Be Patient

Being Content to Wait

This fall during my Social Unit we have been learning about different character traits and attributes and what it means to be a citizen in a community. So far we have been learning about friendship, honesty, kindness and being a good listener. This week's lesson has been about patience and I have been teaching the kids that patience is: "Being content to wait."
 As part of our project we have been making little illustrated squares which we will put together to make a community quilt. Each square demonstrates something about the character trait of the week.

One of my students (who is learning English as his third language) finished his square and brought it to me, and I asked him to explain his picture.
Our little dialogue went something like this:

Me: "Tell me about your picture"
Student: Pointing to the person in the picture he proudly states "This is you!"
Me: "Wow very nice"
Student: "You are pretty"
Me: "Why, thank you, and who is this?" I say pointing to the stick man in the picture.
Student: "A man!" He says with great enthusiasm.

It was all I could do at this point to not burst out laughing to ask who was the man.

*Now the story doesn't stop here, however when I retold this encounter to some of my co-workers, at this point of the story their initial response was like mine as they broke out into a fit of hysterical laughter. When they regained composure they acknowledged my student's keen sense of perception. What a insightful boy, indeed Miss Robinson must be waiting for a man.* 

It turned out that the man was my dad and I was waiting for him to come visit. My parents had come to visit last year and my students were asking if they would come again and I said probably not, but we will have to wait and see. Funny what our students remember and their perspective on things.

From August - September Racing Onward

Racing Onward

Recap of events to date.
Arrived in Prague on August 2 @ 6pm
Gained possession of our new flat on August 3
Slowly started to move my belongings from Chodska flat to our Vinohradska flat
August 5 - joined two fellow TeachBeyond team-mates and hopped on a SwissAir plane to Basal Switzerland...  to attend the TeachBeyond Summer Institute
August 11 Return back to Prague
August 12 - 26 - Finish moving my flat, my classroom (moving across the hall) and moving in new families and teachers. (This is the first time in our school's history that all of our staff are here before school begins!
August  27-31 - CISP Staff Orientation
September 5 FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

Being in Several Places at Once

From August 5-11 I had the wonderful pleasure of joining 40 or so other TeachBeyond members at the summer institute in Kandern Germany. Sort of like a conference to recap the year and gear up for a new one. It was a time of renewal, preparation, education and fun. We participated in different topical sessions including: spiritual formation, Biblical integration and Cultural Intelligence. It was a great time to connect with different teachers as well as many others who are involved in the ministry of education overseas, including dorm parents, IT technicians, school planters and fellow educators.

It was a time to reflect on my past year and look towards the year to come. I am blessed to be apart of an amazing team of people who are committed to providing Transformational education for children and adults around the world.

Our time in Germany was short though we did manage to take a few outings including a trip to where Switzerland, Germany and France meet. I got to be in three countries at once!

  

 

   


Home Sweet Home

This year I am sharing a flat with two of my friends that work with me at CISP. It is a lovely 3 bedroom apartment that overlooks a small park and is just down the street from the metro, my church and a quick 10 minute walk to the school.
Pictures are of my room and the view from my room.

First Days of School

September has come and gone so quickly that I can scarcely believe it! Things that are new this year.
I have a new classroom! I am now teaching grades one and two which gave cause for moving to a bigger space across the hall.
Teaching a split class is usually not on a teacher's list of favourite things but I am excited to have some of my students from last year and to invest some more in their lives. This year I have 8 students representing 5 different nationalities. I also have a few families in my class who are serving in different ministries in Prague and the Czech Republic.

 

Please continue to pray for our school as we pursue a new building. We are in the process of negotiating a lease contract for a building that will be able to accommodate our entire student body. Currently our high school classes are being held in two apartments down the street and we share all the facilities in our current building with a Czech school and preschool. If we get the building we will be set to move this coming June. Lots needs to happen including a little cosmetic work of painting and fixing flooring; along with raising the funds for classroom equipment: desks, chairs, whiteboards etcetera. We are excited for this new step in our school growth.

