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.