Merry Christmas to all our readers!

It's one week to Christmas Day and I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy and prosperous New Year.

It's also two weeks to the end of the ELC and PET contracts.

Many of the ELCs and PETs have already left Malaysia on their annual leave. Some have gone back to their home countries to spend Christmas with their families. Some have gone on trips to Vietnam and Bali to soak up the culture and the sun. Yet others have stayed on here in Malaysia. I will be heading back to Australia this Friday to spend time with my family before taking up a new post in the UAE next year.

As for the other ELCs and PETs, well they will all be taking on new challenges in the new year. Some are hoping for positions with the new project in Singapore; some will be joining the CfBT teaching staff in Brunei; some are going to work in Vietnam; one is going back to teach in South Korea and two are going to take some time off before deciding what to do. Others will be staying on here in Malaysia to pursue further studies, to continue their work on a volunteer basis or have jobs in various educational institutions. To those who have not yet decided what to do next year, I hope something your way comes soon.

This is my last post and so I wish you all the best in whatever the future brings you and look forward to hearing about your exploits.

Mr Ron

The Future

Hi once again from the CfBT KL office with a belated update.

I’m sorry that I haven’t written for a while, but although there has been a lot going on, we’ve not been in a position to say too much.

Since I last wrote, as you all know, we have heard from the MoE that our ELC and PET contracts will not be renewed for 2008 and many of you have already found alternative employment. Some people saw the writing on the wall and left early for greener pastures in China, The UAE and Cyprus to name but a few places. Pauline is busy sorting out cars, leave entitlements and plane tickets while Rozanne is busy processing tax forms and sorting out bonuses etc. Jan & I are preparing final reports for the office and CDC (as well as looking for another position).

Our cousins across the divide fared better with their contract negotiations and you may have seen the recent e-mail from Chris advising that their contract has been renewed for a further two years with an increase in teacher numbers and an improved package. For more details, see the Brunei website.

Thanks to all those who have sent in their Contract Completion Feedback forms and we look forward to the rest soon. Much good work has been done in the states, districts and schools which is reflected in the comments. You will all be sorely missed by those teachers and students whose lives you have touched during your time here.

So what exactly has been happening of late? Even before we heard the bad news from the ministry, there were moves afoot to expand our business here in Malaysia so that we were not solely dependent on the ministry for our income. You all know of the very successful PIERS Projects that we have had over the past two years and, with several other potential sponsors in the pipe-line, it looks like an expansion of that programme could well be on the way. Stay tuned for more news as it comes to hand.

Across the causeway, a ‘letter of intent’ has been signed with the MoE there for a programme of Teacher Consultants to be placed in secondary schools. They will be working with the local teachers to help with English, methodology and enrichment activities. Can’t say too much just yet, but keep an eye out for job advertisements in the coming weeks. (There will probably be a page on the CfBT UK website with job descriptions and application forms.)

As some of you will already know, we have a small Corporate English programme that has been going for a while now. Well, that is set to expand, with several prospective clients, and to help it on its way, we are having a Business Development Workshop here in the office on the 26^th November. Neil McIntosh, our CEO from the UK and Jonathan Greenwood, the new Director for International Operations will be attending. This will be Jonathan’s first visit to Malaysia I believe.

So, as you can see, we have not been idle but have been seeking to add value to the several strands of our business operation here in Malaysia. Some of you may be involved in that expansion; others will be returning home or furthering your careers in far flung parts of the world. Many of you will be leaving this week, the rest in the next few weeks. Whenever you leave, I wish you ‘Selamat Jalan’ and wherever you are next year; I wish you all the best of luck! Please keep in touch and let us know what exciting things you are doing.

Mr Ron

2nd Perlis TD Conference review

Some of you were involved in the recent Perlis TD Conference in Penang and from what I hear, it went off really well.

Steve says, "...there was a constant buzz among the participants and I think this year was much more about developing teachers than just training teachers and my lot are beginning to see the difference. ... I have had lots of positive feedback already about the event and you all."

