October 2013
from the
Country Manager
Greg Keaney
[email protected]
Thank you to everyone who came to our
inaugural Annual Employees Meeting
on Thursday 26 September. It was
wonderful to share news of the CfBT
project in Brunei and our work around
the world with so many of our employee
stakeholders.
The highlight of the evening was a
‘Spotlight’ movie on a small selection of
our outstanding employees. One of the
many features that makes working for
CfBT Brunei such a pleasure is the
amazing number of amazing people
who just keep on keeping on doing
amazing things. It was truly difficult to
cull the number of employees who were
selected to be in the 2013 ‘Spotlight’.
My congratulations and thanks to all
who appear and to all those who took
the time to nominate colleagues. The
refreshments at the end of the evening
proved a fine chance to get to know
other CfBT colleagues from around the
country. With 330 employees and 20 - 30
new people per year there is always a
wonderful mix of new and familiar faces
at these kinds of events.
One of the key points made at the AEM
is that CfBT, as the world’s largest not
for profit education consultancy, is a
unique organisation. Our work in Brunei
is linked to cutting edge educational
reform and improvement work in over
80 countries and I hope that we can be
increasingly ‘linked in’ to this. All of us
here work in an (occasionally stressful)
multilingual, multicultural environment
that provides us with the opportunity to
develop THE essential international
skill of being able to work effectively
with values, attitudes and mind-sets
different to one’s own.
The AEM stated that CfBT Brunei runs
the world’s largest and longest running
international Public - Private Partnership
in national English Language educational
improvement. We have 300 English
language teachers, trainers, mentors
and managers stationed in more than
75% of Brunei’s schools and working
with more than 90% of Brunei’s school
age learners. The partnership has been
operating since 1984. We also provide
teachers for other schools in Brunei,
operate an internationally accredited
examinations centre and provide
corporate and communications training.
October 2013
1
The meeting reviewed the main contract
and other obligations of CfBT including
our Key Performance Indicator to fill a
minimum of 80% of contracted positions
(average performance 97%). It looked
ahead to 2014 and our hosting of an
international seminar, an Action Research
Programme, a suite of regular reports
on student achievement within each
school and an annual plan for academic
based activities for each school, including
specific extra-curricular activities and
plans for major academic based projects,
reaching each child in the school, mapped
against essential skills within SPN21.
In addition some of CfBT’s many added
value activities, additional commitments
and corporate social responsibility spend
were described.
Between now and the end of the year
significant changes will be taking place
in our IT and technical support. The
long awaited improved email service
will have: an enhanced user interface
(drag and drop, categorise, flag, rules,
etc.), visual improvements (clearer,
larger type face, adjustable reading
pane), App integration (for LinkedIn,
Facebook and Twitter, to name a few),
prompts to attach a forgotten file when
clicking send (when an attachment has
been mentioned in the email body),
Conversation view (to see all related
messages in one place), Increased
user storage space from 1Gb to 25Gb
and the ability to use email clients such
as Microsoft Office for Windows or Mac
for all staff.
Phase two will see the roll out of a
company Intranet giving teaching staff
access to the company Intranet from
any PC, tablet or smartphone. This
intranet will form a number of internal
departmental sites, including a
“Resources Sharing” site. Company
updates and announcements will be
published here, as well as on our
Facebook and Twitter accounts.
In addition there will be integrated
access to email, files, resources and
communications with a Single Sign On
experience (login once to access all
services). In order to ensure maximum
use of file swapping and resource sharing
CfBT will provide a free copy of Microsoft
Office 2013 Professional for Windows
or Microsoft Office 2011 Professional
for every member of staff, which will
allow Microsoft Office to be installed on
up to 5 personal computers. This will
ensure that all members of staff are
utilising the same software and ensure
comparability across the project.
Many thanks to Will Lobb and Kevin
Hong for being able to bring about such
outstanding IT benefits to employees
on a limited IT budget.
Finally the meeting reviewed the design
principles for the global organisational
restructure that will be announced on
15 October. These will include having
a strategy for defining team size,
management positions and spans of
control; minimising levels of hierarchy
within CfBT; clearly defining roles and
accountabilities; building organisational
resilience by reducing reliance on key
individuals; having a clearly defined
CfBT culture and vision which is aligned
with our strategy and promoted and
shared by everyone in the organisation;
having a defined talent management
strategy and being incentivised based
on individual, team and organisational
performance. More details will be available
by email and in the next edition of the
newsletter.
For those who live in other districts, we
will also be holding ‘regional’ meetings
in Kuala Belait and Temburong later
this month. Please check your email for
details.
Enjoy your holidays.
Notarial Acts for British Nationals
The British High Commission in Brunei has informed CfBT officially that:
(i) as Brunei Darussalam is a member of the Commonwealth,
(ii) the British High Commission in Brunei is not permitted to perform
Notarial Acts, such as Statutory Declarations.
