Grady's First Day in School - Helen O' Grady's very first published book for children!

We are proud to release our very first drama read-aloud book! Read more about it below or find out more at http://www.gradybear.com/!

It is Grady Bear’s first day at school.

What will Grady’s first day of school be like? The other children look excited to be in school but not Grady. Who will he meet? What adventure will he embark on? Join Grady Bear and his friends and read aloud rhymes and rhythms in this roller-coaster adventure featuring the adorable, leader-of-the-pack Grady who meets, among others, the magical reading carpet of gold, yellow and green.

In Grady’s First Day At School, our readers will be introduced to school from a child’s point of view. Our young readers will relate to the emotional roller-coaster and the first-time situations that typically happen on the first day at school, and see how Grady Bear and his friends overcome their fears in creative ways.

Parents and teachers will get a number of opportunities to ease into conversations about common anxieties children may have about going to school, such as separation anxiety, making friends, fitting in, being independent, and following instructions.

In Grady’s First Day at School, you will get

• 20 pages of carefully selected written content based that support vocabulary, grammar and speech learning
• Read-aloud Drama: Readers will get to read and practice aloud rhymes, vocabulary and sentence structure written by published writer Su-Ann Mae Phillips
• Beautiful artwork by London-based artist Mike Lowe & layout designer Foo Siew Huey printed on non-toxic, child-friendly paper by Singapore-based Tien Wah Press
• Ideal 20cm by 20cm book size for sharing in small groups and/or in parent-child pairs. Perfect size for handling by little hands

Due to Limited Quantities, please CONTACT US for your copies now:hello@gradybear.com

Drama-in-Education Workshop in Bei Jing

On the 24th of November, Francine and Nancy visited Bei Jing to attend a Drama-In-Education Workshop organized by Beijing Institute of Education! 

We spent a great time learning how to diversify our educational methods together with Teacher Joseph Sun, Teacher Audrey Burkhart, Cindy, and many others! Nancy Soon had the pleasure of delivering one of the talks on the evolution of drama in education and got the teachers brainstorming for new and innovative ideas on how to engage children. 

We thank Beijing Institution of Education for their generosity and warm welcome even amidst this cold winter!

October Fun has begun!

Macau classes have started and we have gathered to have fun together! What better way to spend some time each week to have fun without expectations and to learn at the same time? 

Upper Primary Introduction! It is always a joy making new friends! 

Some of us attended Helen O 'Grady classes before and we came back to learn even more!

Lower Primary Introduction! We may be small, but we are capable of great things! 

  

We began with some locomotion fun! 

Moving around the room, we froze in a cool pose when Mr Fong told us too!

We did some barbecuing in class too! Using our hands as props, we prepared the food and spoke to our friends about how delicious the food was!  

We can't wait for the next class! It is going to be a great month ahead!

Drama Classes are Beginning!

At Helen O 'Grady, children have fun and are encouraged to express themselves freely! As teachers, we have witnessed the confidence and joy that many of our little ones have gained through this drama experience! 

We have much more information at our website: http://www.helenogrady.com.sg/

If you are interested to enrol your child, click here now!: http://goo.gl/fioCgt

HOGA Sign Ups Are Open!

Every year, we anticipate both new and familiar faces joining the Helen O 'Grady Family! 

All Helen O 'Grady principals and teachers are prepared to bring the fun in our Helen O’Grady curriculum to our students! Each lesson stimulates students to be fully involved and motivated. 

All students attend an one hour lesson, each week of the school year! 

Come join us as we transform that hour in your week into an hour of adventure that never ends!

Click HERE to Sign Up!

HOGAsia goes to Shen Zhen!

In the past week, we took a trip down to Shen Zhen Dong Hai Campus and interacted with a cheerful and active group of students! We conducted trial classes there and brought the HOG spirit and the joy of drama to our students! Students got to break away from their usual academic learning styles and experienced learning through drama with us!

We started off with one of our many fun and simple introductory activities called "Bird in the sky!" The children stretched out their arms and chirped confidently in their own bird languages!

Ms Francine praised the children for their enthusiasm and encouraged them to try new techniques and be creative even in doing something as simple as flapping their "wings".

In our Mine to Music component, we listened to HOG's original song "How Clumsy!" 

We tumbled, rolled on the floor and laughed at how clumsy we all were! 

At Helen O 'Grady, we believe that children can be creative and critical thinkers! In our improvisation activity, "ants and the chocolate cake", we asked children how they think ants will be like when eating and approaching the cake! Children raised their hands and actively contributed their ideas!

We sure had fun in Shen Zhen and cannot wait to meet these young talented ones again!

Launch of Helen O'Grady Drama Academy in Shenzhen, China

I am delighted to announce the official launch of Helen O'Grady Drama Academy in collaboration with UNI Whole Child Education Center in Shenzhen.  UNI has two centers, one in Donghai and the other in Baihua to cater to parents with children from ages 3 to 17 to join us in our drama program.

A Press Conference jointly with a short summer camp performance on "The Summer Olympics" was held on Saturday August 22, 2015. 

Congratulations and a big welcome to UNI's parents and children to our international drama family!

Taiwan joins the Helen O 'Grady Family!

We welcome Helen O 'Grady Taiwan to our family! Over the week, Mr David Chang and Vivian from Taiwan engaged in our training programme to pick up the ropes and get ready to bring the best they can to the youths and kids in Taiwan!

Mr David Chang and wife Vivian joined us in a day of training to better understand the Helen O 'Grady network and business operations!

The next day, Teacher Francine ran through some scripts and David, Vivian , Lawrence (from Macau) and Farhana (from Singapore) were diligently taking notes and asking good questions!