Thanks to those ELCs who took time out from their busy schedules to give of their knowledge and help develop the Perlis teachers. If anybody has any photos please e-mail me and I'll put them up on the blog, or if you have any other comments/feedback, YOU can post a comment here.

No News!

I've tried to keep the Upcoming Events updated with news of the meeting that was supposed to take place between those in power in the Ministry of Education and those that hold the purse strings. Unfortunately this meeting seems to get postponed at the last minute. I believe it was rescheduled for today and I will let you all know if it actually went ahead as soon as I know. Pauline is at CDC this afternoon so we should get some news 'straight from the horse's mouth' so to speak.

I'm heading to Tasmania tonight to help my Mum celebrate her 80th birthday and will be away for a week. However, if there is ANY news I'm sure Chris will let everybody know.

I know this is a very trying time for those who feel that they would like to continue working in Malaysia for CfBT. Do you hang around and wait to see what happens or do you make a move now? Some have already taken the plunge and left for greener pastures. We wish them well, and who knows, we may see them back one day.

Ron C.

ELC movie

OK, so it's Sunday afternoon, Jan's in Australia and I'm bored. I remember Vance sending this website around a while ago, so I thought I'd give it a go. You can view the results of my labour (which wasn't anywhere near as long as Trien's thank goodness) by clicking on the following link.

ELC Movie

Go ahead, make my day and make your own movie. It's really easy!

Announcing the arrival of...

Our daughter Melody Angelica Harris [who] was born this morning, September 2, at 8am in Taiping General Hospital. Trien was in labor for 20 hours, but didn't need a c-section. Little Melody weighs in at 3.9 kilos, and is 55cm tall. Both Trien and Melody are fine. Well, Melody does have a pointy head from being born, but that should go back to normal in a few days.

When I went to see her first time, she opened her eyes, and we looked at each other for 45 minutes straight. It was the first time she had opened her eyes. Needless to say, Daddy is already madly in Love!

CONGRATULATIONS to John & Trien!!!!!!!!!!!!

MoE/CfBT Annual Conference in Malacca

Well it finally came to pass that THE conference actually took place! After the July date was postponed in late June there were some who wondered if it ever would happen. It did, and I think I can safely say that it was a success. So thank you to all who participated: ELCs, PETs, Ministry representatives from CDC, Language Officers from state and district offices, guest speakers, and the hardworking staff from the CfBT office who came and helped out or who stayed behind to keep the ship afloat.
I have uploaded two photo albums, appropriately named Malacca Day 1 & 2, the first of which shows what went on when we were supposed to be getting ready for our photo on the first morning and the subsequent tea break. The second shows the ELCs' group discussions and presentations and some more morning tea shots. There were lots of little meetings going on all around the hall. Thanks to Becky Stannard for taking the time to 'spy' on you all!
Unfortunately, I can't put Powerpoint presentations directly on the Blog, but have converted three of them to photos which you can download to read the content. If you want the actual presentations I can e-mail them to you on request.
Once again, thanks to all who took the time to come to Melaka, and when we hear the outcome(s) of the meeting that Dr Haili talked about, rest assured we will let everybody know.
Ron Coveney

Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

Click on the picture to make it bigger so that you can read the text.

The count down is on! Not long to go now! Next week is school holidays and I know some of you are headed overseas for a well earned bit of R&R. Then it's down to Melaka for the chance to catch up with all those team members that you either haven't seen for a few months, or in some cases, haven't even met yet! There will be a chance to hear some words of wisdom from Professor John Stannard and find out just what Stephen Hall has been doing with all that data he's been collecting from some of you. For the majority of you, it will also be an opportunity to meet the new Director of CDC, Dr Haili bin Dolhan, for the first time.
Firstly though, some of us from the KL office are heading on over to Brunei next Wed to Sat to attend their teachers' conference and then we'll join you in Melaka.
So travel safe and see you there!!

