Four fabulous old friends in Hong Kong
February 25, 2023 at 11:40 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools | Leave a commentTags: Glenealy School, How to Create Bookworms in the Digital Age, How to Publish a Picture Book, Stamford American School Hong Kong, The Kellett School Kowloon Bay, The Kellett School Pok Fu Lam, The Tale of Rhonda Rabbit
Tuesday 7th February: Glenealy School, Mid-Levels
My tour of Hong Kong schools kicked off with a morning at my old friend Glenealy School, with two fun sessions with Years 1 to 3, then Years 4 to 6, reading The Tale of Rhonda Rabbit and explaining all the scrumptious Chinese history behind the story, of Qin Shi Huangdi, the raiding Xiong Nu tribes to the north and why the Great Wall of China was built! My huge thanks to librarian Gisele Stones for inviting me, and for the fabulous pictures below!
Wednesday 8th February: Kellett School, Pok Fu Lam Campus
The next day, I visited Kellett School’s Pok Fu Lam Campus, where the Receptions to Year 2s heard my Tale of Rhonda Rabbit, the Year 3s to Year 6s learned How to Publish a Picture Book from Brilliant Idea to Final Product, and I spent a fantastic hour with a lovely group of Kellett parents discussing How to Create Bookworms in the Digital Age. We had fabulous Q&A throughout all three sessions. Prep librarian Emily Wong was a superb host – thank you for your warm welcome Emily!
Thursday 9th February: Kellett School, Kowloon Bay Campus
The next day, I repeated the same fun program at Kellett School’s Kowloon Bay Campus. We had fabulous Q&A throughout, and I can confidently say that I have never fielded so many questions about ISBNs in my How to Publish a Picture Book session before! What an outstanding lot of enquiring young minds! Thank you so much Teacher Librarian Jamie-Lee Wedderburn for being such a wonderful host!
Friday 10th February: Stamford American School Hong Kong
The week ended with a lovely afternoon with my old friends at Stamford American School Hong Kong in Ho Man Tin, with an all-ages-welcome story telling session of The Tale of Rhonda Rabbit, and a great session on How to Publish a Picture Book with a lot of students AND their parents! That was great fun, and we had a very interesting Q&A afterwards! Director of Marketing and Admissions Lisa Olinski was a fantastic host – thank you as ever, Lisa, for your warm and enthusiastic welcome.
At last, a report on my Hong Kong/Taiwan Schools tour!
February 25, 2023 at 10:59 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, Taiwan Schools | Leave a commentTags: Hong Kong/Taiwan Schools Tour 2023
I’m back home in France after two fantastic weeks in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and after battling off the inevitable post-tour cold virus, I’m very excited to report on my trip!
But first, a eulogy for my old home Hong Kong! It was so wonderful to see it again, after 2 and half years absence, not to mention the inability to travel due to that old enemy of ours, Covid 19! Hong Kong was my home for 22 years, and the place where my two girls grew up, and I’ve missed it dearly. It was such fun to be back in the bustle of the Island and the New Territories, and while it was clear that many expats have left in recent years, the spirit of Hong Kong, with its energy, inventiveness and drive, still lives on. So here I blow it a kiss, send it a hug, and promise that I’ll be back again soon! Read the following posts to find out what I did over the last fortnight and see some fun photos!
A fun visit to Carmel Leung Sing Tak School with StoryTellAR!
May 5, 2022 at 4:54 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: StoryTellAR, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Temujin
Yesterday I visited the fabulous Carmel Leung Sing Tak School in Hong Kong with StoryTellAR to read the kids my Tale of Temujin and tell them some of the juicy history and other details they can find if they download the StoryTellAR app! The students were so engaged, answering lots of my questions and asking some of their own! It was a lot of fun!
A Terrific Visit to Glenealy School!
May 2, 2022 at 9:38 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools | Leave a commentTags: Books about Chinese history for kids, Genghis Khan for kids, Glenealy School, The Tale of Temujin, The Year of the Tiger, World Book Day
My second Zoom visit last Friday was to my old friends at Glenealy School! World Book Day was in full swing, with everybody dressed up as their favourite book characters! It was great to see so many fantastic costumes, not least from the staff! After a great assembly presentation of WBD activities and challenge results, Temujin the Tiger came to visit in a fun story reading, with lots of roaring and screaming to rock the school! Take a look at the fun slideshow below! Huge thanks to lovely librarian Gisele Stones for inviting me, and thanks to the school for the lovely photos!
Two fabulous World Book Day visits last Friday!
May 2, 2022 at 9:24 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools | Leave a commentTags: Genghis Khan for kids, Stories about Chinese history for kids, SWCS YMCA Hong Kong, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Temujin, World Book Day
Last Friday I celebrated World Book Day with two fun school visits in Hong Kong by Zoom!
My first visit was to San Wui Commercial Society YMCA of Hong Kong Christian School in Cheung Sha Wan. I introduced my Chinese Calendar Tale for the Year of the Tiger, The Tale of Temujin, to the students and told them the extraordinary real life history of Genghis Khan, who was the inspiration for my tiger! The kids had a terrific time roaring like tigers and screaming like spoiled princesses and the teachers had an equally fun time blocking and unblocking their ears :)! We had a lot of fun!
Many thanks to Sarah Cha, primary librarian, for inviting me! Sarah wrote me a beautiful testimonial for the visit which you can find on my Teacher Testimonial page!
Here are some more fun pics! Thank you Sarah for sending them!
Four fabulous sessions at Kennedy School!
