Modern English Brings International Quality Teaching To Areas Away From Central Kuala Lumpur

Modern English recently held a press conference in its centre at Bandar Puteri Puchong. Founded in 2011 by Steve Holloway and his wife, Angie. Steve, the Principal, they gave a brief history about Modern English, their teaching beliefs, current activities and future direction. Their first centre was located in Taman SEA, Petaling Jaya in 1999. They passed it over to a former colleague of theirs in 2010, and she continues to run its operations. The key concept of Modern English Puchong is to bring international quality teaching to areas away from central Kuala Lumpur. Steve, a former Business Development Manager for the British Council, Kuala Lumpur, believes Modern English combines the best aspects of the British Council with a more open customer focus. “I learnt a lot while working at the British Council,” said Steve. “However, even though their language centre has customers, it isn’t strictly a business.” Steve went on to explain that what sets Modern English apart is their customer focus. “We have an open-door policy,” he added. “Parents can come and talk to us freely at any time during the year.” The teachers from Modern English are a mixture of both native speakers and local Malaysians. “Great English teachers can be of any nationality or background,” explained Eddie Lim, director of the new Modern English branch in Kota Kemuning. “What we do insist on, of course, is native-speaker level English, and a globally-recognised teaching qualification.” Mr Holloway announced both short-term and medium-term programmes to look out for. At the end of November, both centres will be running holiday programmes for children. Entitled The English Games, the first programme (from 25 to 29 November) will cover the four main skills as well as a grammar review – using games as the focus. There will be no formal work during this programme, students will learn through a continual stream of grammar and vocabulary games, role play, quizzes and many other fun activities. “The emphasis is simply on having a good time,” offered Mr Lim. “At the end of a long academic year, both students and teachers deserve a little bit of fun. But the beauty of this course is that they will learn while playing.” The course will run from Monday to Friday, 10 am to 3.30 pm. In December, there will be a one-week workshop in the Puchong centre for students making the jump from government primary school to international secondary school. Focusing specifically at those going into an IGCSE-based curriculum, this course will help prepare students for their new school curriculum. “The number of students making this switch from primary to secondary is huge,” explained Mr Holloway. “Unfortunately, for many students, the first year can be traumatic as they try to catch up to those who have been in that system for many years. This course will give a little insight into and prepare the child for the reading and writing tasks awaiting them even in their first year of secondary school.” The course will look at five genres of writing: - Fiction suspense stories, adventure stories and science-fiction - Non-fiction news reports and biographies “These genres form a key part of the IGCSE English syllabus, for both First and Second Language exams,” Steve added. “This course will give them a good level of exposure to both reading comprehension questions and the writing tasks that form the basis of Years 7 and 8.” This workshop will only be available in the Puchong centre from Monday 2 December to Friday 6 December.