What a Romp it was!

The PIERS teachers from Negeri Sembilan had a fun weekend getaway in Port Dickson recently. The PD Romp, as it’s fondly called, was organized for about 120 rural primary school teachers by the CfBT PIERS team – Mark, Karen, Fain, Azlina and Prabha. This annual PIERS event featured a mixture of academic and team-building activities, with the purpose of enhancing the teachers’ confidence in speaking English language, learning new skills in language and methodology and increasing motivation.

This year’s PD Romp was greatly spiced up by the participation of some very talented trainers – Mike & Cathy, Rob & Kim, Jerry Bishop and Chris Frankland. They led groups of PIERS teachers through specific academic sessions on drama, literacy remediation, language games, jazz chants and loads of other fun stuff! We also had a great show of support from the CfBT KL office: Iki designed and ordered goodies for all the teachers, Everlyn spent her entire weekend helping us out at the Port Dickson Rest House, Andrew Caie sportingly joined us for the Fancy Dress Ball, and Chris Bell led the teachers in the canoeing activity at the Eagle Ranch Resort!

A big THANK YOU to all of you...what a great team we have here at CfBT!

Guess who?

Check out the 'PIERS Pirates' in the Photo Albums. The photo shows three people who were obviously up to no good! No prizes, but do you know who the person on the right is? Click on the picture to make it bigger.

Use the 'comments' link below to tell me.

Another week goes by and still no news!

Not much has happened this last couple of weeks, but as this is supposed to be a 'weekly' blog I thought I'd better write something.

Most of you will have seen the recent e-mail from Chris F. in which he says that the good news is, "We were very pleased to learn earlier this week, that our proposals have now been forwarded from the Secretary General to Finance, which is, we believe, the final stage before we are able to sit down with CDC to discuss the details of the new contract."

But don't hold your breath! We still need Ministerial approval for the projects and there are lots of steps to go through yet.

On a lighter note, Alison L. had a couple of stories to tell in her June report that I'm sure she wouldn't mind me sharing with you all. She says, "Was asked to be a judge in Kota Belud drama competition but got caught in a flash flood en route and spent seven hours stuck in my car!" When I asked what she did for seven hours, her reply was, "The worst fate of all befell me. A technology teacher who wanted to practise his English adopted me so I got stuck with answering questions like 'What kind fruits you have in Australia' as I fretted in my car.....!!"

The second story concerns a ghost in Pitas. She says, " Just something trying to pull me out of bed then a door that mysteriously locked itself with me inside..Got one arm out the window and yelled help. The occasional passersby either ignored me (maybe thought it was a white ghostly arm)or shouted 'Hello' I guess 'Hello' And 'Help' sound similar. Only Malay I could remember was 'Minta maaf' as I couldn't remember 'Tolong'. Locals told me everyone knows about ghosts in guest house and many a person has ended up sleeping in their car out of sheer terror.."

Not all monthly reports contain such frightening stories! But if you have a story (it doesn't have to be a frightening one!) that you think others would like to hear, please send it to me or put it in your next report.

Don't forget that you can also write comments to any of my posts. So come on, make yourself heard!

TTFN

Update on Negotiations

For those of you who may have missed the recent e-mail from Chris Frankland, I'm posting it here.

Dear Colleagues

A number of you have written to us asking if we can update you on contract negotiations. We are increasingly aware of your concerns, and acutely conscious of the predicament that some of you currently face, with a wish to remain in Malaysia with CfBT, but with no clear indications as yet from the Ministry.

I would like to assure you that all of us at the CfBT Malaysia office are doing everything possible to expedite a decision from the Ministry. Proposals have been with the Secretary General, Schools Division, Matriculation Division and CDC since April, and a revised proposal was sent in only last week. However, the Ministry remain mum, although we do constantly remind them of the urgency.

