Job Discussion Forums

[travelgoddess]

My fiance and I are headed to KL in about 2 weeks time and have bee trying like mad to find online info about living and teaching in KL, but with few results.

Why are KL/Malaysian Eng teachers so quiet online? Enjoying life too much? Not internet savy? Not wanting to give away the best job secrets? None of the above? Very curious. I found an expat website for Malaysia, but its not helpful either. Hmmm.

If you live in KL and can spare some time, please provide any advice/leads on the following: (please post them here, not PM, cause then other folks wont hit as many of the same no info walls I am in the future.

1. Where is a good place to find temporary housing that isnt a long term hostel?

2. What online resources (if any) exist that can be checked for jobs available and longer term housing? Maybe even KL newspapers available online or classifieds papers.

3. When is the main hiring period and is it possible to get hired from overseas BUT not in your home country. For example; we are both US citizens but have been living in Asia for the past few years. Going home to the US to interview is not realy convenient or cost effective.

4. What is the usual process for getting a work permit? Does the school that hires you usually do the footwork, or do you?

5. What types of EFL jobs exist (language schools, university entrance programs, etc), any good place to look for these jobs (online or off), and what hours do teachers usually work in these types of jobs.

Thanks SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much,
Steph

[Henry_Cowell]

You don't find many English teachers online because there simply aren't very many non-Malaysian teachers of English in the country! The numbers are nowhere near those in Thailand and Indonesia. I think the main issue is the fact that Malaysia is a nation with English as one of its (unofficial) languages. It was, after all, a British colony until the mid-20th century. So there are very many qualified English teachers who are native Malaysians.

And from independence until the mid-1970s, English was the medium of education at most schools at most levels. This changed to an all-Malay policy that lasted until 2002, when the government woke up and mandated that science and math teaching be conducted in English.

There is a need for more English teachers in Malaysia. If the government doesn't train more of its own, then foreign teachers will become necessary. But it hasn't yet come to that.

[anyway]

I have watched the job boards pretty closely for several years. This is from one of the few ads I have ever seen for Malaysia (besides CfBT). The job description was standard (with housing, airfare, salary) and mentioned only one years experience and a ESL/EFL cert preferred. I hope this helps.

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor, Malaysia Tel: + 607-5531804, + 6017- 7420847 Fax: + 607-5566911 Email: [email protected]

[Mister Al]

You could try http://www.els.edu.my/

They have half a dozen schools in Malaysia including 3 around KL.

[sheikher]

If the Canadian press is to be believed, the Malaysian Ministry of Education intends to hire 14,000 English teachers by 2012.

http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/07/23/malaysia-halts-english-experiment/

[travelgoddess]

We are still in KL and whew, getting set up was a chore!

There are huge deposits for everything here from rent (3-1/2 months up front), internet, water delivery and more.

Then most jobs want a 2 year commitment and take 1-2 months to get a work permit, so it might actually be 2 years and 2 months here to get the full contract. Add to that the lower pay (compared to Vietnam and Japan, where we were before) and the not so great public transit, and our honeymoon period with KL is officially over.

But we moved here for a reason and are going to stay and see what happens when things settle down and we get into a routine, not to mention a first paycheck.

If anyone is thinking of moving to KL, feel free to hit me up with questions. This was not the easiest place in the world to get answers on due a lot of expats here are NOT English teachers, they are very well taken care of business people whose companies does most if not all of the setting up for them.

Steph

[Kana65]

It's true that Malaysia might take more to get set up compared to a place like Vietnam but that's because the standard of living is quite a bit higher here.

To anyone coming here, I would suggest if you cannot get in with an internatioanl school or a university hit all the language school in KL not just ELS but there are a number of others....The pay scale is lower but you may be able to negotiate a housing allowance and they will do the work permit for you.

There is a lot of available work in Kl doing corporate English training....You just have to go out and look for it.

Most language school like to have at least one or more native speaking expats on the payroll as they can then advertise they have this to offer.

A bit surprised to hear criticism of KL's public transport system....Next to Singapore it's the best I've come across in Southeast Asia

[travelgoddess]

[Kana65]

Well I would respond that....

1.) I've traveled through Southeast Asia and China and compared with most of the other countries in this region (except for Singapore), Malaysia has a very high standard of lving....In fact, there are many jobs Malaysians just won't do anymore which is why you have the influx of Bangladeshi, Indonesian workers etc....It reminds me of a similiar situationa in Southern California where I am from originally...In addition "The car place" you alluded to is another result of Malaysians (especially in KL let me be clear on that point) having a lot of disposable income....I'm not sure what you mean by scratch the surface and it's not except if you mean in the kampung areas outside the big cities which of course are less developed although it always surprising to me how many tin shacks have an Astro satellite dish and a big car parked out front.