Therefore:
(iii) Persons requiring notarial work or legalising of documents should
apply to the Notary Public services at the Brunei High Court and not
to the British High Commission.
For your information the Brunei High Court is located at Km 1½ Jalan Tutong
in Bandar Seri Begawan.
Google Map reference 4.890883, 114.933975 / +4° 53' 27.18", +114° 56'
2.31"
As far as CfBT is aware other embassies and consulates do allow for the
notarising of documents.
2
October 2013
Farewell to James Douglas
Return of Sue Trpčić
James Douglas the CfBT Asia director is leaving CfBT in
October after five years with us. James is returning to Spain
with his family.
I am delighted to announce that Sue Trpčić will be returning
to her role as Senior Education Project Manager (Secondary)
from mid-October. Sue has been on a six month secondment
to CfBT Abu Dhabi where she implemented and supported
a nationwide CLIL project titled ‘Action for Excellence - New
School Model English Language’. Sue was officially the
Programme Director - Readiness Assessment English.
James played a crucial part in reforming CfBT Brunei and
working to expand CfBT’s work throughout Asia. In his role
as Asia director James has helped positioned CfBT favourably
with governments and clients in Brunei and Malaysia. He has
also further developed our strong partnerships with
organisations such as Oxford University and the World Bank;
and worked tirelessly to promote CfBT's vision and values
internally and externally to strengthen our strongly positive
reputation in the region.
James says: "I have immensely enjoyed working with CfBT.
I am proud of the excellent work our teams in Asia carry out
on a daily basis, and honoured to have played a part in
strengthening our position in the region."
James has been a great asset to CfBT and will be sorely
missed by colleagues. We all wish James and his family the
very best for the future.
In Abu Dhabi Sue was responsible for surveying professional
development needs of Emirati teachers; providing New
School Model English Language professional development
(something akin to our SPN21 reforms) and assisting teachers
to develop and consolidate their own professional development
portfolio. Our Brunei work in CLIL; QuILTs, Peer Coaching,
the GROW model, Performance Review Management and
SMART targets all guided the project in Abu Dhabi.
Education Project Managers Sam Nagorcka and Robyn Elmi
recently spent 10 days working with Sue on the project. Both
Robyn and Sam were delighted to be able to work with Sue
and appreciated the wonderful opportunity to share skills and
knowledge from the Brunei setting in a very different education
system and culture.
Welcome ‘home’ Sue!
James and friend.
October 2013
3
from the
HR Department
Head - Excellent Performance
Tracey Packer
[email protected]
This month we welcomed our last intake of 2013 which will
allow us to prepare for our largest group of new teachers in
January. We are currently expecting 32 new teachers to join us.
Please look out for and welcome new secondary teachers
Heidi Ombler (Tutong), Alison MacDonald (KB), and Michelle
Bobb (BSB) and primary teachers Irfan Rahman (BSB),
Tracy Wigzell (Tutong) and Jermaine Francis (BSB).
During October we are getting ready to farewell our leaving
teachers on the 18 October at 2.30pm the leavers briefing
will take place followed by a high tea. The contract signing
deadline is 12 October 2013. If we have not received your
signed contract by that date we will assume that you intend
to depart and will add your position to the number of vacancies
that need to be filled.
from the
In addition, we have had to face the fact that Bet Taylor will
not be coming back to Brunei as we had hoped. Her hard
work and dedication to a caring and thoughtful approach to
welfare support will be dearly missed. Please check your
inboxes for my email about Bet’s departure and if you would
like to add your farewell wishes to many others who have
replied to the email please do so. I will be sending them on to
Bet next week.
Another year is wrapping up, I hope it has been a satisfying
and successful one for you. I had the great pleasure of putting
together a slide presentation of employees nominated for
hard work and achievement during 2013. It was so wonderful
to sift through pictures that depict such wonderful work that
is going on in all parts of the organization. I’ve also enjoyed
posting to our new Facebook page please keep any suggested
posts coming in. I would like the Facebook page to be an
easy reference and information board for all employees so if
there is something going on is school or the office that you
would like your colleagues to hear about please get in touch.
IT Department
• Increased user storage space from 1Gb to 25Gb
• The ability to use email clients such as Microsoft Office
for Windows or Mac
Will Lobb
[email protected]
Staff Communications Upgrade
In the first stage of our communications upgrade, we will be
improving the email services offered to all staff. You will see a
number of enhancements with the new email service, including:
• Improved user interface for webmail (drag and drop,
categorise, flag, rules, etc.)
• Vast visual improvements (clearer, larger type face,
adjustable reading pane)
• App integration (for LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter to
name a few)
• Prompts to attach a forgotten file when clicking send
(when an attachment has been mentioned in the email
body)
• Conversation view (to see all related messages in
one place)
4
October 2013
These are just a few of the many advantages that the new
email system will bring. All of your current emails are in the
process of being migrated to the new servers in a staged
process. Once switch over to the new system takes place,
you may notice a small number of messages that are missing.
