Journée anglaise

September 21st, 2013 ~ La Bretagne ~ Reunion Island

Last Saturday, the second edition of the Jounée anglaise took place in our neigbourhood, here, in La Bretragne.

English Rocks! (our association) partnered with the local library to give access to books written in English to children.

The librarian brought a large number of  books from the central St-Denis library (Médiathèque François Mitterrand).

I was amazed by their collection, this place is a gold mine, 
they provide great resources for teachers or families searching for books written in English.

If you live in the area, be sure to check it out!

While the librarians supervised the reading area, 

I held bilingual StoryTime workshops for over an hour and a half.

It was tiring but fun!

When I invited kids to join the workshops, a few of them said no thank you.

They were not interested in BOOKS...

Some seemed to look at me either with a polite look saying I really don't want to hurt you but I'd rather do something else, others were more like, get real, why would I look at a book on a Saturday afternoon, books are at school, where they belong.

 Each time a kid said no, I extended the same invitation:

How about you try, come and sit with us and if you don't enjoy it, 

you can leave anytime, I won't mind.

Most of these kids came and STAYED! They did enjoy the BOOKS.

They realized that stories are fun,
that they don't have to be scared about not undersantding English (I translate when needed)
and they got a glimpse of the magic only good books can bring.

Here are a few pictures, kindly taken by one of the parents in attendance:

The Crocodile's knobbly Skin by Andrea Florens

Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae

here are the books the kids got to choose from:
StoryBox treasures from all over the world

Festival Zétinsèl

September 7th, 2013 ~ Entre-Deux ~ Reunion Island

For the last two years, I've wanted to bring my family to the Festival Zétinsèl held annually in the south of the island in a lovely "village créole" named Entre-Deux.

Well, this year, I did better than that!

Not only did I bring my family there, but I also brought my StoryBox and shared my love of stories and cultures of the English speaking world with a bunch of kids at the festival.

Among other stories, we shared :

by Rod Campbell, always a favourite...

kids love to discover which animal is hidden behind the flaps,

they love to learn their names in English too!

We then travelled to Australia to meet Dizzy and her friends Snuffle, Spike and Bounce,

 starring in Rebecca Johnson's and Tony Flowers' Biggest Tower Ever,

a story about sharing and reaching higher goals when working together, 

this story has been in our family since 2005,

we just LOVE it!

and the audience at the festival did too!!!

When the kids get the wiggles, I usually read Eric Carle's From Head to Toes



Here we are kicking our legs like donkeys!
This book is definitely a StoryBox hit.

It was a wonderful day for all involved, 
my family, my StoryBox and myself were glad to be a part of it.
Now we are off to new bookish fun until we leave these shores
and start the StoryTime Around the World adventure.

See you on Saturday!

A l'occasion de la "Journée anglaise" organisée par l'association "Anglofun"

venez retrouvez Emma et sa StoryBox 

sur l'espace de la bibliothèque entre 14h et 16h 

ce samedi 21 septembre 2013,

à la salle polyvalente de La Bretagne

Pour plus de renseignements sur le programme de l'après-midi 

concocté par Isabelle, cliquez ici

ou téléphonez au 06 92 82 29 82

What's Next?!

Chose  promise, chose due!

(Deuxième édition)

Voici (enfin!) les dates des prochains ateliers Story Time:

Le mercredi, à la Bibiothèque Alain Lorraine

11 et 25 septembre, 9 et 23 octobre, 6 et 20 novembre et 4 décembre

 à 10 heures pour les 3-6 ans et 11h pour les 7-9 ans.

Le samedi, à la Bibliothèque Alain Peters

31 août, 28 septembre, 26 ocotbre et 30 novembre

A 10h30 pour les 3-6 ans et à 11h pour les 7-9 ans

Les inscriptions se font sur reservation auprès de chaque bibliothèque

BIAL: 02 62 90 49 90                    BIAP: 02 62 93 88 70

See you soon,

Emma

 PS: RDV également au Festival Zétinsèl,

dans la "bulle de rêve" sur la "Place du Livre"

le Samedi 7 septembre 2013

à L'Entre-Deux

Les Bons Plans Vacances - St Denis, juillet 2013

In July, we had the delightful opportunity to work with the St Denis City Council

as part of the "Bons Plans Vacances Program"

designed to provide kids with meaningful activities during the holidays.

