In all the years I've been here, I've never had the chance to visit one of the local schools until now. Our visit came out of a connection that we made with their librarian last year. In the newspaper we saw an article about parents raising a complaint about David Walliam's book, Boy in a Dress. The librarian and her principal stood firm about the book's inclusion in their library. The principal even dressed up in a skirt for school one day to show people that it doesn't matter what clothes we wear. Off the back of this, we decided to send the librarian some books in English to show our support for her and her school. She was so excited about the gifts that she invited us to come and visit.
To say I was amazed at her library was an understatement. She has a huge team of parent volunteers who help her run her library and who do the most amazing displays and events for their children. I've included a few photos below. It really was an inspiring day.
Inset training day gave us time to be silly and take some candid photos for our library website and promotional posters. These are my colleagues - Angela, Maggie, and Marina. Sadly my other colleagues Shi-Yen wasn't in this day. I couldn't do half the stuff I do without their support. I'm very lucky to work with such great people.
This year we went all out to ensure the kids remembered this World Book Day. We decorated the Junior library to look like Hogwarts, complete with floating candles, doorways to each house, and even the entrance to Platform 9 3/4. We had a photo booth so they could take pictures of themselves, plus games, and quizzes. It was so much fun. I got to dress up as Professor McGonagal complete with her iconic hat.
Matt Phelan, Emma Crofts, Jason Lee (Scholastic Rep)
For the last year I've been working with the librarians at Taipei American School to organize the EARCOs Librarians' Weekend (hosted at TAS). It has been a year of very hard work but it was completely worth it. It's been amazing. I got to meet my educator hero Pernille Ripp who was our keynote speaker, and catch up in person with so many librarians I've met online through various networks. The workshops presented by my colleagues were all top notch and very enlightening. I learnt so much about LibGuides I don't even know where to begin with revamping my own. Today is Sunday and I am completely exhausted. Tomorrow Matt Phelan will be visiting my school so it's an early night for me tonight. Need every ounce of strength I can muster to make sure tomorrow is a success. No rest for a librarian :D
On the back of the Taipei International Book Exhibition, we were very lucky to get author/illustrator Axel Scheffler to visit our school for a couple of hours. He was so kind and patient with the kids, and insisted on drawing a character in every single book that they brought to him for signing. His minders were frantic when he was running over time so he insisted that we box up all the books still not signed and he would take them back to his hotel to do that evening. What a guy! His session with the students was just superb. His easy manner and rye wit were a hit with everyone. I was very star struck. We've been really lucky this year to have so many amazing people visit our school. It's been hard to fit them all in but I'm so glad that I went all out to pack the calendar with exciting events.