These messages will appear either later that day or the next
day.
We will be migrating to new email servers to improve on the
efficiency of communications between staff. Following on
from the email service upgrade, the second stage of the Staff
Communications Upgrade will be a SharePoint upgrade.
Later this year a Resources Sharing site will be set up based
on the Microsoft SharePoint platform. I have already received
requests from staff that are interested in knowing more about
this project and who would like to have some input into how
the system will be designed. If you would like to know more
or to join a knowledge sharing session later this year, please
get in touch.
Senior Education
Project Managers
from the
them feel welcome and show them the
ropes so they are fully prepared for the
new school year in January.
Dave Laming
[email protected]
Alisa Gin
[email protected]
Welcome to Term 4, we hope you
enjoyed the rearranged break.
We are pleased to confirm that two OCs
saw 6 new teachers arrive recently.
The three primary teachers and their
schools are Irfan Rahman teaching at
SR Mata-Mata, Jermaine Francis,
teaching at SR Amar Pahlawan, and
Tracy Wigzell, teaching at SR Sengkarai.
The three secondary teachers and their
schools are Heidi Ombler, teaching at
SM Tanjong Maya, Allison MacDonald,
teaching at SM Perdana Wazir, and
Michelle Bobb, teaching at PTEK. We
wish them well in their new positions,
and we are sure that you will make
Both groups will continue to trial the
recently developed induction and
mentoring programme. We are looking
forward to receiving their feedback so
that future versions of this initiative can
be improved. Many thanks to Sam
Nargorcka and Lisa Cameron for their
drive and determination in making this
happen.
We are delighted to welcome back our
very own Sue Trpčić who has successfully
completed her project with ADEC in
Abu Dhabi. Her return coincides with
the Education Department’s planning
day and means that all secondary
teachers will now receive the traditional
high levels of individual support. Teachers
will be advised as to who their EPM is
as soon as this is confirmed.
Recent press coverage has clearly
indicated the extent to which CfBT
teachers are making a contribution to
educational developments in Brunei in
numerous ways. These include the
Sixth Form Wordplay competition, the
launch of the Story Time radio
programme, Teachers Day events and
the various district level birthday
celebrations for His Majesty. In addition
the teacher spotlights at the Annual
Employees Meeting highlight the wide
range of high level professional work
being undertaken by over 70 of our
teachers. The fact that EPMS could
have easily identified 70 more just goes
to reinforce this point. As a result of
these activities, it is easy to understand
how proud Greg feels when presenting
CfBT Brunei accomplishments to the
board in the UK and the MoE.
October 2013
5
from the
Alisa Gin
[email protected]
Education Department
Mandy Woods
[email protected]
Primary
Term 3 is over, and we are entering the final term for this
year!
We were thrilled to be invited to help showcase the TIARA
programme at the ICC for Teacher’s Day this year. John
Thorpe did a marvellous job in assisting with the setting up
and ‘manning’ of the booth, working alongside JSS officers.
It was a great opportunity to display Year 1 programme and
student work, Primary CLIL and Magic Moments in Primary.
The Year 4 programme is almost complete and work has
begun on editing Units 1 and 2. These will be ready for you
from the beginning of next year. We have also begun the
editing of the Year 3 programme, with Neil Alexander working
on the simplification of the shared reading texts.
The filming for Magic Moments in Pre School and the Learning
Support SiG is now completed. Many thanks to all the teachers
and students who were involved with these two projects. The
filming process requires lots of patience and persistence,
plenty of which the Pra and Year 1 students amazingly had!
The CfBT Media Unit have captured some great footage and
are currently in the process of editing the clips. Watch this space!
6
October 2013
All MoE/CfBT professional development workshops have
been completed for this year. Many thanks to the facilitators,
who worked tirelessly to prepare workshops based on
SBAfL, and to Mike Hibberson for his invaluable input to the
planning sessions.
The September Sharing Session on Malay for the Classroom
and Staff Communication, run by Jamie Hutchinson, was
very successful. It was our pleasure to run this session in
both Bandar and KB, and to be able to open it up to secondary
teachers in KB.
Projects and SiGs are entering their final stretch for this year,
with some wonderful resources being produced, many of
which will be ready for use from the beginning of next year.
A huge thank you to all project leaders and co-ordinators for
your efforts this year and for the co-ordination of respective
projects. It will be wonderful to see your efforts coming to
fruition over the next couple of months.
Finally, the next CfBT sharing session will take place on 29
and 30 October and will be a compulsory session. Please
bring along ideas you have for SiGs and projects for next
year, as this will be your opportunity to have a say in what
you would like to be involved in. We will collate suggestions
as we did last year, and then develop our projects from here.
