Month: September 2017

It was student review and reflection time again this week – one of my least favourite times of the term – where pupils reflect on their progress, fill in a form, and then take it home for their parents to sign.  I don’t like it because, in my experience, young children are incapable of reflecting…

  Names in Malaysia are an endless source of confusion and/or amusement. Could anyone blame me for constantly confusing the two girls in the same class call Ya Jing and Ja Ying?  Or for not realising that a child with two names is usually known by both of them and not just one?  Do they…

The number of public holidays here is truly insane.  If you’re used to the English system of three Bank Holiday Mondays a year – and be grateful for them – then the Malaysian system is a real eye-opener. For a start, there are three main ethnic groups, so there are holidays for Islamic, Chinese and…

After writing my rather smug little blog post yesterday about how easy it is to pick up Bahasa, I noticed that I had received a Facebook message from my local area’s Facebook page.  Glancing at it, I saw the name of my condo – Villa Flora – so I read it more closely. Now, I…

Well, after nearly 8 months in Malaysia, my Bahasa is coming on a treat – and without a single lesson, I’d like to add.  It seems that we talented linguists simply soak up the language effortlessly. So when I came across this fiendishly difficult quiz, I simply had to have a go, and of course…

Have gone native and been living in the jungle for a few days. Directions to find our particular patch of jungle were along the lines of … turn left at the stream – cross the waterfall – Then turn right at the fourth passionfruit tree – and suddenly we’d arrived. Our hut is just behind…