Indications continue to be positive. We lobby where possible at all levels, but the decision rests with those in the corridors of power. One good bit of news which will, we hope, do much to aid our cause: Tn Hj Ali Ghani, Director of Languages at CDC, a staunch supporter of our projects, is to be promoted to Deputy Director of CDC as from 19^th September.

If you hear anything on the grapevine, it might be helpful for us to know, bearing in mind that there are, as ever, rumours circulating!

I reiterate that I will write to all of you just as soon as we get any further news or developments.

With best wishes

Chris

Friday 13th: Lucky for some!

Last Friday, Vance Carson, the PET at SMAP Kajang, scored a first when he took a group of students, members of the IBI club, to visit the British High Commissioner, Mr Boyd McCleary, in KL. The High Commissioner told the students about his job, the role of his office and finished off by talking to them about the benefits of speaking English.

The IBI students then gave a slick Powerpoint presentation about the aims and objectives of the school's IBI Club (Intelligent Bahasa Inggeris. See earlier article about IBI).

The students were then shown a documentary on the plight of the Malaysian orang-utan after which they asked some very probing questions I'm told.

Before they left, the High Commission treated the students to a very nice morning tea.

Later the students visited the 'Eye on Malaysia' before heading back to school.

A more detailed report by Vance will appear in the next PROUD.

July Update

Such a lot has happened in the last month that it's difficult to know where to begin! Perhaps the best way would be chronologically. So, as the song says, let's start at the very beginning.

Firstly, I hope you all had a great holiday, whatever you did and wherever you went. I know it must seem a long time ago now and you are already well into this term.

The second weekend in June saw the 5th Asia TEFL & the 1st MILE Conference. Several of our staff gave presentations: Alison Lyall, Rob Clement, Ron Coveney, Mick Hughes, Mark Baldwin & Karen Halahan from Malaysia and Gavin Cowley from Brunei. Thanks also go to those who 'manned' the CfBT stand (see photo album). We had lots of visitors and it was a real opportunity to let people know just who we are and what we are doing in Malaysia. If you've been checking your e-mails, you would have seen the Star article and the picture of the ever popular Mick Hughes being 'swamped'. In case you missed it, here it is. Other presenters weren't so lucky with the press coverage but several did get mentioned in the article.

In June there were also two conferences in the UK to which several of our staff were invited. The first was a two day Primary Symposium, "Leading the Highly Effective School" which several of us attended, whilst others had meetings with senior people in the Reading office. This was followed by the "Making a Difference - Together" staff conference where Jeremy Bishop and Rebecca Hazell both gave a talk on their work in Malaysia. At both conferences we were able to meet people from other projects in the UK and from around the world, which gave us a better idea of what CfBT does on a global basis. We will tell you more about it at the Annual Conference , but in the meantime, if anybody would like more information, please feel free to contact us at the office.

Whilst in the UK we received the e-mail from CDC that informed us of the date change for the Annual Conference. You can imagine the panic that this caused! Only two weeks to go and we weren't in the office to let everybody know. Thank goodness for e-mails! The new date, as you now know, is the end of August. For those of you who had already made flight bookings, I would suggest that you wait a while before making any changes so as not incur any more extra charges than you already have. We will be in touch as soon as we can confirm the new date with any certainty.

The last thing that I would like to say is about the recent changes to the management structure for SE Asia. You should have all seen the e-mail from Andrew Caie by now, but in case you haven't, the main points are that he is now the Executive Director Malaysia and as such is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Malaysia office. Chris Bell will move to Malaysia full time soon and will be responsible for Business Development in SE Asia. These changes have been brought about in the main by changes in the CfBT Reading office and a response to last year's staff survey. Andrew is looking forward to catching up with everybody at the Annual Conference in August but has also said that you should feel free to contact him any time if the need arises.

OK, so the last paragraph was not the last thing I wanted to say. Obviously, many of you are anxious to know what is happening next year. I get many e-mails from you all and this question appears in some form or other in most of them. The short answer is, "I don't know." I can say that Andrew Caie and Chris Bell had a meeting with CDC recently and are currently endeavoring to arrange a meeting with the Secretary General. We are all hoping that something positive will come out of that meeting. And as I always say, "When we know something, you'll be the first to know."

