One club student and I recently learned he is a natural baseball pitcher. The first day he picked up a ball and a mitt, I realized he wasn't just throwing, he was pitching! The next day, I grabbed a catcher's mitt (we only have a right-handed mitt, and I typically catch left) and a floorball goalie mask, and in my improvised catcher's gear, I let him pitch hard and wild - and we both had the most fun! These types of days are definitely my "happy place".

Watching my junior leaders connect with the kids is one of the greatest joys I have at club. These three sisters have attached to this one junior leader simply because they say "he has our hair!" My junior leader graciously lets these three follow him around like ducklings until I can pull the girls into a new game.

Introducing the fan section!

Youth Club - Boskovice

I am typically at our youth club in Boskovice only once or twice a month, so I love making the connections with these kids on the days that I am there. When I arrived this last time, I thought "I've been gone so long! There are so many new kids here!" When my colleague commented, "There are many new kids here today!" I realized that a handful of kids had started coming just that day! I was happy to be there for their first day and to get to know them. The kids in our Boskovice Club enjoy jumping between different activities, and I have a great time cheering them on and encouraging them to try new activities.

Youth Club - Velke Opatovice

We've recently added another couch to our club center in Velke Opatovice, and it is getting plenty of use! It is the new favorite place for our youth kids to "hang" with their friends. What makes this space so fun is that even when it appears the couch is full, there always seems to be room for one more friend to join.

I never tire of playing table games with these kids. It is fun to see them building skills that come through board games and learning good competitive skills. I often hear the losers of a game say, "Okay, good game, you played well... but now a rematch!" We have been enjoying the beautiful palace garden at our Velke Opatovice club location for some games. Our window to the club room faces one of the large lawns and typical conversations between leaders happen through that window - "Can you pick up the UNO cards?", "Would you toss out the Frisbee for us?", "Hey, do you have any more Skittles up there?", "Can you toss the Skittles back up to us?", Yes... very typical conversations.

Mission Church Weekend Trip

Last weekend, 16 of us from our Mission Church took a "family trip" to the mountains. I say "family trip" because it truly felt to all of us that we were all one large extended family - just as church should feel. None of us wanted to leave after the weekend. We had formed deeper connections with each other, and from the oldest to the youngest, we each had a place that fit in just right. It was a time for all of us to recharge and rest.

Climbing the tallest mountain in the Orlicky Mountain Range

I loved these "family game nights" that filled our evenings.

(1) We played this Viking Game, Kubb, for HOURS. We all loved it. I enjoyed playing and cheering for teams. It had the same pace and skill that reminded me of cheering for baseball - the plays, the tactics, the waiting and misses - and the kids all laughed at my radio-voice play-by-plays! (2) Going on a hike when three good friends are recovering from colds, we came up with a solution to their tissue needs... it just looked funny in my see through backpack!

Other Weekend Trips

You will rarely find me at home on weekends this past month. I am out enjoying nature and friends! Campfires, incredible views, great hikes, river rafting, bike trips, and wonderful conversations have happily become the norm for weekends.