5-5-10 Welcome sign at St. Paul College in Bulacan, Philippines
Friends:
I am touring in the Philippines right now. I just finished a series of workshops for Scholastic Book Fairs Philippines. I did five workshops in the past four days. What a hectic schedule!
My first workshop on May 5 was in Bulacan, Philippines at St. Paul Collage, about an hour north of Manila. My workshop was a combination of Handmade Tales, demonstrations of my children’s book activities, storytelling, story theater, and Scholastic Book talks.
5-5-10 Taking pictures with fans from Bulacan, Philippines
On Thursday, May 6, 2010, I performed at workshop in Batangas, Philippines, about 1.5 hours south of Manila. The teachers loved the workshop and were such receptive participants!
5-5-10 Workshop participants in Batangas, Philippines portray a school bus full of bad kids
They were a fun group and I enjoyed working with them. What an energetic group of teachers!
5-6-10 Workshop participants in Batangas, Philippines sing and dance the chorus in the story theater re-enactment of The Cajun Cornbread Boy
On Friday, May 7, 2010, I had a seminar at the Development Academy of the Philippines in Manila. The room was over-full, with a record number! Over 160 workshop participants!
5-7-10 Development Academy of the Philippines workshop participants depicting a ballerina during a story theater exercise
The crowd was enthusiastic, with many of the teachers having attended my previous sessions. I had a blast with this crowd. Galing!
5-7-10 Dancing with roaches in Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach at a workshop at the Development Academy of the Philippines in Manila
I loved what they did with their Madame Poulet & Monsieur Roach story shakers!
5-7-10 Development Academy of the Philippines Workshop participants create Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach story shakers
I had a contest and narrowed it down to three finalists. They all won a prize but the gentleman in the middle, Argel, won the grand prize. He made a story shaker with a 3-D chicken and roaches on each side of the shaker!
5-7-10 The Madame Poulet & Monsieur Roach story shaker finalists
Let me tell you, I had a room full of stars!! 
5-7-10 The teaching stars of Manila, Philippines!
Later that afternoon, I had a workshop at the Scholastic headquarters for the Preschool Literacy Program. It was so much fun working with the preschool teachers, especially when we had a snowball fight in the room!! We also created a snow blizzard.
5-7-10 Preschool Literacy Program workshop participants create snow blizzard, Scholastic Headquarters, Manila, Philippines
The teachers were very receptive to new ideas for their preschool classroom and many of them were already fans, having purchased my storytelling CDs.
5-7-10 The preschool teaching stars of Manila, Philippines
My final workshop was on Saturday, May 8, 2010 at the Scholastic Grolier store in Mall of Asia.
5-8-10 Sign for Workshop at the Grolier Store at the Mall of Asia
It was for teachers and mothers to learn interactive storytelling and book activities.
5-8-10 Dancing with roaches in Madame Poulet & Monsieur Roach at Mall of Asia event
I had a ton of fun working with teachers from all over the Philippines. In my eyes, they are the true stars!!
5-8-10 Workshop participants at the Mall of Asia Grolier event
After my workshop at Mall of Asia, I hung out with Zarah Gagatiga, my friend and co-author for Tales from the 7,000 Isles, her daughter, Zoe, my cousins, Joann and Katrin. Then my family (my aunts and cousins) all met me for Pizza at Yellow Cab. There were 32 of us!!! Wow!
5-8-10 Lunch with my family at Yellow Cab Pizza, Mall of Asia, Manila, Philippines
The rest of my visit in Asia consists of trips to Sagada in North Philippines, Bohol in Visayas, Philippines, and Thailand. I am excited about my upcoming trips! I will try to blog and update my Facebook but it depends on my Internet access.
A special thank you to Meinard Cruz of Scholastic Books for hosting me once again! Thank you so my special friends, Zarah Gagatiga and Jay Menes, for their friendship and support! To my family… Mahal kita!
Until next time…
Warmly, Dianne
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