Czech/Slovak MOMS ABROAD

Bilingual children in Rome: how Martina does it / Bilingvni deti v Rime: jak to dela Martina


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Hello Tanja !

 

I´m greeting you from the Eternal City – ROME.

 

I have also two children – two small boys :) and I teach them my native lingual Czech.

 

I didn’t think twice about to not teach them. For me it is natural to speak with them in my language. If I couldn’t use it I would be very sad so I made a good decision and we speak Czech at home, outside from home and also in front of other people who we know and also before strangers.When the the others are present I speak with both languages or I translate for them. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: bilingual children, Italy

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New Czech school in Atlanta!!! / Nova ceska skola v Atlante!!!!

Czech Schol in AtlantaThis is an exciting news! Yet another Czech school is about to be born in the United States, this time in Georgia, Atlanta. However, they need to see your support in order for it to happen. Let them know you are interested!!

Check out their Facebook profile here or email Ivana at  ivana.skolaatlanta@seznam.cz 

Here is the letter from Ivana (in Czech): [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: Czech school, Czech school in Atlanta

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Mommy diary #7: The Kindergarten issue / Mamincin denik #7: problem se skolou

Hahna recently turned big 5 and therefore it’s time for my semi-annual update about her language skills. From now on I am also going to be including her little sister Ava, since she is almost two (21 months), and her fun-loving personality is starting to come out (including her bilingual skills).
The first exciting thing I want to mention is that they are bravely keeping up with the rule #1 which is ‘we speak Czech when only mom (or Czech tetas) is around’. They really do! They talk and talk and talk and even when I am in another room they talk Czech. Hahna is teaching Ava Czech words and making her repeat them. Thanks to her chattering busy sister, Ava’s language skills are well above her average. Every morning Ava says: “Mami pisla (Mommy came)!”. Or “Ci bonbonty (I want candy)”. Or “Co to bylo? (What was that?)”, “Co to je?” (‘What is that?’), ‘Ja ci videt’ (I want to see) and so forth. But when daddy or grandma are around they both ‘magically’ switch into English – even Ava! It’s truly amazing. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: school

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Another Czech Fairytale: The cockerel and the hen / O kohoutkovi a slepicce

cockerel google imageOne day the cockerel and the hen went to pick some berries. Then hen found a strawberry, ate one half and gave the other half to the cockerel. In a little while the cockerel found a strawberry too but because he was stingy, he did not want to share it with the hen and ate the whole berry. Well, it got stuck in his throat and he began to choke. “Go and bring me some water from the well,” he whispered to the hen. The hen runs to the well and begs, “Dear well, give me some water for the poor cockerel. A strawberry got stuck in his throat and now he is choking in the courtyard. ” I can’t give you water until you bring me a scarf.” The hen runs to the seamstress named Anicka. “Anicka, Anicka, give me a scarf for the well. The well will give me water for the cockerel, who is choking in the courtyard. “I can’t give you a scarf until you bring me  some shoes.” The hen runs to the shoemaker named Matous. “Matous, Matous! Give me some shoes for Anicka the seamstress. I will  take them to her and she will give me a scarf. I will take the scarf to the well who will give me water for the cockerel, who is choking in the courtyard.” [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: animals, children, literature, traditions

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Grand opening of Czech School West Coast!! / Otevrela se Ceska skola West Coast!!!

 “Our” West Coast of USA has finally been blessed with a Czech school! We are all so excited about it, probably even more than those kiddos of ours. The main goal of our non-profit institution is to  ”raise a Czech-speaking young generation living abroad, which will be able to not only read and write in Czech but they will also be able to respect and cherish their Czech heritage and feel a sense of belonging with the Czech Republic and its nation. They will be studying the Czech language into a great depth which will motivate them to keep relations with the country of their origin.” Isn’t that beautiful?

Czech School West Coast is divided into 3 age categories:

a/ Children from 0 – 3 years (accompanied by their parents)

b/ Children from 3 – 6 years (preschool)

c/ Children from 6 – 13 years (elementary and middle school)

The problem is that nothing is free, we have to pay for the classroom rentals, for professional Czech teachers, as well as teaching tools such as textbooks, pens, notebooks, educational toys….and it’s not cheap. Therefore if you would like to support our patriotic cause we would be forever grateful if you could donate any kind of financial sum to our school account. You can send checks to the following address:

 Czech School West Coast, P.O. BOX 7233, Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067

(Mgr. Nikola Kaminsky, M.A.

Czech School San Diego

www.czechschoolsandiego.com

(619) 985-0435)

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! [click to continue…]

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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.

PS: The newest info about this school can be found here:

http://csbh.cz/novinky/vyzva-ceska-skola-v-san-franciscu-silicon-valley

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.

PS: Nejnovejsi info o vyse uvedene skole muze byt nalezeno zde:

http://csbh.cz/novinky/vyzva-ceska-skola-v-san-franciscu-silicon-valley

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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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