The school year has started in full activity! Six regular English Classes (with over 70 students) plus youth clubs fill the week... and I adore all these groups of kids.
English Class - Level 1
We are considering alternative names for "English Class - Level 1". Currently pending are "Introduction to Organized Chaos", "Cuteness Overload: 101", and "The Hand-Puppet Gets All the Credit." There are again two groups of 6-8 year olds with 16 students in each group. (Capacity was at 15 students, but when the last registrations in one class are a set of twins, it doesn't seem right to cap at 15...)
Organized Chaos
These two youngest groups have started their 10 week theme, "At The Circus". We have already started learning names of animals, attractions, and nature around our circus theme. During the first lesson, I noticed one of my new students was a little more shy and seemingly curious if he will enjoy the lesson. As more students arrived in the classroom, he realized his two best friends from school were also in the class, and as we started the first game, I watched as his eyes lit up in complete realization that he was going to enjoy this year!
My second group has two new co-translators this year! Twelve and a thirteen year old boys who were in my class last year and showed huge translating potential. In the second semester of last year, I started training these two boys in as translators, and they became good friends as the year continued. Now, they both have younger brothers in the youngest group and they are quickly getting the rhythm of translating. They have even divided up translating our Elephant and Piggie books by each taking a character for a dramatic, live translation of the characters. I've noticed my class watching the translators more than they are looking at the book, and I hope they are all dreaming that someday they will also be able to translate with that confidence!
I have come to the realization that my trusty hand-puppet, a parrot named Opakovacka (Czech for "cutely repeats") is getting all the credit for coming up with the theme and vocabulary for the lesson. The kids are quite grateful for the work Opakovacka puts into the lesson and somehow they have formed a mutiny in which the puppet refuses to give me the weekly vocabulary words. Ironically, this hand-puppet who has formed this adorably affectionate (and slightly rebellious) relationship with my students is my greatest tool to get them to learn the new vocabulary words!
As we are learning about the Circus and introducing new vocabulary, I find that at this age it is best to act out the vocabulary as they remember often through play and movement. To learn our word "ride," I put up a rollercoaster ride on the television, and we all loaded onto the rollercoaster and acted like we were riding the rollercoaster while we shouted "RIDE!" I told the kids, "act like you really would on a rollercoaster" and the girls on the blue mat really played into their acting skills!
Learning names for circus animals and "rainbow" by running through a streamer rainbow!
The classroom was a wild as a real circus with all of them acting like the animals!
English Class - Level 2
For the first time this year, I have two groups of English Class - Level 2! One group meets on Monday after the little kids and the second group meets Tuesday at the start of club time. I am amazed at how these two groups formed. Both classes have a different feel even though they are the same ages and learning the same things. The students in each class seem to be the perfect fit for that group of friends, and I am really grateful for how they all feel so comfortable in their classroom setting.
We have started this year by reading informational texts about animals. As we started easy with the books, "Jump, Pup", "Play, Kitty", and "Hop, Bunny" the students then had the task to write their own stories about the pets. As I sat down next to one of my youngest students (who has to be one of the sweetest, gentlest, happiest girls in the world) to help her with the assignment. I asked her "Does your pup jump?" She looked at me completely shocked, "Oh no! Not my pup. My pup sleeps." The next week, again I asked her "Does your kitty play?" She shook her head, and I tried again, "Does your kitty sleep like your pup?" She enthusiastically nodded her head. I didn't even ask about her bunny, I think this sweet girl must attract all the quiet, loving animals to her like a little princess - even in writing exercises!
This group is working on a theme about Questions. We have already accomplished Who, What, and When. We are having fun learning about these different questions and how to form the questions and make replies. Since many of my students were at LetFest this summer, I introduced an activity to write to our American friends. Each student has an "American Friend" they are writing to and each week we are adding one more question to the letter to practice the question we learned that day. We are also working on writing relevant response information and when asking our American Friend "what color do you like?" a follow-up sentence saying "I like Nutella" is a little unbalanced, but makes for a good chuckle when reading. They are so invested in writing to their American Friends that you would never know there were over a dozen 9-11 year olds in the classroom with how focused they all are.
My second group meets in our newly renovated Cafe space at our Elim building. We have club starting simultaneously in the Clubroom (where the other English Classes take place on Mondays), but the first day of teaching in the Cafe, an 11-year-old walked in and very matter-of-factly stated, "There is a nice atmosphere here. I think I will like English Class here." We are all really enjoying the calming atmosphere in the cafe and the using this wonderful space to more potential.
The best part of having English Class that starts simultaneously as Kid's Club is that after English Class finishes, some of the kids stick around to check out club. They like trying more games and continuing practicing English together. My translator and I are enjoying getting to know these kids even more in club settings too.
