The One About EARCOS 2010

Last March 26-28, I attended the EARCOS Teachers' Conference at the International School Manila (ISM). The conference was attended by teachers and other educational professionals from international school in Asia. Keynote addresses were given by really good education professionals (I love Taylor Mali!) and there were lots of concurrent workshops to choose from. Prior to that weekend, I spent three afternoons agonizing over what seminars to go to because all seemed really good.

Here are photos I took of ISM:

Starbucks, anyone? :)

The crafts fair and welcome reception

I was able to attend nine workshops in three days:

1. The Teaching Share: How to Help Students Reflect on Their Work and Wrap Up a Day's Reading and Writing Workshop (Maggie Moon)

2. Emotional Rooms: How to Create Classrooms that are Uplifting for the Spirit (2 sessions by John Joseph)

3. Assessment with the Brain in Mind (John Joseph)

4. Strong Readers/Strong Writers: Making Deep Connections (Jane Kurtz)

5. The Reality of Fashion Design and TV (Aries Lagat, winner of Project Runway Philippines Season 1)

6. School-wide Behavior Management (Dawn Dinwiddie)

7. Preventing Teacher Burnout (Pascale Thomas)

8. Classroom Literacy Techniques: Phonemic Awareness and Multisensory Approaches (Amy Narayan/Julie Schneller)

I was also able to reunite with my friends and former colleagues from Cebu International School.

I used to work closely with Becca because she used to be the first grade ESL teacher when I handled first grade students at Cebu International School (CIS).

Verlyn is the Mandarin teacher at CIS.

With Ces (Grade 2), Darlene (Kindergarten 1), and Michelle (Grade 5), all missed friends from CIS

It felt great learning something new practically every hour and catching up with friends as well. All in all, it was a tiring weekend but nonetheless fun and productive. :)

The One About the EARCOS lootbags

Just over the weekend, I attended the EARCOS Teachers' Conference 2010 at the International School Manila. A lot of delegates from other international schools around Asia attended the annual event. I was looking forward to joining the workshops lined up. More than that, though, I was excited to see my friends and former colleagues from Cebu International School.

I prepared for their arrival by making Alice in Wonderland-inspired loot bags to give to my friends. Here's how I made them:

Start with a 1/2 cardstock. Put double-sided tape on one end of it.

Pull the strip of tape off.

Form a roll by making the two ends of the cardstock meet, sealed by the tape.

Now, put double-sided tape inside one end of the cardstock roll, strip it off, and press the edges to seal.

I used my paper crimper to crimp the edge.

Nice, isn't it? I love my paper crimper!

I made "Eat Me" labels -- inspired by the recent Alice in Wonderland movie. To make it a tad humorous, I added the words "when you get bored at your workshop." :)

Made a bunch of them!

Next, seal the other end of the cardstock roll by pressing it in the opposite direction, ending with a triangular packet. Seal with double-sided tape and crimp it as well. Don't forget to fill the packet with candies and treats. I filled mine with coffee candies to fight boredom (haha!) and threw in some mints as well.

Tadaaaaaa!

More on the serious side of EARCOS in my next post. Until then, happy crafting!

The One About Baby RG

I like making baby crafts. My Cebu-based friend (a former colleague at Cebu International School), Gade, will be giving birth soon to a baby girl. She e-mailed me recently to invite me to attend her baby shower but I couldn't go since I was in Manila. I wanted to give her a gift anyway, so I came up with this simple baby shower gift.

I wanted to do an alphabet silhouette frame at first. I love the drama that silhouettes evoke and I thought maybe I could make one for a baby - a fresh change from all the cutesy baby shower gifts. Eventually, I decided it would be nicer to concentrate on the baby's initials with silhouettes of pictures that begin with the initials of the baby's name.

I texted her to ask for her baby's name but, according to her, it was still a secret. I asked for the initials, instead, and they turned out to be "RG" -- Teddy Bird's real name initials! :)

I printed the initials from a computer then traced and cut them out from white construction paper.

I got cliparts of a rabbit (R is for rabbit) and a girl (G is for girl) and found a way to make a picture story out of them. I traced and cut them out from construction paper too.

I arranged the cutouts on a pink construction paper as the background and glued them into place. The frame I used was given to me by Cebu International School when they used it to store my "Certificate of Appreciation" of service before I left. I've been wanting to find another use for it.

Tadaaaaaa!

I have friends from Cebu coming over to Manila next week. We will be attending the EARCOS Teachers Conference 2010 at the International School Manila. A number of international schools in Asia will be attending too. I'll just ask my Cebu International School friends to handcarry this gift for me when they fly back to the Queen City of the South (which I happen to miss terribly).

Speaking of EARCOS, I just thought of the perfect EARCOS lootbags to give to my friends! More on that soon!

Happy crafting!