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Opportunities exist for enthusiastic English Language Teacher trainers to share their skills and help teachers in Malaysia to not just improve their English, but also their confidence and ability to teach children good quality communicative English.  This is a three year project which will provide abundant opportunities to develop teaching skills, to learn from local teachers and contribute much to the aspirations of the Malaysian People to become a developed nation in their 2020 plan.  
Background
 
The Malaysian Ministry of Education is determined to improve the level of English competency amongst its population and has initiated a programme where Teachers of English who have native English competency will work alongside Malaysian teachers to help them with methodology and to improve their personal language ability.
 
This will be achieved by trainers being allocated responsibility for five schools located close to each other.  They will work alongside the teachers who teach English to Primary 1, 2 and 3 classes.  In Malaysia children start Primary 1 at 7 years of age.  Some children may have had exposure to English in Kindergarten, but many, particularly in rural areas may not have had that opportunity.
 
Resources
 
All trainers will be provided with templates of training materials which they will share with the primary school teachers.  Examples of subjects covered are storytelling, flash cards, phonics, functional language, grammar in context etc.
 
Roles
 
Trainers: Responsible for mentoring and training teachers of children from year 1 to 3 in five different schools.
Team Leaders: In addition to being responsible for their own five schools, they will also mentor and assist with the training of the trainers so that we can deliver a consistent training package to all the teachers.
All trainers will monitor teachers, help with methodology and conduct training sessions to teach communicative language to the children.  In addition they will also help the teachers improve their personal communication skills and increase their confidence in using English.  
Requirements
 
All applicants should be in possession of a full car driving licence.  In addition:
 
Trainers: First Degree with three years teaching experience.  CELTA or equivalent.
(Preference will be given to candidates who have a primary teaching background and those who have overseas experience) 
Team Leaders: First Degree with five years teaching experience.  DELTA or equivalent.
(Preference will be given to candidates who have a Masters degree in a related field and have proven experience in teacher training)
Malaysia
 
Malaysia is located in South East Asia and enjoys a tropical climate which essentially means that the temperature is fairly constant all year round (average 27^oC) and the only variation is the intensity and how long the rain will fall.  The country is made up of three main nationalities being  Malay (60%), Chinese (30%) and Indian (10%).  In addition there are indigenous groups of people who live in communities mainly in rural areas of Malaysia.
 
The people of Malaysia enjoy a high standard of living with easy access to modern technology and most enjoy a comfortable lifestyle with their own home and at least one car in the family.  The national religion of Malaysia is Islam and whilst the moral values and Spiritual practices of the people are in line with the practices of the faith, there is great tolerance and acceptance of other religions and beliefs and there are not as many restrictions either for those practicing Islam or especially those outside Islam as there are in other more ‘fundamental’ countries.
 
Living Conditions

The cost of living in Malaysia is relatively low compared with European countries (Approximate exchange rate is £1 = RM5 or US$1 = RM3).  For example, petrol is RM1.85 per litre, a very decent sized family house can be rented for under RM1,000 per month or for smaller more bijou places suitable for singles or couples without children around RM500.  Eating out can be as much of a variety as the population with high class western style hotels or incredibly cheap local eateries that abound everywhere you go.
 
Malaysia has incredible natural resources with ample opportunities for adventure such as jungle trekking, coral reef diving along with modern recreational facilities such as resorts, luxury hotels, spas, theme parks and places to simply chill.  The larger urban areas of Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh have a significant number of clubs, bars and restaurants to frequent, though in more rural areas there are no pubs or bars selling alcohol, just your local coffee shops where locals gather in abundance to chat and solve all the problems of the world over a cup of coffee and toast.
 
For this particular project all participants will be allocated to schools within an area which is located Kuala Lumpur to all states on the west side of the Peninsular north to the border with Thailand.  This gives access to popular tourist attractions such as Penang Island, Langkawi, Genting Highlands, Cameron Highlands, the cities of Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur and much much more.

For the stay at home types there is access to Astro Satellite TV which provides numerous programmes in English, Malay, Chinese, Tamil and a limited Japanese, Arabic and Korean service.  The recent HD broadcasts provide excellent quality viewing, particularly for sports and several film channels.  In addition High Speed Broadband is available throughout the country and so access to the internet is commonplace.

Married trainers are encouraged to bring their spouse and children, though opportunities for the spouse to find employment may be limited depending upon the location of your posting and the requirements for work permits. Located within the urban areas are numerous private and international schools where children can enroll and for smaller children there is a plethora of local kindergartens which operate in English, Malay or Chinese.  Children can also be enrolled into local National Schools, though it must be stressed that the main teaching medium in these schools is Malay and the qualifications acquired are not recognized outside of Malaysia.

Please be aware that Malaysian law does not recognize same sex partnerships and so it would be impossible for us to arrange residence visas for same sex partners.

Remuneration

This is a medium term project which is contracted to be completed in three years.  All participants will be encouraged to stay for the duration of the contract but participants and the company reserve the right to terminate employment after completion of one year’s service.

All participants on the project will be given a car for company and personal use, a laptop computer and hand phone with a usage allowance.  Free medical health insurance and housing allowance to cover the rent of local accommodation.  All will be given air fares to come to Malaysia and a return airfare on termination of employment with the project.  In addition we will provide a single airfare for the spouse and a return airfare for the spouse if the trainer completes the full three year project.

 
All will be expected to pay local income tax which for long term contracts such as this work out at around 12% of income.  Salaries will be allocated as follows:
 
Team Leaders:  From RM9,000 to RM10,500 depending upon qualifications and experience.
Trainers:           From RM7,500 to RM9,000 depending upon qualifications and experience.

A bonus of 10% of the salary will be paid after each year’s completion of service.

A review of salaries will be conducted with annual increments added for those participating in the second and third year of the project.

What Next?
 
If you are interested in applying for any of these positions please send a resume (e-mail address) along with a photograph of yourself that is not more than 6 months old along with the names and contact details of two referees.  Applications will be assessed and those considered suitable will be contacted by e-mail and a subsequent interview will be arranged using Skype.
 
Please also state in your application which post you are applying for, either Team Leader, Teacher Trainer of either position and state the first date you will be available to commence work.  The majority of the trainers will probably start on or around 10th January 2011, though some of the Team leaders will be requested to come earlier to finalise the training materials and assist with the settling in of teachers.