Ron Coveney
INSETT Manager

Happy Holidays

It's that time of the year again when many of us take leave and enjoy a well deserved break. From the Leave Applications that we have received in the office, I know people are off to Thailand, Japan, Australia, UK and some of you are taking the opportunity to explore some interesting places within Malaysia itself. I wish you all the best and trust that you all come back safe and sound and suitably refreshed.

You will be receiving hard copies of the 'PROjects UpDates' soon along with the latest pay slips. We did e-mail it last time, but as many of you have problems with downloading and printing, and we have a nice new photocopier/printer in the office now, we can do hard copies for you. Please share it with your colleagues as it has lots of interesting reading in it about what we are doing. If you need a soft copy, please e-mail Jan and she can send it to you in pdf or Publisher format.

Several of our people are presenting, or are participants, at the 5th Asia TEFL/MELTA conference being held at the PWTC in KL this year, June 8th - 10th. So I would like to wish them well and hope that they have a fruitful time. CfBT also has a stand at the parallel 1st MILE (Malaysian International Language Exhibition) so might see you there.

We are also pretty busy in the office at the moment with preparations for the Annual MoE/CfBT conference to be held from 2nd - 4th July. It was originally planned for Port Dickson but I was informed yesterday by CDC that they have decided to make it The Legacy Hotel in Melaka now. Apparently the resorts in Port Dickson just aren't big enough for all of us! Looking forward to seeing you all there and having a fun time. E-mails and letters to your school/office will appear in due course.

I don't know if you've been following the Malaysian news of late, but there have been several articles about education in Malaysia, not the least of which was one about pay rises. Another really interesting article was about a two-day International Seminar on Teacher Education held at Seri Kembangan recently. At the end of the seminar the teachers said that they want "...teachers' training to be redefined and redesigned." One of the teachers who attended had this to say, "A lot of us have been talking about bringing back the art of teaching, the creative side of it, so we can make our classrooms livelier." I would say that this what all of us in the project have been trying to do. If you would like to read the full article, click here: 'Teachers want training...' . Today's editorial also makes interesting reading as it talks about teachers' working hours and how much work they have to do. Again, you can read the full article here: 'Stayingin class'.

As many of us from the office will be attending a conference in the UK in June, and taking a few days leave, I may not have the chance to post on the blog for a few weeks. So we'll see you in Melaka early July. Take care!

That Was The Week That Was

Several things of note have happened recently involving CfBT Malaysia staff.

There were two articles in the Star newspaper on Wednesday. One directly involving our staff and the other the family of one of our board members. The front page article was about the forthcoming marriage of Zara Salim Davidson, who is actually a grandniece of first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman and the daughter of Bill Davidson, who is the CfBT Malaysia lawer and one of our board members. For more information see the article on-line: Zara Salim Davidson will become Raja Puan Besar of Perak.

The second article "English lessons for rural students" is a follow-up to my previous posting about PIERS. The article shows Mohd Arif (aka Chris Bell) with Tunku Naquiyuddin at SK Undang Johol, one of the schools participating in Kuala Pilah, and gives some details about this particular PIERS project.


STOP PRESS


"Today I gave a demo class to the Education Ministers of Malaysia and Thailand, who I think were impressed and seemed very happy that PETs were doing such good work in schools. So their trip to SMAPK may be in the Star or NST tomorrow or Monday perhaps. Don't know if I shall be mentioned, but it doesn't matter, what is important is that he promised to help the school with some of the things we needed and I'm sure he will look on the continued relationship with CfBT with good heart. ... the theme of my lesson was "The Future:, and when I showed a picture of a UFO and asked the students what type of vehicle it was, the Minister piped up; "it's a space ship it's a space ship".

