Free-time activities organized by META are a platform where children (and sometimes adults) coming from various countries, including Czechia, can meet. Multilingual children are given an opportunity to interact with their peers regardless of their proficiency in Czech, games and different activities helping them naturally improve their language skills. Thanks to the activities that the culturally diverse group does together, all children, including those coming from Czechia, can better understand the language and tradition diversity and learn to respect other cultures, better communicate, and be empathetic. The events are also a great opportunity to discover interesting things to see around the place where we are currently living together.
Would you like to learn more about free-time activities in Czechia? What are the possibilities for children of different age groups, who are the main organizers, how to choose a suitable activity, and how to sign up for it? You can find all the information on the Do školy společně website, which also features downloadable materials (in several language versions) and videos about the importance of free-time activities (not only) for multilingual children.
During our weekend and holiday events, activities and games are always based on specific stories or topics. These events are a platform where multilingual as well as Czech children (and sometimes adults) meet. We explore parks or other interesting areas in Prague, the aim being to better know people around us and the place where we are currently living.
We have organized several scavenger hunts for children. For example, their task was to help Sherlock Holmes find a stolen gem of friendship at the Holešovice Market Hall, or they went to Císařský Island to track down a thief who had stolen a picture from a gallery. Once in a while, parents joined us to explore the presence of Jewish culture in Praha 3, spend an afternoon inspired by the book Rise Up: Ordinary Kids with Extraordinary Stories, or discover the amazing world of bird migration. Our movie afternoon gave children an opportunity to set up a film crew, assign each of its members a role, and shoot their own movie. During our visit to the theater, we went backstage and learned how things work behind the curtain.
Have a look at a selection of photos from these and other events.
We have created worksheets for the individual trips and workshops. We will be happy if they prove useful for teachers as a source of inspiration.
We organize creative workshops in collaboration with the Municipal Library of Prague. Children meet at a library where they can talk, play games, and participate in creative activities that are always based on a story from a book that we read together during the event. The books are selected in a way that the stories make children think about and discuss values like openness to differences from the majority, respect, and friendship. By organizing these events, we aim to spark children’s interest in reading literature in Czech or their mother tongue (if it is different) and to make them feel that the library is a place where they would like to spend time on a regular basis.
For example, we organized a workshop based on the book entitled Robinson by Petr Sís, during which we delved into a story about a masquerade ball, loneliness, and friendship. We created a rescue ship and experienced what it is like to be a Robinson. Another workshop was inspired by the “Ice Dragon” story which shows that if we look beyond our anger, we may sometimes find just the pain of someone else. Together with children, we helped the injured ice dragon fly away and welcomed the arrival of spring.
Have a look at a selection of photos from these and other creative workshops.
We have created worksheets for the individual creative workshops. We will be happy if they prove useful for teachers as a source of inspiration for their own programs.
Choose from our upcoming events. You can look forward to shared experiences and the opportunity to make new friends. We will be happy to see you!
The aim of our free-time activities is to promote communication and cooperation between all the participants. We want to engage them actively in joint activities, which allows them to further develop their communication and other social skills. We try to make sure that children help each other, cooperate, and feel like being part of a team during the entire event.
As we want each of our events to go as planned and tailor our program to the individual needs of the participants, we have established several ground rules and would like to ask all the participants to adhere to them:
Working with groups of multilingual children with various levels of proficiency in Czech has its own characteristics. Our observations and tips are summarized in a presentation with commentary for teachers.
Do you have questions about or ideas for events? Get in touch with our free-time and community event coordinator:
Katarína Hronová
katarina.hronova@meta-ops.cz
Did you participate in one of our events? We will be happy if you let us know how you liked it! We will also appreciate any feedback or suggestions. Please complete our feedback form or write us an e-mail.
Feedback form
“Thank you so much! Božena and Zlata really enjoyed themselves! The photos are great!”
“Thank you for the inspiration, we found the book in a library, and my son fell for it.”
“A very well-organized program, a lot of activities, fun, and kind supervisors.”
„First of all, thank you so much for this nice and memorable day that you have made for children. They were so happy and enjoyed it.“
“I would like to thank you on my and Kristýnka’s behalf for today’s wonderful reading and dragon-making session.”
“Thank you for organizing the joint carol singing event and for providing lyrics to those who did not know them. 🙂 Singing together always has a bonding effect. The wreath-making took place in a very pleasant atmosphere with background music.”
“Thank you very much for organizing interesting activities for children.”
“We are waiting for more events and trips!”
