We finally got some much needed rain here! Unfortunately, most of the rain came all at one time, and as much as I love thunderstorms, it was simply too much water coming at once. Part of our club room flooded due to the heavy amount of rain, forcing us to cancel clubs in Letovice for a week as we dried out the carpet. After quarantine, we had seen the kids slowly start to come back to club as they became familiar with the schedule again; however, this week was small at club since we had a week break to clear out the water and kids are again used to staying at home. With summer around the corner, we are using the club time to invest in the smaller group of kids with hopes that September will bring a new wave of kids excited and ready to come back to club.
Skatepark outside of our Letovice Club is back in use with some of our Boskovice club kids also coming often to the ramps. Lately, the ramps have been pretty wet, but the kids were happy the puddles dried up and they could ride again.
Barricade in "Ping-Pong Battle" a game the kids created like Nerf War Capture the Flag, but with ping-pong balls and paddles instead of Nerf pistols.
Playing games - Skatepark kids are indoors with us when the weather outside is still dreary.
More games: This is a favorite, a mix of catch-phrase, pictionary, and charades!
Recently, Mondays have been winning my "favorite day of the week" the most! I get so excited to English Class with these two groups each week that I occasionally catch myself wishing that weekends were shorter so I could get to Monday faster! The Beginners Class is still working on our theme "Around the World" as we learned about compass directions and basic landforms. In this class, I love seeing the kids' confidence grow as they volunteer to try speaking in front of everyone or using the new vocabulary words during a game. While these students are absolutely amazing, they wouldn't have the same level of confidence if it wasn't for my translators who encourage them and show them how fun learning is. It has definitely been so fun not only watching the kids grow in English, but the translators as well!
Circle Time Stories
Crossing the River on our Landform Obstacle Course
Next Step Class finished their theme "Postcards from America." Together, we "visited" 20 different places in the United States as they learned about different monuments and history of America. After reading the last postcard, I had the students write their own postcard as if they were describing a place in Czech to visit. I took pictures from an old calendar of places in Czech and they had fun creating their own postcards. Last week, we did an overall review of Question Words as the students practiced the questions Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How? Watching them still have fun learning English and using all that we have learned is my greatest joy during the class.
Question Activity
Bingo is always a favorite game
Little Linguist students have reached a new record as over the past couple of weeks, we've been averaging 15 kids in the class! Many of the older toddlers have little siblings who are starting to move around more, so mothers are excited to have a place where they can bring both kids. Singing "Hello" and "Bye-Bye" take a bit longer now with more names to sing, but I love seeing all their smiling faces each week! These past couple of weeks, our themes were "Underwater" and "On the Mountain." Two very opposite parts of our world, and the kids enjoyed thinking of all the animals that live underwater and which animals they might see on the mountain. I often have a little toddler sitting in my lap or calling for me to show me what they created, and I love spending the time with these kids and their mothers.
Gluing animals on a mountain magazine picture.
(1) Chasing bubbles is one of our favorite activities at Little Linguists! (2) Catching fish!
Underwater pictures
Making "water colors" with markers
While the clubroom was still drying out from the rain fiasco, we decided to meet Connect Club at my home. It was fun remembering when the group had started in my living room and the girls really enjoyed coming to greet my bunny again and play one of our favorite games of finding a small item hidden in the room. We are nearing the end of the school year, and likewise, nearing the end of our Connect theme "The Life of Jesus." A couple of the other leaders taught about the last supper - especially the significance of Jesus washing the disciples' feet. The leaders had created a skit for the girls and some discussion questions about the theme. I love watching God work through these girls. When one of the leaders asked, "How would you describe the Bible to someone?" One girl said, "The best book I've ever read, and the best book I will ever read." I couldn't have agreed with her more.
Feet Washing and the Last Supper Skit
Bunny was happy too
For over an hour before Connect Club started this past Friday, electricity throughout all of Letovice went out! We were all surprised that stores, homes, and buildings were without electricity for such a long time. Apparently, a tree fell on a main line and caused the black-out. Though it was a cloudy, dreary day, there was a little light trying to come from behind the clouds, so the Connect leaders and I sat with the doors open, hoping and praying that it would be enough light for the activities we had planned for the day. God is always watching out for us, and five minutes before we were supposed to start, the lights came back on, and we had eight happy girls at Connect Club!
We went "old school" at Connect Club last week as one of the leaders brought her felt-board to teach about the crucifixion and resurrection! Knowing the leader had her own felt-board at home, I had asked her to use it for teaching. She said, "Really? Aren't these girls a little old for it?" I just said, "Trust me. This will be great!" So she taught with the felt board. After the first three minutes, the girl sitting next to me had her eyes glued to the board and whispered, "I want one of those at home! How does it stick?" The leader had the girls' attention as their eyes never left the board and their ears listened eagerly to this life-changing story.
Learning John 3:16 through symbols
The leader taught the girls John 3:16 through symbols and four of the girls turned to me and said, "Kendra taught us this verse on Valentine's Day two years ago!" My mouth dropped open in amazement that they remembered the verse after two years and that they were all so excited to learn the symbols to remember it better from memory. We drew the symbols on a popsicle stick as a bookmark for their Bibles.
Bookmarks with John 3:16 symbols
We didn't have youth group on Friday two weeks ago due to the rain damage, but this past Friday, I had a quick youth group message about Encouragement. I talked about the need to be encouraged and how to practically encourage and lift up others. We looked at Paul's encouragement to the Thessalonians and how our encouragement can model Paul's. I explained to the students that encouragement is like playing Jenga. Paul writes that we need to "build each other up," but many times the world discourages us and it is like removing the blocks. Pretty soon, the tower collapses, so we need to make sure our words are lifting and building instead of cutting others down. After program, I had a wonderful time playing a long game of Jenga with a student - I think it is the longest I've ever played before the tower collapsed! It was also really fun being on a team with another youth student for Spikeball and foosball. As we were getting ready to pack up for the evening, this student and I recalled when he first came to my English Clubs five years ago! So we found some old pictures. It is a blessing to grow with these kids over the years and share God's love with them for so many years.
Spikeball and Jenga at Youth Group