Czech/Slovak MOMS ABROAD

Another Czech fairytale: Sleepy John / Dalsi ceska pohadka: Ospaly Janek

Sunday is a perfect day for a fairytale! / V nedeli se nic nedela, jen se poslouchaji pohadky…

Sleepy John

Sleepy John was prone to, well, sleeping and one day he passed out in the back of a farmer’s cart. Upon discovering him, the owner, along with his friends, decided to stuff him in an empty beer keg and leave him in the forest. Sleepy John finally woke up, only to find himself trapped in a beer keg. What’s worse, wolves, having picked up on the human scent, were now circling around him. John grabbed the tail of a wolf that was standing too close. Startled, the wolf began to run and the keg hurtled down a hill and smashed open upon a rock. John was free! Continuing on through the mountains, Sleepy John came across a hermit who said, “I shall die in three days. Bury me then, and I will pay you well for it.” [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: children, fairytale

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Useful Czech websites for children / Vyborne detske webovky

I have put together a short list of some useful websites for our little ones. Most of them have videos of Czech fairy-tales which you can watch for free. The first link is a mix of everything – it has songs, riddles, poetry, games….anything you can imagine. I hope it will be useful to you. By the way, these websites are also a great Czech language learning tool!

CZ: Ceske maminky a tatinci, zde je kratky list webovek, ktery se vam bude hodit. Vetsina linku vam umozni divat se na ceske pohadky zdarma. Prvni link ma od vseho trosku: rikanky, hadanky, omalovanky, pohadky….na co si jen vzpomenete.

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Tagged as: children, fairytale, practical

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Mommy diary 6: ‘Mommy, why do we speak Czech?’ / Denik maminky v zahranici 6:’Maminko, proc mluvime cesky?’

When I was pregnant with Hahna that strange busy-bee nesting syndrome lead me to create this blog (much more productive and fun than  going through some cleaning frenzy :) .  It is hard to believe  that I have been writing posts (this will be mine 870th post) for over 4 years and that our Hanicka just recently blew out her 4 birthday candles as well.  This also means that I am due for my regular bilingual update.

Don’t worry, you can relax, I will ease your mind and tell you right off the bat that Hahna is doing great! And having an innate critical mind of a Czech you know I would not be saying it if it wasn’t the truth.

First of all, about 3 months ago she started asking me  why do we speak Czech. I admit, I was startled by her straight  question and did not know  how to answer  in 1 or 2 sentences, so that a 3-year-old brain could digest it. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: bilingual children, Czech-American marriage, Mommy diary

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New Czech school in Northern California / Nova ceska skola v severni Kalifornii

Hi,

there is a big chance that a similar Czech school will spring up in the San Francisco area, as it is planned for the Southern California region. And once again, those who are interested in such school, please leave your name and what part of Northern California you live at in the comment area. So far the plan is that there might be 2 locations, one in the San Francisco area and the other one int San Jose area.

Also, there is a need for the Czech language teacher, so if you have a degree in teaching and would be able to participate, let me know in the comment area as well.

CZ: Je tu velka pravdepodobnost, ze stejna Skola bez hranic vznikne take v severni Kaliforni (San Jose a/nebo San Francisko area). Tudiz jestli v tomto okoli zijete, zapiste se do komentu jako zajemce, tedy zanechte jmeno a kde presne bydlite.

Hleda se ale take jeste pani ucitelka, tedy jestli mate pedagogickou zkusenost (a titul0) a o neco takoveho zajem, napiste to do komentu.

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Tagged as: children, Czech language, Czech school

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New Czech school for children in the Southern California area/ Nova ceska skola pro deti v jizni Kalifornii

This is a VERY EXCITING news for all of the Czech moms living in the Southern California area. I happened to have a meeting with Michal Sedlacek who is the Consul General of the Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Los Angeles. Among other things we also talked about a possible new Czech school for Czech children which would be located probably in Los Angeles (possibly also San Diego, depending on how many people in what area are interested). The school would run under the “School without borders” program, which is funded by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It all sounds wonderful, but the most important thing right now is to get as many Czech moms on the list as possible, so we can make this happen. I already have about 15 contacts but we need more than that. So, please, if you live in Southern California and are interested, leave your name and location (LA or San Diego?) in the comment area. You don’t need to leave your email address since it is already a requirement for leaving a comment, so I will be able to see it (but no one else will).

Also, if you know of anyone else who may be interested in this, forward him this article. Thank you!

 

CZ: Mam pro vas opravdu VYBORNOU NOVINKU! Nedavno jsem se sesla s panem konzulem Sedlackem a mimo jinych veci jsme diskutovali take moznost vzniku nove ceske skoly v jizni Kalifornii. Patrila by pod program zvany “Skola bez hranic”, ktery je dotovany ministerstvem zahranici. Skola by byla situovana pravdepodobne v okoli Los Angeles (mozna i San Diega), ale vsechno zalezi na mnozstvi zajemcu a kde bydli.

Tudiz vas prosim, jestlize mate o neco takoveho zajem, zanechte v komentech sve jmeno a a kde bydlite (LA area nebo San Diego area?) Email tam nemusite psat, protoze uz vyplnujete emailovou kolonku jednou v dobe, kdy onen koment pisete).

Jestlize vite o nekom jinem, kdo by se chtel se svymi detmi neceho takoveho zucastnit, preposlete mu teno clanek. Dekuji!