Everyone laughed at his energetic answer. Then, when they left, everyone laughed again when I told the Ministers they both had detention for sneaking out of the class.

A good day I think." Vance Carson

See also related article (Sorry Vance, the school got a mention but not you. But then there's always next time, eh?) re SM Alam Shah

Stop Press!

That got your attention! Now, just a couple of things to report/remind everybody about.

The Annual MoE/CfBT meeting is now set for July 2nd - 4th and will most probably be in Port Dickson. More news as it comes to hand.

Last week also saw the 'official' launch of our latest PIERS project in association with HSBC. Keep an eye on the local press for more details (I may be able to put an abridged version on the Blog in the next couple of days).

Next Year!! As Chris reported at the recent Zone Meeting, negotiations for new contracts have been started. We have had preliminary meetings with Schools' Division, CDC and Matriculation and are now waiting for them to respond to our budget proposals. Keep all those fingers crossed!

East Malaysia Visits Part III

We finally made it to KK! Jan to visit Rebecca at her School Sports Day practice and Ron off for a morning tour of the Papar district with Aelwyn. After a chat with the Papar PPD it was back to the hotel for a short break and to catch up with e-mails and then off for an afternoon with Alison in the SPA office.

After a relaxing week end we caught up with the Zone Meeting participants on Sunday afternoon, including the new PET, Chris Rogers and Gavin Cowley from the Brunei office. We had a nice dinner by the beach and then an early night in anticipation of a full day on Monday.

Monday saw us all together in the meeting room by 9AM for the beginning of a very productive one and a half days. No need to bore you with all the details, but it was good for everybody to hear what others were doing and had planned for the year. It was also very interesting to hear from Gavin about what's happening in Brunei and especially how their contract negotiations are progressing. Again, don't forget to check out the Photo Albums.

East Malaysia Visits Part II

Lawas & Limbang. That's Stan Austin's territory; and he wanted me to experience the journey between the two. The border between Sarawak and Temburong (Brunei) is not very far (see the map in Stan's photos if you are not familiar with this part of the country) but requires a river crossing and immigration checks in and out. Unfortunately for me, my Australian passport prompted an immediate reaction from the Bruneian immigration official who said I required a transit visa. No amount of cajoling would persuade him otherwise. Not having any Brunei dollars on me, I had to borrow some from Stan's wife, Anna. Obviously they don't issue too many because it took some time to get. And I had to get another one on the way back! Luckily we didn't have to wait very long for either ferry and so the journey to Limbang only took about 2 hours. Stan says it can take much longer some days when there are trucks waiting to cross the rivers. We had a nice seafood lunch by the river and then went to talk to the Limbang PPG. The journey back was pretty uneventful and I had a quiet evening. The next morning I caught up with the Lawas PPD who was in Limbang the previous day but who unfortunately was travelling back as we were travelling over, and so our paths crossed. And then I was off to Kota Kinabalu via Miri again on one of those little planes where you not only have to weigh your luggage, but yourself too.

Jan had a really good time with Stefan and even managed to get in some duty free shopping. Stefan and his family are really enjoying life on Labuan and find it quite a bit different to Terengganu. Stefan even shipped his car over to Labuan full of household effects! His classes are going very well too (again, see the photos).

Next stop: Kota Kinabalu.

East Malaysia Visits

As the plane finally came in to land at Kuching (after having aborted the landing once due to some pretty windy conditions), Jan & I wondered what was in store for us in the next 10 days. This was the third, and last, of our visits to PETs & ELCs in their schools & districts. The last couple of months had seen us driving all over Peninsular Malaysia visiting people and attending Zone Meetings. Now it was the turn of those in the states of Sarawak & Sabah. It was Sunday evening and Rob Clement and his wife, Kim, had kindly invited us to their home for dinner. We had a very pleasant dinner but had to call it a day reasonably early as we had an early start the next morning.