2.) A lot of employers including the language school I was assistant director of a few year ago in KL will help with the intial move in costs....By the way, you mentioned three and half months deposit(?) Just to let you know I lived in three different places over the span of five and a half years as well as helped find housing for expats employed by my school and the usual I cam cross was 2 months deposit plus utilities.

3.) It depends where you live and what you expect but despite having a car I never drove to work I was fortunate enough to live near a train station and the employers I had were always fairly close as well....I don't consider KL a "car town" unless you are going to live in Puchong, Damansara or one of the other areas not immediately accessible by train....There are four different train lines counting the monorail and the Rapid KL bus service has improved greatly since its overhaul in early 2007.

4.) I made up my own company material and cold called a lot of companies with English training proposals....I am an English grad with TESOL but also have a business degree which helped....My first teaching position was as a corporate trainer but once I changed jobs and began teaching in a school I still kept up dong this....I found offers often came to me....For example, the father of one of my students offered me the chance to conduct a three month once aweek class for the employees of his business.... I also once attended one of those education fairs at Mid Valley and was asked to teach a class the following week on the spot. When I was doing my own training, it reached a point where I had to turn a lot of them down I just didn't have the time.

One point I would like to make about Malaysia is you can't do much outside of Malaysia, you really have to be here to get the ball rolling....It's not like Korea and Japan in that regard

A lot of the discussions on this site depend on your frame of reference....I don't compare Malaysia with the US (where I am from) but rather other countries in Southeast Asia but to each his own....I just think there's a lot of opportunity here and that has been my experience.

[travelgoddess]

well, we are going to have to agree to disagree on many of these points.


But mostly I thank you. Its good to have a discussion going on here about KL and Malaysia. Its also good to have different points of view shown about the place, to give some variety in experiences here.

So thanks. And I welcome more comments.

Steph

[mindweave]

I have been living and teaching in Malaysia for over two years now. I am an expat American with an MA, CELTA, eons of teaching and some management experience.

The experiences I can share and the ELT scene is very different than Thailand. As someone else mentioned, all the unis here are cranking out Masters Degrees in TESL for either local Malaysian or foreign international students. They have practically never heard of a CELTA most places, except for British Council & IH-Malaysia which is embedded on the campus of a private, entrepreneurial university. Personally, I would hire a fresh CELTA graduate over an MA in TESL anytime, but that is not the prevailing thinking in Malaysia. Besides, the locals work for less than half the salary of expats, and do not expect housing and transport benefits.

There is a huge marketing machine soliciting students from the Middle East, in particular, because this is considered a safe Islamic country where Muslim women can study. We do get our Koreans and Chinese, and the occasional Vietnamese or Russian, but the others come from Muslim countries: Saudi, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Kazakstan, Kuwait, Palestine, Turkey and the like as well as a sprinkling of others. The Africa market is growing, too, mostly for pre-university English programs in English-medium Malaysian universities, which are a good bargain for the buck. Many of the Middle Easterners demand native-speaker teachers, thus there are some jobs, but here Singaporeans and Indians and even Philipinos are considered native, not just those from Anglophile countries.

The pay is really low, even compared to Thailand, unless you work your way up into an ADOS or DOS position. The lifestyle is fairly cheap- i.e. housing, petrol (gas) but if you have kids, international school tuition costs more than good private schools in the USA.

So, its a mixed bag. In terms of culture, the national past-time is going to shopping malls and eating big feasts, but if you want to save money and put something away, Malaysia is not the place to teach.

Expats are unlikely to stay, unless they are either Muslim or marry a local Malaysian. Recuriting is a revolving door, and most people do not even finish out their one year contracts. That said, Malaysia would be a nice place to retire, if you no longer needed to work!

[MsDooLittle]

I was offered a job by IH Malaysia at the aforementioned private uni a few years back. I was passing through so decided to check out the location - which was why they offered the job on the spot.

I decided against it for various reasons. Its a fantastic uni with excellent space and facilities for teaching, and the students seemed sweet (if a little spoiled.) But the campus is a long way from anywhere - a day's return journey from KL with nothing of interest in the vicinity. The accommodation for teachers is a bus ride away (in the opposite direction from KL.) The contract was for a six day working week and the pay was lousy. Survival only. So.... figuring I would have hardly any time outside of the uber modern uni building, would be spending a lot of time on buses and trains then to get anywhere.... it wasn't an appealing offer.

Malaysia is a beautiful country but a very different atmosphere from it's neighbours. Slightly.... cold and uptight, IMHO. That was just my feeling. Doesn't appeal to me. But for some it does.... each to his own!