March 17, 2022 at 12:04 am | Posted in Hong Kong Schools | Leave a commentTags: Kennedy School, Stories about Chinese history for kids, Stories about Chinese Zodiac characters, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Chester Choi, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda, The Tale of Temujin
Today and yesterday morning I Zoomed in to visit my old friends at Kennedy School in Hong Kong! We had four fabulous sessions with Years 1 to 4! The Year 1s enjoyed my show and tell story reading of The Tale of Pin Yin Panda, and were brilliant with their knowledge of the Chinese Zodiac Animals and the Legend of Lord Buddha’s Race! The Year 2s met my hungry Chester Choi and his friend Jimmy Lee, and the Year 3s and 4s roared like tigers and screamed like VERY spoiled princesses as they listened to me read The Tale of Temujin! We had a blast!! Huge thanks to Library Assistant Susan Mifsud for hosting me, and the PTA for inviting me in! It was lovely to see you all again! Here are some more photos below!
That was a BUSY week!
March 6, 2022 at 12:43 am | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, mainland China schools | Leave a commentTags: A Terrific Tiger Tale writing competition, How to Write a Riveting Story, Stories about Chinese history for kids, Stories about Hong Kong history, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah, The Tale of Chester Choi, The Tale of Temujin, Writing Competitions for Kids, Writing workshops for kids
This week I had a fabulous time Zoom-visiting schools in Hong Kong and mainland China in the early hours of the morning from here in France!
On Tuesday, I visited the Year 4 students at Yew Chung International School in Chongqing with my writing workshop How to Write a Riveting Story! The kids used my story planner as I explained the importance of characters, setting and plot sequence, and by the end of the session had some fantastic story plans ready to go for their first draft! I can’t wait to see the results! Thanks to my lovely host, English co-ordinator Becca Roden for inviting me!
On Wednesday I visited the Kindies at Sias International School of Zhengdong New District, Zhengzhou to introduce them to my Chinese Calendar Tales with a fun reading of The Tale of Chester Choi, with my toy dragon Billy Boy looking on, then on Friday I visited the whole of primary school during assembly, where I talked all about How I became an Author and the crucial importance of reading books in the digital age, following which they roared like tigers and screamed like spoiled princesses while I read them this year’s Calendar Tale, The Tale of Temujin! Many thanks to librarian and media specialist Elizabeth Baker and tech wizard Tom Kerrigan for making the visit possible!
Meanwhile on Thursday, I finished my four sessions with my old friends at Stamford American School Hong Kong with a visit to 100 fabulous Year 5s in their homes, where I explained all the fabulous history and real-life mystery behind The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah (A Mystery in Hong Kong)! Thank you Aric Cherry for being such a fun host, and as ever, to Lisa Olinski for all the fantastic organisation!
And today, I slept in…for a long, long time :)!
It was a real pleasure to be working with such enthusiastic and focused students! I look forward to seeing lots of entries from you in my latest Clever Competition, A Terrific Tiger Tale!
Two fun zoom sessions at Stamford American School Hong Kong!
February 21, 2022 at 11:55 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools | Leave a commentTags: Stamford American School Hong Kong, The Tale of Temujin, The Year of the Tiger, Turning Historical Research into a Story, Writing workshops for kids
Last week I had two fabulously fun sessions zooming in to visit my friends at Stamford American School Hong Kong! The kids were all at home (thanks to Covid … grrr… ) but they and their teachers were all on deck. The Grade 1s roared like tigers and screamed like spoiled princesses with great enthusiasm during my reading of The Tale of Temujin (sorry, all you Mums and Dads at home with the kids!) while the Grade 3s participated with lots of fantastic suggestions during my new workshop: Turning Historical Research into a Story. We all had a lot of fun! I look forward to seeing some fabulous entries with excellent background research in my latest Clever Competition, all you fabulous Grade 3s!
Huge thanks to Ms Lisa Olinski, Ms Kirsten Struble and Ms Maria Evans for hosting me!
Maggie and Methuselah, Oswald Ox and Pin Yin Panda visit Stamford American School HK!
March 22, 2021 at 9:13 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools | Leave a commentTags: Books about China for kids, Books about Chinese Zodiac, Books about Hong Kong history for kids, How to Publish a Picture Book, Stamford American International School Hong Kong, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah, The Tale of Oswald Ox, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda
Wow that was fun! On Thursday and Friday I spent seven fabulous internet sessions with my great friends at Stamford American School Hong Kong with the kids from Grade 1 right up to Grade 5! We celebrated the Year of the Ox with story readings of The Tale of Oswald Ox and the Legend of Lord Buddha’s Race with The Tale of Pin Yin Panda. We had two great sessions with the Grade 3s (who are creating their very own picture books) learning How to Create a Picture Book from Brilliant Idea to Final Product. And we had two fantastic sessions introducing all the students to the fascinating Hong Kong history and even more fascinating TRUE Hong Kong mystery featured in my new chapter book for pre-teens, The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah! The kids all went crazy for the World War II history in the story, and especially those real Hong Kong WWII tunnels which lie to this day in and under the hillsides of Hong Kong! Some of them even decided that they were going to solve the mystery! Watch out Hong Kong!!
Huge thanks to Lisa Olinski for inviting me, Lisa Choy for her fabulous technical supervision, and the other lovely teachers who hosted me for the sessions. It was such a treat to work with you all, and I hope you enjoyed our time together as much as I did!
Pin Yin Panda visits Kellett School for Book Day!
February 4, 2021 at 8:34 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools | Leave a commentTags: Books about China for kids, Books about Chinese Zodiac, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda
What a perfect Panda! Here is a photo of one of my lovely fans dressed up as Pin Yin Panda for Book Day at Kellett School in Hong Kong today! Isn’t she cute? Thanks so much mum Melanie for sending! And a big hello to all my fans at Kellett School – I hope you had a wonderful day!
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