Job Discussion Forums

Raonaid · Joined: 19 Mar 2009 Posts: 2

Hi all,

I'm thinking about moving to Malaysia (KL) at the end of this year. I'm a CELTA qualified teacher with one year experience teaching in a private language school in Istanbul. I have a few questions about ESL teaching in Malaysia, especially KL:

What are the teaching hours for ESL teachers in private language schools such as ELS and IH?

Do teachers get two consecutive days off every week and is it easy to go travelling on your days off?

How many holidays do teachers get?

Can a teacher on 2000 per month afford to go travelling around the country?

And lastly, is it possible to secure employment before moving?

Thanks a lot
Raonaid

Jati · Joined: 11 Mar 2008 Posts: 155

Raonaid · Joined: 19 Mar 2009 Posts: 2

Thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it. I do have a degree BA(hons) Communication Studies from Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh.

What is the cost of living like in KL? I'm particularly interested in the cost of rent/bills and food.

Thanks again

Raonaid

Jati · Joined: 11 Mar 2008 Posts: 155

Look through some of the other threads further down. There is price info from other posters in response to similar questions.

Rentals usually run in the RM1000-2000 range for both apartments and houses. Of course, if you can rent only a room (i.e., share a house with others), you can get this price down below 1000.

Food is quite cheap, but figure at least RM500 per month. If you like to eat out a lot (and most Malaysians do), then it depends upon whether you go for hawker/local food (cheap, RM5-20 per meal) or the franchise and upscale restaurants (RM10 up).

Cars are the other major issue. Car prices are equivalent to what is paid in the west and insurance can be a bit high also. I used a motorcycle for the four plus years that I lived in KL and I am still alive. A motorcycle solves three main issues: (1) price of petrol, (2) where do I park?, (3) how do I handle the near-constant traffic slow-downs?

Medical insurance is quite cheap especially if you are still young. Cheaper still are visits to the ubiquitous clinics. For example, I just paid for my once-every-two-year physical for my teaching permit and it was only RM80 which included a chest x-ray. Mostly, clinic visits run RM40-60 including common medicine.

Where did you get the idea that a salary would be around RM2000? Curious, because you should be able to get a figure higher than that, perhaps RM2,800-3,500.

If you are interested in teaching at an international school (junior- and senior-high school level) on the east coast, please PM me and I can give you the specific details. I know the owner/Principal of the school and he constantly asks me for referrals.