So far on the front of recognition with the Czech Ministry of Education we are playing the waiting game. Our last application was denied by the Ministry of Education, shortly followed by a change in the local magistrates decision who chose to finally give approval for our school. So now we are waiting to see if we can make  an appeal of the ministry's decision of our last application.

8 Wonderful Reasons
I Get Up Every Monday Morning

      

I am excited for our year ahead and can't believe we only have 9 months left together!

Christmas in July       

Christmas is my favourite time of year. I love the Christmas carols, and smell of cedar boughs and roasted turkey. It is a time for family to gather together and celebrate Jesus’ birth. Living far away makes it difficult for my brothers and I to be home for Christmas. However, this summer we were all able to get holidays at the same time and all be home in the middle of July. Although 5 months early, we decided to celebrate Christmas! Mom loves to decorate and went all out and decorated the house, including a small fake tree and stockings. It was a wonderful time of turkey, small fun gifts and even a fire (in the backyard pit, rather than the fireplace).

Now Christmas time in Canada isn’t complete without a little snow and we got that too! Just had to go up into the mountains at Kingfisher to find it! We are a quadding family so we loaded up the ATVs and took a rocky climb to the top of the lookout at Kingfisher. Although I ached for days afterwards it was a great adventure with the whole family.

  

God’s Miracles

Being in Canada for a month was a whirlwind trip. It was an excellent time to visit with friends, connect with supporters, share about my ministry and see my family. One of the many highlights for me was getting to visit with some of the girls I taught at KCS last year. I had the amazing opportunity to teach these girls for two years and it was so great to catch up with them.

One of the biggest blessings was to see one of God’s miracles. Hannah, one of my students, has a heart condition and was extremely sick. Just before I left she was confined to a wheelchair, unable to walk even the shortest of distances and was at high risk of cardiac arrest. I was brought to tears when she walked across the room and came to give me a hug. She hadn’t had a cardiac episode in almost a year and was able to attend school for the majority of the school year. What an answer to prayer! She continues to be a walking miracle!

What’s it like to be back 'home'?

  



It was great to be back in Canada, to see my family, friends, familiar places and to be surrounded by Canadians! I did experience a little reverse culture shock. Biggest thing I noticed was how BIG Canada is! Distances to get places, shopping centres, streets, and even food portions in restaurants seemed much bigger. I think the idea of home has become a little blurry for me. Is home where you reside? Where you were born? Where you were raised? Where you have spent the majority of your life? I have come to realize how temporary our time is here on earth and slowly understanding that right now what we call “home” is temporary. Prague is slowly becoming a place dear to my heart and so is Canada and yet I long for the day when life is complete and I find myself at my eternal home with Jesus.

Making Changes

Amazing how many things can change in such a short amount of time. Changes for me this year include moving to a new flat. It is a few steps closers to our school and the metro station, with a view of the park.(pictures to follow after boxes are unpacked)

I also will be changing classrooms since I am teaching grade one and two this year. It will be wonderful to spend more time with my old class, who are all English language learners; as well as working with a new batch of grade ones who all have English as their first language.

The biggest change for our school thus far is changes in the decision for CISP’s recognition with the Czech Ministry of Education. At the beginning of July we had a meeting with the magistrate in Prague who had given the recommendation to the Ministry of Education that our school was not needed. As a result our application for recognition had been denied.

 Our director described this lady’s heart to be quite hardened towards our school and changing her mind seemed rather hopeless. However, with many prayers and a petition in hand our administration continued to fight. Addressing the magistrate with a petition signed by people in the community affirming the need for our school resulted in a compulsory review of our case. By a miracle of the Lord the magistrate overturned her decision and gave approval for recommending our school for recognition! This is a huge victory for our school and a blessing from the Lord. However the war is not quite yet won. We now need the Ministry of Education to reverse their decision and approve our previously denied application for recognition. What this recognition means is that local Czech residents can attend our school as a legal Czech recognized  school. Currently many of our students have to split their time between our school and Czech school. This recognition will bring us steps closer to opening our doors to more families living in the Czech Republic. 

Please continue to pray with us that we may receive this recognition with the Ministry of Education.