Dates coming up to be aware of are:
Y1 - 3 Sound and Word Assessments - Thursday 31 October.
humorous stories that have been selected by Bruneian
students for Bruneian students.
Rob Vohan
[email protected]
The Music and Media SiG in conjunction
with MoE and RTB launches ‘Story Time
Story Time is a new concept for Brunei and the Music and
Media SiG hope it will help to promote a reading culture
amongst young learners. Exposure to a range of stories will
also assist in vocabulary development and improve listening
skills.
The show was produced by CfBT Project Coordinator Robert
Vohan of Sekolah Rendah Kiudang, together with a dedicated
team of CfBT English teachers; as well as students from
Sekolah Menengah Rimba and Sekolah Menengah Sayyidina
Umar Al-Khattab.
Students from years eight to eleven chose stories they decided
would appeal to a younger audience. They then spent time
rehearsing performance aspects such as enunciation, tone
and expression for recording. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed
themselves during the process and learnt important aspects
of planning, teamwork and time management whilst completing
their recording. Students were also encouraged to include
brief definitions and translations to aid listening comprehension.
Children and parents throughout Brunei can now tune in
twice a week to Story Time, on Mondays and Wednesdays
at 9.30pm on Pilihan FM, 95.9 FM & 96.9FM starting 2
October. Story Time is a great way to get children more
interested in reading though a range of interesting and often
The students as readers were able to develop a keen
understanding of the diverse ways in which language conveys
meaning. Listeners will experience a variety of genres and
learn to ‘see’ a story by visualizing the narrative rather than
relying on illustrations.
Members of the SiG include: Kimberley Boon, Sarah Papalii,
Grainne Klaja, Mike Irvine, Julie Ann Marker and Elizabeth
Wheeler.
October 2013
7
Mike Hibberson
[email protected]
During September our facilitator teams
designed and presented the last
workshops of the year at the Pra/1 and
2/3 levels. The Pra/1 workshop focused
on the development and implementation
of rubrics for teachers use. Although
many of us may be well versed in the use
of rubrics, it is topic that has consistently
been requested by our local colleagues.
Rubrics have been used in Brunei to
grade summative assessments for
some time, but many Primary teachers
are not confident creating or utilizing
them. Rubrics are really just assessment
tools with performance standards.
These performance standards help
teachers to produce reliable assessments.
What feedback I have seen from this
session has been very positive from our
local colleagues. It is important to
remember that even if you have a good
grasp of a technique brought up at a
workshop you can play a positive role by
contributing to developing understanding
for those that don’t feel confident with it.
Zoë Evans
[email protected]
Heather Dallas
[email protected]
Lower Secondary SBAfL
Bootcamp for All: Every
Student Matters, Every
Teacher Matters
The fourth SBAfL Bootcamp was rolled
out at SMPJN Pengiran Haji Abu Bakar
yesterday (16 September 2013) with a
fresh batch of Year 7 students and their
teachers from Ugama, Arabic, Malay,
MIB, Maths, Business Art & Technology,
Science and English. The event aimed
to introduce learners and teachers to a
8
October 2013
The Yr 2/3 workshop focused on
assessment resource development and
reinforcing the main terms and techniques
of SBAfL. The goal is that by reviewing
these concepts one more time and
offering practical use of the processes
involved in creating tools, we can
encourage teachers to use SBAfL
techniques in their classrooms on a
daily basis. Additionally, by sharing
tools and techniques you may already
be using in the classroom, you provide
tangible applications for other teachers.
These are the last two workshops in the
year, so hopefully you have learned a
few new things and have made an effort
to put them into play in your classroom.
Thanks for your efforts and best of luck
in the last couple months!
Lisa Cameron
[email protected]
survey and to email feedback about the
new teacher mentor programme. We
have received over 55 responses,
which means we have gained some
very useful information. We are so
pleased that many current teachers
would like to be a mentor next year!
New CfBT primary and secondary
teachers need your experience to help
them feel settled faster in their school.
Although some of the interested teachers
have had some mentoring experience
before, it is not a pre- requisite. The
mentors will be sharing their knowledge
about their school setting and culture,
in other words ‘showing them the
ropes’. Soon all interested teachers will
be contacted and provided with more
information. So if you haven’t responded
yet, you still have time to be part of this
exciting new programme! Just email
Sam or myself. Remember what is what
like to be new at your school. How much
difference would a friendly mentor have
been?
Thank you
Mentoring
Hello everyone,
First of all thank you so much to all the
people who took time to complete the
learning process where students, working
in collaborative groups, identify their
own strengths and targets for a topic,
use peer-assessment to improve their
work, and submit it for marking according
to descriptive assessment rubric. All of
these activities are supported by active
and dynamic feedback techniques
which appeal to even the most reluctant
scholar through the addition of simple
visual cues.
