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!
The fabulous and focussed Year 5s at Stamford American School Hong Kong
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!
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!
Thank you to my dear friends at Shatin Junior School for two fabulous days on Wednesday and Thursday as part of their Book Week celebrations! You can see three fab teachers above, getting into bossy, huggy trouble!! Desmond Dog and I met the whole of primary school in two BIG story reading sessions, then I worked with all the Grade 4s in 5 fab How to Write a Riveting Story sessions! I hope to see LOTS of great entries in my Dashing Dog Story Competition – details here! And an extra big thank you to my wonderful host, and friend, Karen Hubbard! More photos to come!
Yesterday I had a truly memorable Global Mentors day with staff, students and management at Hong Kong’s new and very exciting international school, Stamford American School!
We started with a terrific session with the little ones, aged 3 to 6, when they met my loveable dragon with bad habits, in a story reading session of The Tale of Chester Choi at the fabulous rooms of Safari Kids in Chi Fu Pok Fu Lam – a warm thank you to our host Lisa Olinski! Then, after a fun hour meeting parents for a busy book-signing of my Chinese Calendar Tales and Dirty Stories, we decamped for a delicious lunch, followed by an interview with John Cremer of the Education Post at SCMP, then a workshop session open to kids around Hong Kong in Grades 4 and 5 at SAS’s glamorous office in Central, when they learned all my top tips about How to Write a Riveting Story. Their fabulous mums and dads were all there, and it was great to tell them – and their kids – a bit about the latest science on the huge benefits of reading real books vs. the perils of the overuse of digital games,screens and devices!
Huge thanks to Admissions Director Carol Wong (above 2nd from left), Marketing Manager Wai Yan Yip (on the right) who was my lovely host for the day, and her assistant Mandy Man, for their warm hospitality!
Here are some photos, including one of my young fans, Sabrina, a keen young listener and budding writer!