Favourite Things

Near the end of the school year I interviewed the elementary Gr. 1-5 and a few high schoolers, asking them, what was their favourite thing about CISP; what did they like about being in their class this year. Putting all of the answers into one video would have made it very long so here is a small sample of their responses put into a video I made for my presentation at church this past Sunday.

Spring Concert

Our Elementary had a Spring Concert at the end of May and the Grade Ones did memory verses and songs to go with each memory verse. It is amazing to see how far their language has come in a year! I was so proud of them and will have to admit I think they stole the show :)

Strangers on a Plane

There is something fascinating about International travel. Ever since I got introduced to the TV series LOST I have looked at flying with a whole different perspective. The idea of putting a couple 100 strangers into a metal tube and sending it flying thousands of feet up in the air, with nowhere to go for a good 9 hours is thought-provoking. My transatlantic flight this time had me on a British Airways flight at the very back of the plane. A little unsettling since in all air-plane movies the people in the tail-end of the plane never survive. So as I took my seat at the rear of the plane the thought I am a tailie was in the forefront of mind. I was soon to discover that my seat-mate also was a LOST fan and had the same apprehensions about being in the rear of the plane. However this same commonality sparked a conversation with my seat buddy that went in a direction I never expected.
  Most often when I fly I get seated next to a business man who is lost in his work or a elderly couple setting out on vacation. Most conversations stop after about 5 minutes of niceties, where are you from, where are you going, and maybe what do you do. After I explain I am a teacher at an International Christian school most conversation ceases. This time I was surprised to be involved in a extensive conversation about faith and to be bombarded with a barrage of  questions.
 Coming from a small village near Glasgow my seat mate had learned a lot about the Christian faith but marvelled at my ability to put my faith in " one wee book" as he referred to the Bible. Before he would ask me a question he would start by saying "You're not going to convert me but..." I finally laughed and asked what he meant by me converting him. He answered with "Well you're not going to get me to put all my faith in that wee book" I replied by telling him that wasn't my job. I shared my heart for Jesus with him for a good portion of our trip answered his questions and challenged him with a few of my own. We parted ways without me "converting" him but knowingly instilling in him further knowledge of God's word and hopefully planted and watered a the little seed of gospel planted in his life. Praying that it may, someday, take root.

Wrapping up the year

There is something to say about teaching a small group of students; the relationships you can build with a small group of young people is priceless. It was wonderful to attend the graduation ceremony and hear the testimonies of how our teachers and staff have impacted the lives of our graduates.

School Family Picnic


Our school has a tradition; on the last day of the school week we do not have class, but rather the families meet together at a local park and enjoy an afternoon picnic together. It was a time for goodbyes, sharing memories and spending a fun filled afternoon together. It was a wonderful way to wrap up the school year.






One memorable activity this year was the result of the hard work of our elementary students. They had taken on the challenge in January of reading 1000 books with the promise from our principal, that if they succeeded he would dye his hair. The colour of choice was rainbow and so at the picnic the elementary teachers got to do the honours of dying Mr. Chumbly's hair rainbow.

Finishing Well

Every year when I get to June I look back and say finished already? It feels as though we have only just begun and yet the year end has arrived. However, this year, more than years before I have strong reminders of just how far we have come.
  What I love about first grade is getting to see the children grow in their reading skills and come from reading, "The cat sat on the mat" to full paragraphs in chapter books. Although this year was significantly different; I had the joy of seeing one of my students not only learn to read, but to go from only being able to speak a 6 word sentence, to being able to describe the story of Noah's ark and help write class stories!
   It has been amazing to watch my students grow not only in size and stature but in awareness of who God is and what an amazing life we can have with God in it. I have never been more aware of the power of words especially God's word than I have this year. The ability to share our thoughts and feeling with one another has been priceless; whether through simple sentences or wild hand gestures. (I think missionaries develop a special skill in charades their first few years in a foreign country.)
   What is exciting is that next year I will have opportunity to teach this class again! So far the numbers have us doing a 1/2 split class. So this year was not so much goodbye but I will see you next year! I really look forward to seeing their learning grow exponentially over the next year; reflecting back to those days when all  they could do was say "Hello, I am Wiktor, I am 7.