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.
A fantastic Thursday at Shrewsbury College Hong Kong!
January 25, 2019 at 4:15 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, Parent workshops, Shrewsbury International School Hong Kong, Story Readings | 1 CommentTags: How to Create Bookworms in the Digital Age, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Year of the Pig
Yesterday I drove down to Tseung Kwan O to visit the beautiful campus at Shrewsbury International School Hong Kong! My lovely hosts Beth McNeilly, School Librarian, and Jane Wong, Library Assistant, gave me a fantastic welcome! I introduced all the kids from Grade 2 to Grace 6 to my pretty Ping Pong Pig, and then spoke to some dedicated parents all about How to Create Bookworms in the Digital Age. It was a wonderful day! Thanks Beth for the photos below!
A memorable visit to QSI Zhuhai!
September 29, 2018 at 11:00 am | Posted in QSI Zhuhai, Story Readings, workshops, Zhuhai schools | Leave a commentTags: Chinese history, Chinese Zodiac, How to Become a Great Writer, How to Create Bookworms in the Digital Age, How to Publish a Picture Book, Introduction to Poetry Workshop, Nailing the Narrative Curve, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Desmond Dog, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda
Thank you so much to fabulous primary school teacher Heather Domenico, for hosting me for two very busy days at QSI in Zhuhai on Wednesday and Thursday this last week! We had sessions for absolutely everyone from ages 2 to 18, as well as an after-school talk to the mums and dads!
The littlest ones met my crew of stuffed toys in a funny re-enactment of Lord Buddha’s Race – and proved they were extremely good at counting up to 12!
The 5 to 6 year olds proved they were old hands at the Chinese Zodiac when I read them The Tale of Pin Yin Panda while the 7 to 8 year olds became fearsome pirates as they heard The Tale of Desmond Dog!
The 9 to 11 year olds learned all about How to Publish A Picture Book from Brilliant Idea to Final Product and even got a sneek peak at my final Chinese Calendar Tale for the Year of the Pig, which is currently in production!
After school on Wednesday, I talked to a lovely group of parents about How to Create Bookworms in the Digital Age. Here are just a few of them, with their kids!
And finally, the 12 to 18 year olds and I spent almost the whole of Thursday together, in three different workshops: How to Become a Good Writer, An Introduction to Poetry and, finally, Nailing the Narrative Curve, where we had tremendous fun writing a story plan for the tragic story of three teenagers caught in a love triangle…in a paradise entered through a school locker portal!
And in between I met some fabulous kids, parents and teachers when I signed the books they bought from my wonderful distributor, Aaron Tearne at Obido Educational Services! If anyone missed out on buying a book, you can still do so, with some great discounts for multiple purchases here!
More photos to come!
An evening with ASLA Tasmania at Bridgewater!
May 24, 2017 at 8:09 pm | Posted in Being an Author, Hobart, Talks to teachers | Leave a commentTags: ASLA, Dangers of digital technolody, Digital devices, Digital games, How to Create Bookworms in the Digital Age
Huge thanks to my lovely host Gail King (far right), Ailsa Hill (centre) and Jo-Ann Wolf (left) for inviting me to Jordan River Learning Federation Senior School at Bridgewater, to give a talk about How to Create Bookworms in the Digital Age. We talked all about the fundamental importance of constant book reading to create an imaginative, creative, knowledgable and empathetic thinker, and the dangers of children being exposed at young ages to digital screens, as well as the problems with digital screens being used in schools as a substitute for a well-funded library with expert librarians in charge. A lovely big crowd of primary and high school teachers attended, and afterwards we had a book-signing and some delicious drinks and nibbles! It was a great evening; thanks so much to all the ASLA teachers who came along, and I hope to meet you all again one day!
A Serious Session at PolyU, Hong Kong
May 22, 2017 at 6:00 pm | Posted in children's literacy, workshops | Leave a commentTags: How to Create Bookworms in the Digital Age, PolyU University Hong Kong
On Friday 19th May I was very honoured to be one of the invited speakers at the PolyU Writing Round Table 2017, focussing this time on Writing for Readers. I had the great pleasure to meet some fabulous PolyU students and staff, in my session about How to Create Bookworms in the Digital Age. It’s SUCH an important topic, and I was very grateful to my host, Shari Lughmani, for giving me the opportunity to share my research and views! My top tip for parents? Strictly limit your child’s time on digital screens, read aloud to them every night, and read lots of books yourself in front of your children!
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