The first Bootcamp, devised by CfBT
Lead Teacher Allison Rajab, took place
on 7 January 2012 at SM PAP Hajah
Masna, with subsequent intensives at
SM Pap Hajah Rashidah Sa’adatul
Bolkiah and SM Berakas. The appeal of
the approach was evident at SM
PJNPH Abu Bakar in the comments of
the teachers… “The activity is fun, it
makes students happy”; “This is new for
us, it is innovation”; , “We should use
the traffic light cards and rubrics in our
subject” and of the students…“I had so
much fun today doing the t-shirt with my
new friends”; “Nice activity! I know the
things that I do well”.
The event was attended and fully
supported by the school Administration;
Principal Cg Asmah binti Tengah was
on hand throughout the exercise to
motivate the students and to award
prizes and certificates.
Lots of fun was had practising SBAfL
methodology through designing t-shirts.
Many thanks to the English department
and year 7 subject teachers for all their
preparation. Here are the Bootcamp
high points (stars) and areas for
improvement (targets) as expressed in
the teacher feedback:
Bootcamp Stars
Middle Achieving Pupils (MAPS) and
Lower Achieving Pupils (LAPS ) - prize
winners were from C-G classes
Fun & enthusiasm
Creativity
New friends - differentiated groups
across year 7
Teacher confidence using SBAfL
Role modeling of tasks by teachers
Watching DVD to prepare presenters
Cross curricular skills
Bootcamp Targets
Sound & vision back up - technical hitches
Presenters to rehearse sequence and
understanding of slides in ‘dress rehearsal’
Practise marking using the rubric
More time to complete final design
Start of year - January Bootcamp provides
skills for the year
Adapt bootcamp across school - year
8-11 bootcamp?
Your School Bootcamp!
Please start considering holding your
own Bootcamp in 2014. Schools will
probably already be compiling their
calendar of events for next year so now
is a great time to talk with your school
management team about holding this
practical but fun event. It's a great
chance for all the Year 7 subject teachers
to work together collaboratively and to
get to know new students at the start of
a year. Although all the information on
planning and holding a Bootcamp is
included in the Magic Moments in
SBAfL resource, remember that both
the KB and BSB SBAfL SiGs will be
holding their last meeting for the year
on 13 November and these will cover
everything you need to know. We hope
to see lots of teachers there including
any local colleagues from your school
who would like to be involved.
renewing materials and activities. During
the latter part of 2013, our priority will
be the Sixth Form Exam Kit. Following
the feedback from Sixth Form students
and teachers, we have decided to
completely change the SCOPE output
for 2014. From March 2014, Sixth Form
students will follow a new “ReviewRenew” 8-week programme that focuses
on the key skill areas of the exam. The
programme will run from March to May
and will review students’ previous
knowledge and success and renew
their understanding of the skills required
to achieve at least grade C in the June
O level exam. The programme will be easy
to adapt as changes from Cambridge
are introduced, and it will also allow a
revision element to prepare students
who must repeat their exam to ensure
their Sixth Form place.
At the beginning of 2014, we will begin
the process of updating and changing
the Years 10 and 11 kits. We would
welcome any further comments from
teachers about what works and what
doesn’t to ensure we continue to meet
the needs of all O level students across
our schools. Please do contact me
directly at [email protected] if you have
any ideas for adaptions or changes, or
indeed you would like to contribute an
activity idea or original stimulus to be
used in the kits.
CIE Update
Please be reminded when accessing
the Cambridge website, that Brunei
follows syllabus 2: Paper One is 12 and
Paper Two is 22. Many resources/
reports relate to other countries’ exams
(such as Singapore) and are not relevant
to a review of Brunei’s exam format.
Brunei has their own unique exam and
therefore feedback from Cambridge
can be different.
It is the time of year when we review all
the SCOPE outputs and look towards
We are now full steam for the Year 11
End of Year exams and students will be
on study break starting from approximately
1 October (dates are set according to
schools). I hope that all the efforts of the
Year 11 teachers and of course of the
students will pay off and Brunei will
experience the most successful year
yet in terms of student achievement.
Best of luck also to teachers in Year 9
and 10 who still have a few weeks of
exam revision to go.
I would like to remind Steps to Success
coordinators to return their students
and school feedback form as soon as
possible so CfBT might process your
payment. I anxiously wait to hear how
the program was received in your
school and how the process went.
The IGCSE SiG has completed the
Year 9 supplementary materials project
and it is now in the editing and publishing
stage. I would like to thank the members
of the SiG for all their input and dedication
to this project which I am so excited
about. I aim to have these materials
available for students and teachers use
by the beginning of the school term in
2014. Please keep an eye on your inbox
for more information early next year.
The next IGCSE (BSB) SiG will take
place on 22 October 2013 at 2.00pm in
the conference room. In the meantime
I hope you had an enjoyable October
break and best of luck with your various
exam preparations.
