Month: August 2011

Starting off with a bang!

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We arrived in Hong Kong last week, and went to visit my new school, AISHK. I met a few people, few of whom I could name again – the whirl of people and transport and stairs and heat and buildings and humidity was a little befuddling…

On Saturday there was a workshop at school with Kevin Hennah – which of course is something not to be missed – so I spent most of the day at school watching a dazzling procession of images of signs and chairs and displays and layouts and some seriously worrying mistakes. As you would expect it was a really stimulating day, with lots of strong orange and green highlights (if you’ve seen one of his presentations you will now be having flashbacks to amazing chairs and accessories). I met quite a few teacher librarians and other library staff from various international schools around Hong Kong – and even from one in Vietnam! I knew Dianne McKenzie from the online TL world, so it was a pleasure to meet her in person. Unfortunately I do not have a wonderful memory for names, so it will take a few meetings before I am able to keep everyone else straight and match face to name to school without ums or ahs.

I have much to say about the workshop, but now is not the time as it is after 11pm and I really need to get some sleep! Till next time I fire up the blog…

Moving Out, On And Over

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Big Yellow Wheelie BinYesterday was my last day at Hutchins – for a while at least! I spent most of the day sorting out my desk, putting piles of worksheets in plastic pockets for filing, and tossing old  papers into the Big Yellow Wheelie Bin. I have two usb memory sticks loaded up with my library programs, units of work, previous years’ work (for reference if needed), activity sheets – anything I could think of to make life easier for the two TLs who will be sharing my position for the rest of the year. I have passed on all the debating club materials to the colleague who will take that over. I even remembered to bring home my work mug.

In between clearing out my office, supervising the library and taking my last class (yr 3, traditional folk tale then flags of the world – Book Week themed) I was also saying goodbye to colleagues. I was deeply touched to realise how many friends I have made at Hutchins – there were so many people wishing me well, telling me how much fun I will have and how the time will fly, and asking me to be sure to keep in touch. I have really loved working here, and will be glad to return in 2013, refreshed, reinvigorated and ready to rug up warmly with our return to the cooler climate!

The rest of this weekend will be spent packing up the house – something we have been working on for a couple of months – in preparation for flying to Hong Kong next week. I have been too busy, too preoccupied, too tired to be excited before now, but this morning I woke up with a definite feeling of anticipation! I am really looking forward to the adventure and challenge of tackling life in a whole new country and culture. I have already received a lot of great advice and support from staff at my new school, which has given me confidence that it won’t be a case of jumping in the deep end and fending for myself upon arrival. Also I discovered an interesting side-effect of clearing out my office and reviewing my work of the past 3 1/2 years: I have a new belief in my own ability to create a variety of teaching and learning activities suited to the needs of my students and the knowledge and skills I wish them to acquire.

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