A terrific visit to NAIS Guangzhou!
May 10, 2021 at 11:18 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Guangzhou schools, How to Become a Great Writer, How to Write a Riveting Story, Writing workshops
Last Thursday I had the huge pleasure of visiting (via the internet) the students of Years 5 to 8 from Nord Anglia International School in Guangzhou! We had 3 fabulous sessions, where the students learned all about How to Become Great Writers and How to Write a Riveting Story. And even though the internet gremlins did their very best to interrupt our sessions, we all had a lot of fun! Many thanks to Wendy Crichton for hosting me on the day, and to librarian Dr. Solomon Basimilla for inviting me! Photos to come!
Zoom visit to Shrewsbury International School Hong Kong this morning!
June 1, 2020 at 1:22 pm | Posted in Shrewsbury International School Hong Kong, Virtual visits, Writing competitions for kids, writing workshops for children, Zoom visits | 2 CommentsTags: How to Write a Riveting Story, Sarah Brennan's workshops for primary school kids, Writing workshops
This morning I spent a fun hour with the kids of Shrewsbury International School Hong Kong who learned all about How to Write a Riveting Story! Clever competition winner James Bruser Zarin starred as the main character in an adventure story I told the kids to demonstrate all the vital steps to make a story a reader won’t want to put down! I can’t wait to see more Shrewsbury entries in my next Clever Competition! Thanks to Beth McNeilly, librarian and my lovely host for the session!
A fabulous 2 day visit to QSI Zhuhai!
September 29, 2017 at 5:48 pm | Posted in Being an Author, School visits, Zhuhai schools | Leave a commentTags: A Dirty Story, Chinese Calendar Tales, How to Create Writers in the Digital Age, QSI Zhuhai, The Tale of a Dark Horse, The Tale of Chester Choi, Writing workshops
Thank you to the lovely Heather Domenico (above left) for hosting me on Wednesday and Thursday at QSI Zhuhai! It was a very busy time, with story readings from the Chinese Calendar Tales and Dirty Stories for everyone from 2 years old to 13 years old, and writing workshops for everyone from 7 years old to graduation! Plus a talk to the parents and staff about How to Create Writers in the Digital Age – and book-signings in between! Not to mention some great chats with British poet and publisher Neil Stevens, a teacher at the school (above right). Then a fun evening with Principal Cliff Geis-Poage and his lovely wife and teacher Becca who treated me to a delicious dinner before I caught the ferry home to Hong Kong! Everyone was so warm and welcoming – the terrific staff, Theresa in administration, not to mention the mums and dads and the gorgeous kids and teens. It was my first visit to Zhuhai in mainland China, and my first visit to QSI – I hope to see you all again soon!
Three fabulous days at Shatin Junior School!
March 1, 2017 at 6:04 pm | Posted in Chinese New Year, School visits, Shatin Junior School | 2 CommentsTags: Book Week, Chinese Calendar Tales, Story Readings, Writing Competitions for Kids, Writing workshops, Year of the Rooster
A huge thank you to Karen Hubbard and all the lovely staff and students at Shatin Junior School, for hosting me at their Book Week this week! I spent three full, funny and fabulous days with the kids doing a host of story readings and workshops! Everyone from Year One to Year Six met my latest character in The Chinese Calendar Tales – that cocky but loveable Rickshaw Rooster- in a fun story reading full of fascinating historical facts and cockadoodledoos! Then I spent two inspiring days with the Year 5s (who learned How to Become A Great Writer) and the Year 4s (who learned How to Write a Riveting Story)! Five things to remember, for ALL you kids who want to write fabulous stories:
- Free up your leisure time!
- Radically reduce the time you spend on digital games and devices!
- Radically increase the time you spend reading great books!
- Plan your stories before you write them!
- Enter my latest Clever Competition right away!
And you’ll be well on the way to becoming truly GREAT writers!
They did it! My 16 Summer Writing Class students 15-19 August finished in style!