Victoria Abbs
[email protected]
Upper Secondary
SCOPE Exam Kits
students plowing through the IGCSE
Orals exam, we can now breathe a sigh
of relief that they are behind us. This
year the IGCSE Orals rolled out a little
differently than previous years. MoE
decided to have the examiners specially
selected by the school and given
remuneration for their service as is
done in the O level oral exams. Though
it has taken some getting used to, I
hope that all the students in your school
were able to benefit from the new system
and achieve success during this exam.
Jennifer Fell
[email protected]
IGCSE
For many of you, like me, who have
spent more than a few afternoons with
October 2013
9
Nik Clark
[email protected]
Summary Report on Year 11 (IGCSE)
Qualifying Exam
Firstly, I would like to thank teachers and HoDs who
contributed thoughts and time to the review process. Feedback
is important in helping to determine whether students are
being tested fairly since, without your comments, it’s difficult
to know exactly how these exams are functioning in schools.
I’m pleased to report that teacher satisfaction in all aspects
of the exams was very high and, as such, I feel we have
maintained the exceptional standards we strive for in the
development of these national assessments. I would like to
highlight the outstanding contributions made by this year’s
exam development team - namely Hjh Mariah Hj Ahmad,
Zaiton Hj Metussin, Suzanne Rust, Dominic Sbresni and
Malcolm Paul - as well as valuable input from Cheryl Reid.
Some of the feedback received related to grade thresholds
and, in terms of a ‘credit’, please be aware that students aiming
for a C grade really need to set their sights on an overall
score of about 70% in the real IGCSE. Daunting for many
candidates, no doubt, but I hope that clarifies where the bar
is set.
All feedback will be put into the melting pot when we start
work on next year’s exams, so thanks once again for taking
the time to submit your comments, queries and suggestions.
Finally, if you have an interest in test development and would
like to be involved in the development of next year’s standardised
exams, please contact me at [email protected], or via your EPM.
Temburong Snap of the Month
Below is a summary of the review process and findings.
Feedback Method
Teachers, HODs and English Departments were asked to
assess the exam(s) they were involved with by giving a rating
out of 5 using the descriptors below. When ‘room for improvement’
was implied, teachers were invited to detail their concerns/
criticisms.
Exam Satisfaction Descriptors
5 - EXCELLENT: Exam was appropriate and fulfilled its
purpose with little or nothing that I would change.
4 - GOOD: Exam was appropriate and fulfilled its purpose,
but there’s clear room for improvement next time.
3 - ACCEPTABLE: Exam was generally appropriate and
fulfilled its purpose, but contained multiple minor errors/
problems.
2 - POOR: Exam was generally unsuitable and/or contained
multiple distracting or confusing errors/problems.
1 - VERY POOR: Exam was completely unsuitable and/or
contained multiple serious errors/problems.
These are Bruce Rhind’s students who went for a walk up Bukit Patoi
as some of them had never been up there. They chose to do it in their
own time with Bruce and Cikgu Patrick.
Feedback Response
Temburong Primary teachers attended the JSS organised Hari Raya
Function at Dewan Belalong on 26 August. Each School had the
opportunity to perform an item for the amusement of the other primary
teachers in the district.
Interestingly, there was no mention of the revised core listening question 10 in any feedback, so I hope this means there
were no problems or nasty surprises.
10
October 2013
Teachers were also encouraged to perform karaoke Raya songs, while
teachers visited each school's tables, which were covered with an
assortment of local food and sweet treats. A good time was had by all.
And congratulations and well done to Judy Steele and Kristy
Grainger at SM Sayyidina Ali for school awards for Achieving
Above the National Average for O level credits.
Jean Kiekopf
[email protected]
KB Connection
This has been a big month for celebrations at schools
throughout Brunei with His Majesty’s Birthday and Hari Guru
to celebrate! There have also been some noteworthy awards
presented:
Congratulations to Freya Mair of SM PJNPH Abu Bakar on
her Award for BTEC Best Performance in Hospitality,
presented at the BTEC EDEXCEL Roadshow at SM Sultan
Sharif Ali.
Lucille Borger has also been out enjoying Royal events in
Brunei with three in two weeks! She had the pleasure of
accompanying the Girl Guides from Kuala Belait to the Istana
on the 17 September for a banquet in honour of His Majesty’s
67th Birthday, attending the National Teachers’ Day celebration
in Bandar on 25 September and flag waving on Saturday 28
September, to welcome the Sultan and celebrate his Birthday
at the Padang in Kuala Belait. I particularly enjoyed these photos
of Lucille entering into the spirit of the event with the Girl
Guides leading the way with the dress code.
Award-winning assessors Cg Freya Mair (Hospitality) and Cg Joliyah Ali
(ITQ) at SM Sultan Sharif Ali.
Cg Freya Mair (Hospitality Assessor) with her Internal Verifier Cg Dk Zainab
Zaini, from SM PJNPH Abu Bakar Mumong.
