DRESSING UP WOODEN SPOONS

I had a session with the Irish Countrywomen's Association (Castletroy) where we dressed up the humble wooden spoon.

Because time was limited, I prepared most of the materials before hand.

Ribbons, dried orange slices, cinnamon sticks and berries do make a difference!

And that reminds me of a similar project that I did with some school teachers in Hanoi in 2007, eleven years ago.

I was there to train them in the teaching of English and just to add some fun to the training, I introduced craft sessions as well.

And music sessions too

This is the school where I conducted the training

We all had tea in the canteen. Love the vintage flasks.

Hanoi is pretty with all the rice fields but in the city it is rather polluted 

The Education department took great care of me and put me up in a 5 star hotel and presented me with a bouquet of flowers.

And that was me, eleven years ago.

Painting wooden spoons in Vietnam

I conducted a 5-day teacher training session with teachers in Vietnam. This was a collaboration project between the Ministry of Education, Vietnam and Global Education and Development Agency. Upon arrival at the hotel where I stayed, government officials greeted and presented me with a bouquet of flowers.

Then I was whisked off to the school where the training was held.

Secondary school teachers came from surrounding towns on their motorbikes to attend the workshops. They had to wear face masks because of the dust from the laterite roads.

The teachers were all ears as I shared with them classroom strategies and management ideas.

To break the monotony of the five days of teaching, I incorporated a fun session of exploring creativity....in this case, painting wooden spoons.

And I was amazed at what they did!

Beautiful spoons to bring home to adorn the walls!