I love school folders!

If you want to keep your work place organized and not spend too much money on that, make use of school folders! In my mini school I use them for many things: keeping extra activities related to each book, song lyrics, and also pictures! The cool thing is that they are also part of your decoration so you can buy them in colors that are gonna match your teaching area. As my mini school is basically white, red and blue, I always buy my folders in the same colors so that they organize my space and decorate it as well!!

Welcome!

The simplest "welcome" rug in front of your room/school door is enough to transmit your students the idea of being in a kind of an "American territory". I bought two, a red and a blue one, so I can replace one while the other is being washed. Where did I get them? Guess! At a R$ 1,99 store, but they cost a little more:only R$ 8,00 each!

A globe as usual!

Thinking about a school and not thinking about a globe is really difficult, isn't it? A simple globe can kind of decorate a small place and it has everything to do with the environment! This one is small, and I placed it right next to my mini school CD player because I wanted to have something blue on my white shelf. The best part: I paid only R$ 1,99 in this one! Really!

Some extra (and cheap) seats!

If you need some extra seats you can definitely use a couple of "puffs" (I really don't know how to say this in English, do you?) and have some more students sitting in your reception/classroom area, too! Those ones are small (you can get bigger ones if you prefer) and I bought them for R$39,90 each. Teens love it!

A "non-Portuguese" sign!

A cheap and easy way to put a "non Portuguese" sign on the wall is make one using simply cardboard, glue, scissors and a related image from Google. I've made mine and placed it right on the entrance wall. Take a look!

Decorating the wall!

Well, besides the picture I told you about on www.myminischool.blogspot.com which can be made with lots of different pictures printed from Google images you can also decorate the walls of your school/room with other options. As my room is small and I had already put a big picture in one of the walls, I decided to place a mirror (yes, a mirror!) on the other side and also a very simple (but different) "not smoking" sign made of red cardboard and letters simply printed. Check it out!
PS: Notice that just to make the mirror different I decorated it with a red "Welcome" made of cardboard, too! Cheap and nice!

An alternative way to have your certificates on the wall!

As my room is rented I didn't want to have my certificates directly on the wall (actually I wanted to avoid "thousand" holes on the walls), so I thought about buying one of those murals which are usually used for pictures and put some of my my certificates there!Have a great day, colleague!

Yes! A simple clock!

An object that is really useful and can also decorate your room is a simple clock!!I got mine at a R$1,99 store but it cost a little more than that, but not more than R$10,00. Let's keep our students aware of the time and give our reception (or even classroom)a special touch!See you tomorrow, colleague!

Details do make the difference!

I simply love details and a very easy and cheap way of making a simple plastic wastebasket (R$7,00)and even your room/school's restroom door a little different is to place signs on them. I got those from Google images and you can see the result by yourself! As it had been raining a lot my students were always in doubt where to put their umbrellas when they arrived so I decided to have a specific place for that and as it's not something used specifically for it (always adapting, adapting,...) I put a sign on it! Simple as that! A place to keep umbrellas!

Talking about the basket...

Now you can see it better. A great (and cheap) option to have in your room/school! Put some magazines, a photo album, books and it's ready! Any person who comes to your room/school will be happy to spend a few minutes waiting for you or for your student. The comic books I have there were bought at a second hand store (I paid only R$8,00 each) and also an old English book which was R$10,00. The Newsweek can be found only at certain newsstands but I confess they're not so cheap - R$16,00 and they're really thin!?!. But we gotta keep in mind that we'll have sitting in our reception different aged people so you can have in your basket from American comic books to serious English magazines, including a photo album related to the theme, if possible! See you soon, colleague!
PS: If you don't have enough space to place it in your room, consider putting it under a small table or even a bench in yor reception area.

The first post!

Hi, colleagues! I couldn't start any differently. "Let's start from the beginning", someone would say. With the reception room! When I rented this place I thought about the American flag colors: red, blue and white. I've used some things I already had at home so it cost me only a little to organize my mini school. This is only a first view of the reception. I intend to show you some details so that you can use my ideas in your school or room, too! A few tips: a small sofa or even a bench for the students to wait for their class, some matching colorful cushions,a small rug and a picture on the wall are enough for your room to become the cosiest place! Don't forget to place a basket with some magazines (in English, of course!) for your students to read while spending some time there. A nice idea is to put a photo album in the basket, too!So the student who is not able to read in English yet has the chance to have some fun checking some of your pictures. I organized my album with the photos I took during my English course in the US some years ago so the "American environment" can be felt right away!