October 2013
11
Dave Laming
[email protected]
Sixth Form Wordplay Competition
As you will have no doubt seen in the local press, the second
Sixth Form Wordplay competition was held last week. This
strand of the Gifted & Talented programme reflects CfBT’s
commitment to supporting English language development
across all phases of secondary education here in Brunei.
The competition was open to all government Sixth Forms
operating under the Ministry of Education and took place on
Tuesday, 24 September at PTEK. All six teams who entered
completed two sets of pen and paper based qualifying
rounds in the morning with the top two teams returning in the
afternoon for the Grand Final, with the latter using the Wordplay
buzzers. The six rounds were; spelling, word bricks, definitions,
vocabulary, general knowledge and a themed anagram
round (which was replaced by a standard anagram round in
the Grand Final). The questions, which were compiled by
Malcolm Orsborn from PIHM Serasa, included items drawn
from a broad range of Sixth Form subjects. In order to assist
with preparations a sample set of questions that reflected the
content and level of the Wordplay competition were circulated
in advance along with a further practice set of questions in
the run up to the competition.
After the first qualifying round there were only five points
12
October 2013
separating the first and last teams. The leaders, Maktab
Sains and Sayyidina Ali, were only one point ahead of two
other teams, but they were able to pull away gradually in the
second qualifying round to make it into the grand final. Having
said that, Maktab Duli and PTET pushed them all the way
and the eventual qualifiers weren’t decided until the very last
rounds.
In the final, Maktab Sains set off very fast only to be overtaken
by Sayyidina Ali in the anagrams round as they garnered a
very impressive sixteen of the nineteen points scored. The
third round was a draw with Maktab Sains gaining twice as
many points as their opponents in the definitions round. This
meant that both teams were tied on thirty-six points entering
the penultimate round. This spelling rounds was drawn so
both teams were still equal going into the final round. Amidst
much tension, Maktab Sains managed to sneak home by one
point, reversing the outcome of the inaugural competition last
year which saw Sayyidina Ali winning by the same margin.
Congratulations must go to all the students who participated
along with their team managers who prepared them for the
competition and both must be praised for the spirit evident
throughout the quiz. Thanks also go to HE Mr. David Campbell,
the British High Commissioner Designate who acted as the
guest of honour, to Dr. Greg Keaney who gave an uplifting
welcoming speech, to Malcolm Orsborn for acting as question
setter and quiz master, and to the many CfBT staff behind
the scenes who worked so hard to ensure that the event went
as smoothly as it did. The 2014 edition of the Sixth Form
Wordplay will be a hard act to follow!
Inspirational Teachers …
Innovative Activities
CfBT Supporting English inside and
outside the classroom
Vanessa Barnett
[email protected]
Prior to the qualifying exams in July - August 2013, year
11AP3 students at SMPDSM had their first attempt at writing
dictation. The topic was how to make a burger. This topic
created a great deal of enthusiasm and interest. Most students
achieved well with this task.
Nothing more was done with this dictation until after the
qualifying exams. Unbeknown to the students Elaine Anderson
and I prepared the ingredients from the script so that they
could make a burger in the classroom during class time. We
had bread buns, meat patties (pre-cooked), tomatoes, cheese,
lettuce, eggs (boiled) mayonnaise and tomato sauce. The
staff in the English department were offered the chance to
order a burger the day before, an offer which exceeded
expectations.
First Elaine went through the instructions with the students
answering her queries as she wrote their answers on the
board. Once we were convinced the students knew what to
do, we went over some health and hygiene practices. Wash
your hands, wear gloves, use tongs, no coughing over the
food, use a plate, cover the ordered burgers in plastic wrap
before you deliver them to the staff. Not only were all the
instructions followed, all of the students complied quickly with
the hygiene and washing rules.
Next, I demonstrated the instructions by putting together one
of the burgers ordered by the staff. The students then came
forward to make a burger as instructed by Elaine for the
various staff orders. Some wanted, extra meat patties, or no
egg/cheese, some requested no sauce or mayonnaise. After
all of the pre-ordered burgers were made, students who had
not done anything yet were commissioned to deliver the
burgers to the staffroom. This plan was organised by Elaine
so that the students who had been busy since the lesson
started could now make their own burger.
As you can see from the photos everyone was involved,
(even the student with motor skill difficulties) enjoyed the
lesson and had a delicious snack/breakfast to show for their
efforts. Comments from the students after cleaning up the
leftovers, (not that there were many) included, thanks miss,
thanks teacher, you saved me today, (I was hungry), so
yummy, that was delicious, very healthy, can we do it again.
Needless to say the staff too requested burger making
classes to be a regular event.
August 2013
October
13
My 4 year old thought that she should accompany the Sharif
Ali teachers and me, in spite of it being so early on a Sunday
morning, and did her share of waving!
