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