August 20, 2016 at 1:19 pm | Posted in Summer writing class, workshops, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: children's literacy, Writing workshops
Congratulations to the imaginative, focused and very hard-working students in my Summer Writing Classes from 15 to 19 August. Above is my fabulous morning class (also known as the Quiet Class :)) and below is my feisty afternoon class (also known as the Noisy Class 🙂 – and we all know who were the noisy ones!). But I’m happy to say that both classes knuckled down to produce fantastic stories full of great characters and detailed settings, as well as a lot of exciting action! You should all be very proud of your achievements. I look forward to receiving lots of entries from you in my Clever Writing Competitions in the coming years!
Just one more day for two more clever Summer Writing Classes!
August 18, 2016 at 6:48 pm | Posted in Summer writing class, workshops | Leave a commentTags: children's literacy, Writing workshops
What a week it’s been! I’ve had a fantastic time working with 16 very dedicated writers in the second week of my Summer Writing Classes in Wanchai; 8 kids in the morning (at left, above) and 8 more in the afternoon (at right, above)! It’s been a lot of hard work, but a lot of fun too! Tomorrow is the best day of all, when everyone gets to hear the stories that their new friends have written – I can’t wait!
Congratulations to the students in my Summer Writing Class 8-12 August!
August 13, 2016 at 11:51 am | Posted in Being an Author, Summer writing class, workshops | Leave a commentTags: children's literacy, Writing workshops
Huge congratulations to the 8 hard-working, enthusiastic students in my first Summer Writing Class last week! At the end of an intensive week of story-planning and drafting, they each produced a highly entertaining tale, with all the ingredients of a great story! With close attention to their characters and setting, attention-grabbing beginnings and thought-provoking endings, as well as a strong story line which followed the correct curve, they wrote stories of which they can truly be proud! I was especially happy to discover yesterday that they’d even worked on their stories at home! They leave the class with a Certificate of Completion, a folder of their work, and a story-planning guide for the future, as well as a list of tips to help them on their journey to becoming great writers. Well done all of you!
Two additional Summer Writing Course session times!
June 29, 2016 at 1:39 am | Posted in children's literacy, Summer writing class | Leave a commentTags: Writing workshops
Afternoon session 2pm – 4pm, Monday to Friday, 15th to 19th August: just ONE place left;
Morning session 10am to 12 noon, Monday to Friday, 8th to 12th August: SIX places available.
So if
- you are between the ages of 8 and 12,
- you will be in Hong Kong this August,
- you would like to improve your writing and
- you’d like to have a lot of writing fun
then don’t delay! Enrol on my Summer Writing Course right away!
Click here for all the details! SARAH BRENNAN’S Summer Writing Classes
There are just 7 places still available, so book soon!
A fabulous day at Kingston International School, Kowloon Tong!
February 16, 2016 at 4:40 pm | Posted in Chinese Calendar Tales, Hong Kong Schools, Uncategorized, writing competitions, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: Hong Kong Schools, The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey, Writing Competitions for Kids, Writing workshops
Today I had the best day doing workshops with Upper Primary at Kingston International School in Kowloon Tong! The Grade 4s unscrambled limericks and identified haikus and completed the gaps in a horrifying poem called Let’s Destroy the School in my Introduction to Poetry Workshop! The Grade 5s and 6s learned all about How to Write a Riveting Story that will glue the reader’s nose to the page, and left with a fab Story Planning sheet to plan their next stories! And some of them even promised to use them to plan their entry into my current Clever Competition (see tab at the top of this page!). I can’t wait to read their entries! Huge thanks to the lovely Jennifer Shaw for hosting me today! Photos to come!
Helloooo SAIS in Singapore!
February 2, 2016 at 9:06 pm | Posted in Being an Author, Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese New Year, Chinese Zodiac, Singapore schools, Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: children's literacy, Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese Zodiac, SAIS, Story Readings, The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey, Writing workshops, Year of the Monkey
Today I visited my fabulous friends at Stamford American International School in Singapore again, for the first of three great days chock full of writing workshops and reading sessions for the Grade 5s, and talks to parents and teachers about creating bookworms and writers in the digital age too! It was wonderful to see you all, and especially to introduce you to my mischievous Ming Kee Monkey! I can’t wait to work with more of you tomorrow!
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