 

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Tagged as: bilingual children, Czech school, Czechs in California, Skola bez hranic

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Another Czech fairytale: Golden Hair / Dalsi krasna ceska pohadka: Zlatovlaska

zlatovlaska google imageMy daughter is all about Repunzel these days and that made me think of  ‘Zlatovlaska’ which would equal to  ‘Golden Hair’ in English? This is one of the most beautiful Czech fairy-tales so enjoy…in both languages!

CZ: Ma dcera Hancicka je naprosto zamilovana do Repunzel, coz mi pripomina nasi krasnou pohadku O Zlatovlasce a tak si pojdme zavzpominat na nase detska leta, kdy lide jeste rozumneli zviratum ;)

Once upon a time there lived a king who wanted to know everything. Old wisemen from all over the world came to teach him what they knew themselves. One day and old womant came to the king and brought him a snake in the basket. “If you eat him, you will be able to understand all of the animals in the world!”, says the old woman. The king liked the idea of knowing something others don’t. At once he ordered Gerge, the cook, to prepare the snake for lunch. He warned him, if George took even just a little bite, the king would kill him. George respected his king very much and promised the king he would not have even one bite. But since he was used to tasting all of kings food, he forgot all about his promise and tasted the snake. As soon as he swallowed the bite, he heard flies and birds talking to each other. George realized what he did and decided not to tell anyone. Then he took the meal to the king.

After the king finished his snake lunch, he took George out for a ride to make sure he did not take a bite of the magic meat. When their horses started talking to each other, George grinned. At that moment the king knew he wasn’t the only one who could understand the animals. Back at the castle, just when George was about to be executed for breakning the king’s orders, he saw two doves fighting over a lock of golden hair, which belonged to a beautiful princess. “Bring me that girl and I will save your life”, said the king. Although George didn’t know which way to go, he set off on a long journey to find Goldilocks – king’s new bride. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: children

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“Czech children rhymes: Do they make sense?” /”‘Smysluplnost’ dětských říkadel”

I am not sure if you are aware of the fact that  most Czech children songs and rhymes just don’t make any sense. To be fair though, I think the same goes for the English children songs such as “Patty cake”, “Cradle in the tree” or “Ring around the rosie”. They sound catchy and every kid knows them but when you actually think of the content, you find out that there is none. Or it is so philosophical that it goes way over my head ;) . [click to continue…]

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Is Czech Elmo funnier than American Elmo? / Je cesky Elmo legracnejsi nez americky Elmo?

My 3-year-old daughter completely fell in love with Czech Elmo. I mean it is the same American Elmo from Sesame street but with the Czech voice-over. She likes the original, English-speaking Elmo too but for some reason, she thinks the Czech-speaking Elmo is funnier. What’s even more interesting is that the Czech Elmo sounds EXACTLY the same as the American one. I am attaching a YouTube video of both so you can judge for yourself.

By they way,if you are interested, the DVD series are called “Svet Elmo” and they are virtually not available anywhere anymore. I don’t know why :( . Fortunately one of my Facebook buddies recommended ‘ulozto.cz’ and I was able to download some of those series. These videos are great to learn the Czech language – for young or old.
[click to continue…]

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Tagged as: children, TV, YouTube

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Another Czech fairytale: How the egg goes for a wander / Jak slo vejce na vandr

This is not one of my all-time favorite Czech tales (it’s kind of boring to tell you the truth)  but nonetheless it does belong to the Czech classics so let’s get it over with :) .

CZ: Musim se priznat, ze tato ceska pohadka neni jedna z mych nejoblibenejsich (prijde mi z odpustenim trosku nudna); nicmene patri k ceskym klasikam, tak jsem si rekla, ze ji sem pridam.

Once on a beautiful day the egg says, “It’s a nice day today, I am going to go see the world.” On his way he meets a bull. “Where are you going, egg?” asks the bull. “I am going for a walk,” replies the egg. “I will go with you, there will be more of us, we wont be scared of the wolf or anything, ” says the bull. So they go. There are two of them when they meet a horse. “Where are you going?” asks the horse. “We are going for a walk,” says the egg and the bull adds: “Come with us, there will be more of us, we won’t be scared of the wolf or anything else.” So they go. There are now three of them when they meet a cat. The cat decides to go with them  too. So they go and now there are four of them when they meet a turkey. “Where are you going?” asks the turkey. “We are going to see the world,” answers the egg, the bull, the horse and the cat. “Come with us turkey, there will be more of us, we won’t be afraid of the wolf or anything else,” says the cat. [click to continue…]

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OPOL can kiss my shorts! / OPOL is muzete strcit za klobouk!

As many of you know my daughter is bilingual, she now speaks fluently English and Czech. One of her favorite things to do is to sing and dance (surprise!) and her all-time favorite Czech folk song is ‘Utikej Kaco, utikej!‘, meaning ‘Run, Kaca, run!’. The song is about this girl named Kaca, who was chased by a wild black cat.

This video is a living test case where the OPOL method (One-parent-onec-language) is not necessary. I speak Czech AND English with her (when there are friends/family members who do not speak Czech) and she is still quite the bilingual star.

Enjoy!

CZ: Ma 3-leta bilingvni dcera Hanicka je dukazem toho, ze tzv. OPOL metoda (One parent one language)neni ta JEDINA metoda, kterou muzete ucit sve deti dva jazyky. I kdyz se spolu bavime cesky i anglicky (pred znamymi/rodinou, kteri cesky neumi), ovlada oba jazyky vyborne.

HAHNA SINGS ‘UTIKEJ KACO, UTIKEJ!’ (click her to view the video)

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