As Ms Farhana confidently took the role as teacher, Mr David Chang actively took on the role as a child and followed her instructions with great enthusiasm!

In one of the scenes, Mrs Vivian Chang got into character and waved to Mr David Chang and Ms Francine with great excitement!

Mr David took on the role as teacher next! With a loud bang, he gave his instructions with clarity and got all our attention! Bravo, David!

Though hours of training had passed, we did not realise that it was already getting late! We had great fun and that truly is the power of drama!

Congratulations, David and Vivian Chang from Taiwan for completing the induction training as franchisee! Before going home, David and Vivian relaxed at the Long Bar at Raffles Hotel Singapore! 

We are glad to have David and Vivian on board and cannot wait to see them in action in Taiwan one day!

ကြိုဆိုပါတယ် (Welcome), Myanmar!

We are pleased to announce that Myanmar has joined our Helen O 'Grady network during our recent Helen O 'Grady Conference!  Now, children in Myanmar will soon have the opportunity to experience the joy and changes that drama brings!

After months of deliberation and careful consideration, the Myanmar team, represented by Mr Li Xiao Wen during the ceremony, signed the documents as franchisee.

Mr Nigel Le Page, Master licensor worldwide of Helen O 'Grady, handed over his agreement to Mr Li Xiao Wen and welcomed the Myanmar team on board this exciting journey!

Look at that smile on Mr Li's face! The joy of having new people join our family really is worth celebrating! We all cheered and clapped to welcome the new member of our family!

Our Helen O 'Grady Asia Management Team joined in to congratulate Myanmar for joining us!

And we ended the event with a photo that summed up Helen O 'Grady: 

Welcoming, Fun and Dramatic!

We are on Facebook!

Helen O 'Grady Asia is now on Facebook! In order to bring you faster and more exciting updates on the go, you can simply click 'LIKE' on our Facebook page!

With the new facebook page, what can you expect?
1. Get to know what is happening in our classes around Asia!
We will inform you of our latest updates! Find out what our students from all around Asia are doing. We also bring juicy news about the preparations we undergo as teachers!

2. Allow us to connect with you!
Soon, we will be having posts that require your engagement! :) Whether you are a parent, child or HOGA staff, we are all part of the Helen O 'Grady Family and we want to get to know you better! We are open to questions and feedbacks! Simply drop us an email or a facebook private message today!

3. Share your photos with us!
If you have photos of your child, we would love to share them with our community and on our Facebook page! Send it to us via our facebook messenger or via email!

Like us today at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Helen-O-Grady-Asia/714885281967965

Learn Drama with me, Macau! 2015

At this year's Learn with me, Macau! summer camp, Mr Lawrence Fong from Helen O 'Grady Asia got the chance to meet these enthusiastic and fun-loving little ones! Children were invited to leave their tables and chairs behind and join the fun!

At the start of class, everyone was excited to listen to Mr Lawrence and gathered around him! 

"What are we going to do today, Mr Lawrence?"

When invited up, this little one introduced himself dramatically and confidently with his fist up in the air! Great job!

As class progressed, these young ones were laughing uncontrollably as they watched Mr Lawrence demonstrate what they were about to do next! 

It was time to move around and interact! In her little pink dress, this girl walked with grace and a big beautiful smile on her face, all ready to greet her friends!

Rounding up, Mr Lawrence gathered everyone in a circle to play a game together!

Students remember best when they are having fun and when they are creating memories with their friends. Through drama, students build up their confidence in presenting themselves in front of others and enjoy the whole journey! 

Helen O'Grady Asia Conference 2015

 

Helen O'Grady (Asia) organized its 4th Conference in Singapore at NSRRC on July 1-2nd attended by participants from Singapore, China, Australia, UK, Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong and Macao.

The Conference was kick-started by a team of excited Helen O'Grady teachers from Singapore Franchise who trained hard to introduce SINGAPORE CITY through a song and dance routine.

 

Teachers were treated to workshop plays "Fine Dining" and "Lazy Lak" adding other "business"  to their productions in addition to picking up new vocabulary in French and Dutch languages. 

Lynette Teo jointly leading a training with Carine Chan from Hong Kong

Teachers rehearsing "Fine Dining"

Conference Finale led by Francine Wan and Lawrence Fong with a pat on the back for everyone to the song  "Thank you Mr. Mayor" from Pied Piper of Hamelin

Year End Performances at MAC

First Year End Performance 

at Macau Anglican College

After 10 weeks of hard work, students from 4 classes at MAC performed their final year end performance in the school hall.  Upper Primary students performed an encore to the delight of other Lower Primary parents and students.  Well done Drama Students!

"Thank You Mr. Mayor" song and dance

The Pied Piper

Pirate Tom

"Pirate Joe"

We are so delighted to see the proud parents of their children's performance.  Parents were reminded that tonight every child on stage is a STAR! 

 

 

Drama Fun on Coloane Beach

Outdoor Fun at end of Production Term

 

Helen O'Grady Drama Academy in Macao finished the Production Term at end of June 16th, 2015.  But prior to that, after the last rehearsal for "Pirate Joe" the drama teachers spent a couple of hours exploring Coloane Beach ("Black Beach") in Macao.  This was on Saturday June 13th when Nancy together with Teachers Lawrence and Francine took a stroll along this beach for the first time!

Teacher Lawrence and Nancy on Coloane Black Beach

Teacher Francine having a fun moment

Lots of fun -a winning smile and dramatic pose! 

To end the day, the team went for a musical Disney's "Beauty and the Beast's "opening night at The Venetian Theatre! It was the best way to celebrate the end of a production term for the team!