Job Discussion Forums

[SlammaBama]

For those of us hoping to enter the MoE mentoring programs in Malaysia soon, thanks to those of you who've been posting information about the positions in other threads. Do you have any sincere words of advice that you might offer to us as we hopefully take up the posts?

[lynne2787]

I'd also be interested in any information or advice anyone could give.

SlammaBama, out of curiosity. Who are you applying with?

[DeanP]

Be flexible. Expect to be surprised often - positively and negatively. Learn a few words and phrases in Malay. When first getting to know teachers, listen more than you talk.

Without knowing anything about you, it's hard to give other advice. You can PM me if you want more specific suggestions.

[prock67]

Ease into it by getting to know your teachers, trying to be non-threatening, and doing anything you can think of to get them to like and trust you.

Don't be aggressively bossy or demanding. Kill them with kindness. It might feel like nothing is happening at first, but it will pay off later.

[SlammaBama]

Thanks all for the advice. DP, I have PM'd you as suggested, and I appreciate the offer. I appreciate the insights you all have offered. -SB

[randall020105]

Hi everyone,

Did anyone start yet? As the heading states, how are newbies faring?

I'm still waiting on the Malaysian Education Department to offer final approval.

Any words of advice? Anyone?

Regards,

R.

[the princess bride]

I have 2 questions, if anyone can help out:

Does anyone have experience with the British Council in particular? Pros/cons

Are there any materials that would be advisable to bring in advance?

Thank you!

[2m01z]

[rebelgirl82]

I'm heading out to Malaysia for the mentoring program on Wednesday and have some SECOND HAND information to share from two good friends who worked in the MOE project for two years.

Without boring with details, both of these are good friends of mine, with no motive to lie to me and I would trust both of them fully not to put me wrong. One I have known for over 8 years since university, and another I worked with in Korea for three years.

According to them, these are the disadvantages:

It can be very chaotic and disorganised and you may be left to just work on your own without much guidance - so whether you can deal with this depends a lot on your personality

The tax is huge for the first six months at 26% however they were able to get this back and also claim other things back. Also said there are also ways around only being able to leave the country for 14 days without losing residency but I didn't get the details on that, deciding to cross that bridge closer to the time.

The location can be really crap. One was in the state of Terengganu which is quite conservatively Muslim and he hated it. However, he is in the state of Pahang this time around and likes it much more. The other was on Borneo and even though it was remote it suited him and he was happy there.

The culture has some quirks that can be difficult to adjust to (which goes for just about any move to a new country IMO)

Some of the teachers are very resentful of having younger, western mentors coming in to tell them what they are doing wrong, especially the older teachers

Then the advantages:
The wages enabled them to save quite a big amount of money by the end of two years and still have a very comfortable standard of living

The holiday time enabled them to travel quite extensively

The workload is not heavy and once you get into the swing of things becomes very manageable

Malaysia itself is a beautiful country in parts with lots of places worth travelling to during weekends and public holidays

Their main advice was that a lot of it depends on your personality, whether you enjoy being outside of your comfort zone and also on whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages for you personally.

One of them has re-signed which I think says a lot about his experience, and the other moved back to the UK because he and his wife had a baby and wanted to be close to their family. Otherwise he would have continued on as well.

Oh and one worked for Brighton and the other for British Council. No major complaints from either.

[2m01z]

[ltroshinsky]

Has anyone brought their pet along with them to a teaching or mentoring gig in Malaysia?