I was waiting outside the hotel at 6AM the next morning as we had a long drive to get to SK Sageng by 8:30 along some pretty rough roads. Rob was starting the ELP programme with this school which had been his control group during the earlier ELP programme. We had a wonderful time with the students and teachers who really appreciated the lessons (see the pictures in the Photo Albums). Then it was off to catch up with Scott Palmer in Sri Aman. We met Scott for lunch and then went back to his office for a chat about his training programme and how life was treating him in this pretty remote location. Then it was back on the road for the two and a half hours' drive home. Coming back into Kuching, we were diverted away from the hotel as there was a huge Chinese parade wending its way around the streets. It looked as if we'd never get to the hotel and so I elected to get out of the car and walk, thereby allowing Rob to turn around and get out of the traffic jam. I finally arrived back at the hotel at 7PM!

Jan on the other hand, had spent a fairly quiet day visiting Ian Martin, the new PET at SMS Kuching (replacing James Christie who had left at the end of March after completing his contract) who seems to be settling in well. He's already offered to reorganise their library for them!

The next leg of the journey was for Jan to head over to Labuan to visit Stefan Hayward and family and for me to find my way to Lawas to visit Stan Austin.

Southern/Central Zone Meeting

Kuantan is a great place to hold a zone meeting. The Vistana is a nice hotel and the staff were very helpful.
On the first night we went to Telok Chempadak and enjoyed the soft sea breezes as we ate a rather pleasant meal ordered by Rozanne.
Up the next morning and into the meeting rooms by 9 AM where everybody had a chance to share what they had been doing so far and their plans for this year. In the afternoon we met together for a Power point workshop and small teams produced some interesting presentations on the work they were doing.
The next morning we continued our discussions and finished off with a tele-conference with Andrew Caie & Chris Frankland in the KL office. After a photo shoot by the pool (see the Photo Albums) it was off home again or for a quiet weekend on the east coast.

Follow Up: Action Research at SMAPK

An annonymous poster asked for more information on the Action Research that was carried out by the English Department at SMAPK, Vance Carson's school. Obviously there is not room to include the whole presentation here but what I have done is convert the Power point slides to picture format and they can be found in the Photo Albums. Hope this is of some use to whoever you are. If you need any more information I'm sure Vance would be only too happy to help. Send me an e-mail and I'll pass the information on to him. Ron Coveney

More visitors and another round of visits

It has a busy time for the office this past couple of weeks. We've had the CfBT (UK) Chairman, John Harwood, and Richard Birkett, the number two man, out for a few days for some very important meetings. They also wanted to see some of our staff 'in action'.

I took John to Melaka to see Helen Campbell Pickford 'ELPing' one of her teachers in a relatively small rural school. Among other things, John learnt how to write letters in the air using his elbow. On the same day, Jan, Chris and Richard went to see Denise Boucher in class with some of her students and caught up with Fergus. See the Photo Albums for some more pictures of the day's activities...

One of those very important meetings that the chairman et al had, was with the Secretary General of Education, to brief him on what we (CfBT Malaysia) had been doing for the past four and a half years and present to him our 'blueprint' for the future, which was, I believe, well received. The UK people have now gone back to the UK but we here in KL will be following up this week with a meeting with the Director of Schools Division and next week with the new CDC Director. All in an effort to secure new contracts for next year. Keep your fingers crossed!

Jan and I have also been out of the office for a while, which you would know if you've tried to send us an e-mail, visiting most of the Southern and Central staff. Jan is currently in Kuantan catching up with Sue, George and Kristof ahead of the upcoming Zone Meeting. I have been driving all over the countryside catching up with Greg in Kulai, Andy in Mersing, Sami in Pekan and Mike in Tampin. Missed out on seeing William as he was training in Tioman and I wasn't up for the swim. I'll also be in Kuantan later this week for the all important Zone Meeting.

Sami and Helen are currently in Langkawi conducting a 'Genre Writing' course for Lower Secondary teachers, as part of our CDC commitment, and will be joining us in Kuantan later.