Here are a few pictures of our Bookish Adventures:

Cette année, l'association "English Rocks!" a eu le plaisir de participer

aux "Bons Plans Vacances" de la ville de St Denis

en proposant des ateliers Story Time aux enfants de 3 à 6 ans et à leurs parents.

Pour l'occasion, les ateliers ont été rabaptisés Baby Anglais!

Me rendre chaque jour dans un nouveau quartier,

rencontrer des familles

et partager avec elles ma passion pour les livres, la langue anglaise

et la variété de la culture du monde anglophone restera pour moi

un des meilleurs souvenir de ces vacances.

Place aux photos:

Merci à tous et à bientôt,

Bookishly Yours,

Emma

What's Next?!

Chose promise, chose due!

Voici les dates des prochains ateliers "Story Time"

Le mercredi, à la Bibliothèque Alain Lorraine

29 mai, 12 juin, 16 juin,

à 10h pour les 3-6 ans et à 11h pour les 7-9 ans.

Le samedi, à la bibliothèque Alain Peters

1er juin, 29 juin

à 10h30 pour les 3-6 ans et à 11h pour les 7-9 ans.

Les inscriptions se font sur reservation auprès de chaque bibliothèque

BIAL: 02 62 90 49 90                     BIAP: 02 61 93 88 70

See you soon,

Emma

It's StoryTime......... again!!!!

Les ateliers "Story Time" à la bibliothèque Alain Lorraine ont repris hier. 

Chez les 3-6 ans, nous nous sommes régalés avec des auteurs australiens ainsi que l'incontournable Eric carle. Après notre voyage avec les wombats, les wallabies et Dizzy le koala, nous avons également fait un tour chez Anthony Browne et je remercie Christelle pour la voix française de I Love Books.

C'était chouette de revoir des visages familiers et de faire de nouvelles rencontres.

La grande nouveauté du jour, c'était l'ouverture du groupe des 7-9 ans. Quel plaisir de retrouver Jean, Lou-Ann et Mélissa et de partager avec eux Possum Magic, un classique australien, de leur faire découvrir "Les Oeufs verts au jambon" de Dr Seuss et l'humour anglais de Nick Sharrat. Nous ne pouvions pas finir sans Dear Zoo et j'ai été impressionnée de voir qu'ils pouvaient le lire seuls ou presque! "Sing and Play" a porté de bons fruits.

Happy Valentine everyone!

Emma

It's Picture Time!!!

Stage "Sing and Play" à la bibliothèque Alain Lorraine janvier 2013

quelques photos...

Les 6/7 ans

singing (for parents!)

portraying animals

playing guessing games

are you happy, scared, tired or sad ?! ?!

happy of course,
"Sing and Play" sessions are fun!

Les 8/9 ans

getting ready to Sing ...

... and Play!

What's this?
This is a snake.

making our very own...

my bee is too naughty, my pig is too smelly, my alligator is too fierce ...
but our time together sure was nice!

Merci à Mathilde pour les photos (et pour son talent de bibliothécaire)

Atelier "Sing and Play" à la Rivière des Pluies

A Short History of StoryTime

People often ask me how I came up with such a way of telling stories in English to little French kids.

One of the comments I usually get is "woah, this is so simple but you had to think about it!"

So here is the story of  how it came to be:

Once upon a time, there was a little boy called Al.

Before he even knew how to walk, he was already fascinated by books of all sorts.

 When he turned two, he received a gorgeous book from his mother’s Australian friend. His mother read it to him every night and discovered how fun and easy it was to read in English to this lovely French boy.

Other books crossed oceans to land in the boy's and mum’s hands and new pleasures were shared with each page read.

Years later, that reading team joined by three more darling boys, was living on a beautiful island somewhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean. All of them still enjoyed the pleasure of reading Australian books together every now and then.

One day, the idea came, mummy wanted to share!

Share her passion for books, her passion for stories, her passion for English and her love for a foreign country where she had learnt so much.

It’s not only reading stories, it’s teaching kids that people are people wherever they may live ,

it’s helping them see that different does not have to mean better or less

or even scary!

It’s taking a step towards peace, goodwill and understanding one child and one story at a time.

Up with "Story Time"!