The Rhythm of the Weeks

Somehow, I always start writing these updates thinking "how has it been over two weeks already?"  (Or more often in my case, this thought comes later than the two week goal of posting!)  The weeks seem to rapidly move by and have developed a rhythm.  (Which in my line of work, I've learned that rhythms don't last very long.)  Nonetheless, I've been enjoying the simplicities of the routined days and sharing God's love in so many different areas!

"Lively" is the word I use most often to describe my second group of students in English Class.  I usually don't mind noise, as long as they are working, and I encourage personality, which brings an armload of silliness.  My translator and I often comment on how bright these kids are, and they are constantly surprising me.  I frequently lock the doors after class wondering if the kids taught me more in the lesson than I taught them.  At the beginning of the year, I started a Special Person Chair and the students ask the special student questions in English, and I record the answers in our class book.  The students are each craving to be in the Special Chair and adore having all the attention on them for the first five minutes of class.  During one of the Special Chair discussions, another students was being a bit chatty in the back of the room.  I told the student "If you would like to talk, then you can translate."  The student quickly closed his mouth, but I insisted - it wasn't a punishment, I actually thought he was talking during class because he didn't need to listen to the translation, and I was right.  The student translated remarkably, but I was most impressed with the confidence he displayed while translating.  Before the next lesson began, this student grabbed a bar stool (our translator spot) and placed his bar stool next to the translator's asking, "Who's in the Special Chair today?" and then quieted the class so we could start!  Yes, I truly think the kids are taking over this class and are teaching me. 

My first and second English Classes are Night and Day.  The kids in my first class are angelically peaceful.  They all want to show me their work.  They ask before they start color on the coloring sheets I lay out before them.  They raise their hands to speak (something I don't require in my class, but they carry over from school).  They make sure the littlest ones in the class aren't falling behind.  They giggle at the simplest of games and beg to repeat activities to practice the English.  I'm sometimes very amazed at how quickly the same classroom can transform between groups of students, but there is so much to love about each group!

A new favorite game about learning to recognize vocabulary words called "Don't wake the Translator!" (He's not sleeping - he's actually counting how many times they clap to wake up!)

Learning a Silly Song

Little Linguists has a great mix of students who were with me the previous year and new toddlers who just joined the class.  The older kids are wonderful examples for the new toddlers as they have familiarity with the songs and games.  To help the new toddlers become interested in the circle time activities, I've asked the moms to pass along some hints of what their child enjoys doing.  Along with "kitchen play" (which was in the last post), the moms also hinted at "trains"!  We had three different sets of trains on the floor for our song about using the train to visit our friends.  I also like to throw in a theme about the farm in Autumn, which always seems to be more exciting for the mothers as they laugh at the different sounds I make for the farm animals!  Czechs have different "storybook sounds" for the farm animals.  (Check out the Kid's Corner in the top banner of this blog to read about the different animal sounds.)  

After our song about taking the train to visit our friends, one of the Littles asked me to label the houses on her project with her name and mine.  (Yep, my heart melted too!)

(1) Everyone is playing trains!  (2) After finishing her farm, she walked around to every person in the room to show off her hard work.

Farm Puzzles

Some of my favorite moments at Kid's Club in Letovice happen in the first fifteen minutes of club time.  I greatly enjoy the time as the kids trickle in the doors and share what they did at school that day while I have a quick cup of coffee.  I have so much fun playing one-on-one ping pong with one of the first kids to arrive as they wait for their friends to join in.  The game isn't competitive as we simply bat the ball back and forth.  As more kids come through the doors, I give it my best effort to make sure I greet each kid by name (though a couple sets of twins can cause me to be momentarily hesitant before I recognize who is who).  I try to get games started and kids involved, and learn many of them are great at moderating games themselves.  In Boskovice, the kids arrive with their own agenda.  They know exactly what they want to do that day and set up is usually as easy attaching the fan to the bouncy castle or finding paddles for ping pong.  The kids love music, and it seems that some days we rarely finish a song before a kid has pressed play on a new one.

This little friend brought Ukrainian candy to share with me, so I took out some American candy and we enjoyed a mini-cultural taste test before the other kids arrived for club! 

Autumn has brought in multiple rainy days that are sprinkled in with gorgeously sunny days.  I think the change in weather may have something to do with our smaller group at Connect Club, since the kids want to get the most of every sunny day outside and are hesitant to venture out of their homes on rainy Friday afternoons, but the girls don't mind the smaller group.  Actually, those who come say they prefer the more individual time with the leaders! (Yet, I also know they are excited to share the space with more friends.)  We continued after Joseph with the story of Moses.  We covered Moses in the basket in the first week and hustled through all the details in the story up until the burning bush in the second week.  What amazes me the most is the details these gals remember!  "Moses came about 400 years after Joseph."  "He was from Joseph's brother's family, Levi."  "Moses was three months old when his mom put him in the basket on the Nile."  All the leaders come with our Bibles prepared because we know the girls will fire questions at us, and we want to make sure each answer we give is directly connected with the Scripture because they remember it all.  I especially like when we show the group a video clip that depicts the story and the girls are suddenly critics acknowledging parts of the Bible Story that Hollywood missed!

Spaghetti and Marshmallow Tower Challenge!  

(1) Writing verses to put in Moses's basket to remind us to give even the things we hold closest into God's trusting hands.  (2) Our Burning Bush craft

One of the ways I enjoy reaching out beyond Letovice and Boskovice is to encourage other youth groups and kids in the Czech Republic (though often, they encourage me much more than I believe I do for them!)  Over the past few weekends, I have had the opportunity to visit with a couple different youth groups besides my own.  I never tire of seeing how God is working through youth and students all around the country, and I am learning so quickly how connected the churches are here even when they are hours apart. 

A youth leader invited em and a good friend to share our stories with her Youth Group and Sunday School students.  I was pleasantly surprised that I knew a couple of the kids, whom I had met at other Christian camps and events.  While talking with the youth kids, I noticed a few of them were wearing LetFest bracelets (our Letovice outreach festival).  Their youth leader told me that the students are praying for our youth group also, that they see how God is moving through Letovice too!  The prayerful hearts of these students is beyond encouraging.

I visited some good friends for a weekend in a city near the Polish border.  We enjoyed lots of games of foosball, a hike, ice-skating, and rounds of cards.  While we were at youth group, the elder's team of the church was meeting in another room.  When they finished, one of the elders came to briefly chat with the youth students.  He noticed right away that I wasn't a regular attender of the church and introduced himself.  After I gave him my name, he said "You're not Czech." "I'm American." "Why are you here?" "I'm just visiting.  I live in Letovice." "You must be with Elim!  I just got an email from your Youth Leader this evening about how God is working miracles in your organization!"  It was fun to see how connected our ministry is even in a church so far away from Letovice.