Ron Coveney
INSETT Project Manager

English in Camp: Malay College Kuala Kangsar 9-11 March

Over 50 schools were represented, with students from their respective English Clubs and teachers, and 10 Project English Teachers, most of whom were directly involved in leading activities. The first evening saw an ice-breaker session, and fable writing activity, led by John Harris. The camp was opened by En Abd Ghafar, Principal Asst Director of Residential Schools, attended by Che Sazlina, and Aidi, principals of some of the participating schools, and Chris Bell. The occasion was impressive, with an excellent choir from MCKK setting the tone with their inspiring rendition of “I Can Fly” Vance and Fergus, the dynamic duo, facilitated the morning activities, which centered around a tongue twister competition, in tents scattered around the rugby field. The “You are onn the Air!” activity unfortunately didn’t materialize, due to a technical hitch. Dinner for CfBT staff was off campus, allowing for a wider selection of refreshment, followed by the ubiquitous (do they ever sleep?) late session, a 10pm Diamante activity, led by Kristof. Despite the late hour, the students seemed to have no shortage of superlatives, ably assisted by Vance, sporting his favourite shirt. Sunday morning saw the Discovery Trail, for which Kuala Kangsar was eminently suitable; a jewel of a place. A well-organised, fun weekend for everyone. Thanks to all PETs who attended, participated, and worked hard to make it a success.

Next year may see a “real” camp, off campus, with the promise of GPS orienteering. Something to look forward to, indeed. For more photos, click here.

A week of Orientation, IBI and important meetings

This past week has been rather busy in the KL office.

We had an orientation for three new staff: Ian Martin, who will be going into SMS Kuching to replace James Christie, who leaves us at the end of March; two new ELCs, Pamela Gunton Hedge, who will be in Kubang Pasu, Kedah, and June Titheridge, who's going into Padang Tarap, Kedah. All three were very keen to get to their respective postings and left KL on Friday morning.

Wednesday was IBI launch day. And just what or who is IBI I hear you say? Well it's an initiative of our PET, Vance Carson, and the English teachers at SMAPK in Kajang. It stands for 'Intelligent Bahasa Inggeris' and it's a fun club for students in Forms 1-3. The members have 'cool' t-shirts and badges to wear and a clubroom with TV, DVD, Play-station, board games and even a drinks vending machine. Membership is restricted to 30 boys and 30 girls, at this stage, who meet on separate nights. Some mixed activities may take place under strict supervision. Look out for more details in the next Project Update.


The obligatory group photo! June and Pamela are in the front row, first and third from the left respectively. Vance is standing on the left and Ian is second from the right in the back row.

Also in the office this week was Professor John Stannard, CfBT Senior Consultant from the UK, who was here for meetings with our KL management team on how best to present our proposals to the MoE for 2008 contract renewals. Something I know many of you are keen to find out about. He's off to Brunei next week for a round of similar meetings.

So a lot has been happening both here in KL and around the country. Next week is school holidays and I know many of you will be taking a well earned rest. Take care and I look forward to catching up with some more of you when I visit later in the month. Check your e-mails next week for more details.

Ron Coveney
INSETT Project Manager

Here's the new approved logo

OK so this what you have all been waiting for!!!!!
After a lot of hard work and liason with CfBT UK, by Iki Kassim of our Business Development Team in Kl, this is it.

I know we sent you out a 'new' logo last year, but the above one is now the 'official' Malaysian CfBT logo. Please try and use it in all your training documentation. You can 'right click' it and 'save image as' to your computer.

Northern Visits & Zone Meeting

Chris F, Jan & Ron were out on the road last week visiting our Northern staff members. Chris & Ron visited ELCs while Jan caught up with the PETs. There were some classroom observations and chats to see how life was progressing in the north of the country, culminating with a Northern Zone meeting on the island of Langkawi.

Here are a few photos of people in action and......

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the whole group on the last morning.



Check out the Photo Albums link to see and download more photos.