BRIGHTON EDUCATION VISITS THE ORANG ASLI

One early morning in April, Lynnette, Margaret and Randy from the Kulai Cluster set off with Haji Hamzur and the Kulai DLO, Puan Saerah to visit an actual Orang Asli School. We were so excited to be going to meet these indigenous people of Malaysia The Orang Asli community is Malaysia’s indigenous people, the earliest settlers here who are still dependent on land for livelihood. They grow palms and fruit and hunt on this land. The name is a Malay term which translates as original or ‘first people’. After a rather amusing haphazard start – what, with Haji Hamzur losing his way, Margaret losing her keys and Randy nearly losing his knapsack with his computer, we finally set off some two hours late. We turned off the main road after what seemed an eternity of impatient time at a sign that said Sayong Pinang Felda School. A felda. is a settlement area growing, in this case, palms. We drove on a narrow sometimes asphalt road. Silent palms lined our way linking branches over head. An awesome tunnel of green! Patterns of green shade and dappled sunlight sparkled at us on our way deep into the damp plantation. Ah, this was the Malaysia that hinted of things unknown, more like the adventure into what we hoped we would find in Malaysia. Dodging holes and fruit from the palms that lined our way, we fell into a hushed anticipation. After 15 minutes of driving past rows and rows of cool palm trees, we found the village, nestled beneath tall Durian and Rambutan trees, with small wooden houses perched on low stilts and small brick homes neatly hugging the road. Parents and students shyly came out of the little school to greet us – peering at these foreigners who had come their way. Students a small group of fifty or so ranging in age from about 4 to 14 awaited our expertise!!! After 3 three hours of literally pulling out all our edutainment experience we sank back into the car exhausted and exhilarated. The three of us – all from the southern part of Africa declared that this was indeed what we had hoped to encounter when we decided to teach in Malaysia. Thinking back though, to stories of snakes and other beasties that live out there along with the ripe smell of Durian, I, for one was a little more content to see the more modern town of Kulai. We were invited to return for another adventure and test of our creative imagination and we really look forward to going back to the Orang Asli School amidst the palms. Pictures to follow our adventure real soon. Watch this space - Lynn.

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Remember - Stay true to yourself and always be awesome!

The Kulai Cluster.

CPD @ PPD - 15 March 2014

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Brighton English Language Professional! My new title, mixed with excitement and uncertainty.

The cogs turned slowly as we arrived at KLIA near to midnight and yet wide awake. The taxi driver tried his best to introduce Malaysia in a candid manner and as much as I needed to rest before the next busy day, I had to listen to his description of Melaka and The Cameron Highlands with awe.

We had a very interesting weekend in Serembam. After a very delightful meet and greet with Gary Thorburn and Marshall Brewin, we immediately dived into formalities from the new-ish company car and my trip the following day to Kulaijaya.

Everything was as if I was on a super roller coaster ride and I'm still to some extent catching my breath. My family and I immersed ourselves into Malaysia from the semi-detached housing to showering in cold water...Wow!

After being here for a short while, I discovered that Malaysia is quite possibly one of the nicest countries to live and work in. I am very excited for the future and for the TELL 2 project.

Welcome

Welcome to the TELL 2(Teaching English Language Literacy - Phase two) and the Kulaijaya Cluster! We are Madam Lynn Vince-Jillings ELC (Zimbabwe/Rhodesia), with a wealth of experience from Nepal and South East Asia, Madam Margaret Ross ELP (Port Elizabeth, South Africa) a Qualified Elementary Teacher with years of experience to share and Mr Randall A Kleinbooi ELP (Cape Town, South Africa) with a background in South Korea and Saudi Arabia. With a whirlwind start to our little corner in Malaysia, it's funny how it happened that three very differently-crazy people ended up working together. It works surprisingly well. We sometimes talk to ourselves because we need to consult expert opinions and led by our main pilot, Lynn, flying us through this experience as Mentors. We got the wheels rolling slowly at first and later(withing two weeks) discovered that by helping each other and being supportive actually had us co-working with each other and our Malaysian teachers smoothly with minor hiccups as with any nation wide endeavor like the TELL 2 project. We managed to see and experience quite a few interesting events which we will enlighten you more on later. Please check this space as we are updating rapidly. Be true to yourself and always be awesome!