Homeschool Class
Friday mornings, I have six homeschool students (ages 10-13) who visit me for English Lessons. We have started a theme called "If These Walls Could Talk" - a true history lesson about a home in Minnesota that I adopted from the Minnesota History Center. As we learn about a house where over 50 families lived in just 100 years, the students are enjoying learning vocabulary to describe the home and a new family that I introduce each week.
I started by sharing two pictures of the house with the students, one present day and one from when it was built in 1887. Although, I didn't tell the students that it was the same house until after they had compared and contrasted the houses. When I told them it was the same house and that we were going to be learning the history of some of the real families who lived there, they got really excited and started predicting some of the things the house would "tell us" if the walls could talk. My students noticed that the present day house is only two stories tall, whereas the original was three stories. I asked what they thought might have happened. (It's an attic fire, don't tell my students.) One of my students reasoned, "it must have been bombed in a war" and another student said, "yeah, you know, my home used to house soldiers." Sometimes my American-worldview still surprises me as these were very normal, educated responses for these pre-teens from Central Europe.
To really encourage their English conversation, I am encouraging the students to act out the families in the stories we read about it and create improvised conversations to encourage their English. (Since there are a couple pairs of siblings and they all in homeschool group together, they have a great dynamic!) As they were acting, the mother got really sick and the father said to one of the sons "quick! get medicine! Where do you get medicine?" one of the students (out of character) replied, "ummm... doesn't your character card say you are a pharmacist?" "Oh no... I am not such a good pharmacist!"
Little Linguists
My littlest learners arrive joyfully on Tuesday mornings for lots of play and English singing. I love all the hugs and giggles that fill this room with these toddlers. Also providing a place for these moms to converse and encourage each other is a huge highlight of my week.
We started with a classic Zoo theme as the kids learned about different animals, animal patterns, and made binoculars to find animals. The next week, we went to Space with lots of exploration with stars, flashlights, and rocket ship patterns. Last year when I pulled out our Zoo theme, all the moms and I were surprised when one toddler picked up and animal card and accurately said in English "walrus!" This year, I pulled the card to the top of the pile, knowing the same toddler would come to Little Linguists that first day again. When I showed it to him and asked, "Do you remember this one?" He shrugged and replied confidently, "walrus". They absorb and remember so much at this age.
Exploring with all the stars, flashlights, planet bouncy balls, and rocket ship patterns
Kid's Club - Letovice
While kids are still getting used to being back in school and club time in Letovice is still a smaller crowd, I am really enjoying the new, young club kids who swing in to play games with us! Some of them stay after Tuesday English Lessons for a bit when they have the time and others are new friends we met at LetFest this year who were excited to come check out our after-school hang-out option.
Games are such a fun way get to know these kids. We always end up laughing before the game is finished!
Getting a little bit more of outdoor time while the weather is still nice!
Youth GroupWe have been diving into some deep topics and questions at youth group the past couple of weeks. These youth students are coming with big thoughts like "my teacher says the Big Bang is the only option... How do I respond?" "what was really the first sin?", and "why weren't dinosaurs on the ark?" As I talked a couple weeks ago about Creation, the Fall, and Redemption through Jesus, I gave the students an optional color-by-number of creation as I noticed many of them need to do something with their hands while listening. In this generation, they are often scrolling through their phones or messaging even while simultaneously listening, but to help them really focus in on the theme, I provided this coloring option. As I finished the short program, one of my students said, "wait, that's it? Look. None of us are done with our coloring sheets yet... that program was good. Just read through it again while we continue coloring so we have something to listen to." Oh my heart. The questions we had after that with some of the youth was really focused and led into a wonderfully deep discussion.
Budapest
School here starts the first week of September, but my regular after-school activities don't start until the second week, so a friend and I took the opportunity to visit Budapest for a few days! We loved exploring the city and seeing all the sites. While Budapest is known for their spas, my friend and I have a similar "travel style" in wanting to experience all the history of the city. We visited an impactful museum where the Arrow Cross (under Nazism) and Communist Leaders had their headquarters with prison cells located in the basement of the building. Our evenings were magical as we experienced a river ride and the peak of a ferris wheel at sunset, and we loved just wandering the streets near our hotel. It was definitely a much-needed trip at the end of summer just before all the regular activities started again.
Parliament on the River Boat
While Hungary wasn't under occupation of Nazis until 1944, the Jewish Quarter still holds a tragic history. With the largest synagogue in Europe located in Budapest, the rich Jewish history was a part of the city we knew we wanted to learn about and show our respect. We enjoyed the kosher restaurants, saw a Jewish rabbi on Sabbath, and visited many monuments of remembrance.
City Overlook
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