Elaine Miller
[email protected]
Japanese tea Ceremony
The tea ceremony is one of the ancient arts of Japan, which
many people, especially young women, study as an ongoing
hobby. It's more about the appreciation of the environment
of the tea room (simplistic and seasonally influenced) and
the art of the ceremony than the actual drinking of the tea. I
studied it for two years in Japan, and wanted to share it with
my students - we just did a very rudimentary form of it, but
they got the idea! They tried the special tea which is a
powdered green tea (not available in Brunei) whisked up to
a frothy brew and drunk from a large bowl, interestingly called
a Chawan in Japanese which is the Malay word for 'cup'. We
used Bruneian Kuih of the season in replacement for the
traditional Japanese sweets enjoyed with the tea.
Student response was positive - not all of them were brave
enough to try the tea, and amongst those who did a few liked
it and the rest thought it was too bitter, and they all got sore
legs from the compulsory sitting in 'seiza' (on the knees, legs
folded underneath you). They learned the words for the utensils
used, and how to bow to and thank the host in Japanese.
Towards the end of the year we will be doing sushi-making.
(Yum! Hope I get an invite! Ed.)
Sultan’s Birthday Celebration
I spotted many teachers who were invited along to wave
flags for the Sultan’s birthday celebration. Gavin Hicks from
Maktab Sains and Alex Robinson from Rimba I to name a
couple, as well as the crew from Sharif Ali who have become
annual supporters of this event. It was an early start reporting
to respective schools at 6am but the cannon’s that were fired
for the Sultan’s arrival ensured that we were all wide awake.
14
October 2013
Rugby
Badminton
Secondary Schools around Brunei have been engaging in
their annual Cluster Badminton Competitions this month with
Cluster 2’s competition taking place at SM PAP Masna. Each
school put in two female doubles teams, two male doubles
teams and one mixed doubles team. Helen O Brien was one
of the CfBT teachers who volunteered to play for her team
SM Lambak Kiri playing against SM PAP Masna and SM
Sharif Ali during the evening event.
SM PAP Masna were the victors of the Cluster 2 competition
so well done to them. I hope all the other participants enjoyed
taking part.
Feel free to drop me a line if you have been engaged in any
school or community sports events or activities. It’s nice to
know who else shares your interest should you want a game.
And finally, well done to any runners who supported the
Sultan’s Birthday Run on the 11 September.
The CCA Department, Ministry of Education, Asian Rugby
Union and the Brunei Football Union organized a 3 day
Rugby Management Workshop this last month from 9 to 11
September facilitated by Big Blue Link Sdn Bhd. The objective
was to empower teachers to become mentors for the students
to be able to form and manage a rugby club within their
school. Schools were invited to send a representative
teacher involved in rugby CCA to the workshop. Ismail Patel
was lucky enough to be selected by his school SM Berakas
to attend the course. Other representatives came from PTE
Katok and PTE Meragang, in addition to a large contingent
from the CCA Department, Ministry of Education. The CCA
Department verbally pledged to give their support to the
BRFU in its aim to further rugby development in Brunei
schools, so if you are involved with a Rugby CCA watch this
space.
At the beginning of next year there will be further courses
being arranged by the BRFU in match officiating and coaching.
All teachers involved in rugby CCA are welcome to contact
Ainol Razman ([email protected]) at BRFU should
you wish to get any further information.
August 2013
October
13
15
from the
Learning Centre
Andy Roberts
[email protected]
The CfBT Training & Learning Centre
continues to boldly go where no language
provider has gone before in its quest to
bring specialist English language training
to those in need.
In September I spoke at APATS - The
Asia Pacific Aviation Training Symposium
held in Bangkok. The presentation and
panel discussion was based on the
need for English language assessment
in pilot selection. English training has
been the focus of much attention in the
aviation world recently with both Air
Traffic Controllers and Pilots needing to
display a minimum standard. The
presentation was about a different type
16
October 2013
of English though. Not the English
needed to communicate between the
flight deck and Air Traffic Control but the
English needed to understand and
progress through the theoretical side of
flight training. English which embraces
reading, writing, listening and speaking
rather than just the oral and aural
communication skills necessary during
flight.
There is a massive shortfall of pilots
predicted for the next 20 years. Part of
this is not being able to find enough
recruits with sufficient expertise. When
such people are found they need to
have a minimum requirement of English
as increasingly pilot training - no matter
where the host country - is delivered in
English. This is where Brunei, thanks to
the efforts of CfBT and all its teachers,
is a step ahead of most countries in the
region. There is now a solid base of
English among the Brunei population
that neighbouring countries look at with
envy.
Meanwhile other developments with the
Learning Centre included an open day
at the Kuala Belait Education Centre.
We conduct some language classes for
IELTS and Corporate Clients but the
open day clearly indicated a need for
more. A big thank you to all the KB and
Bandar staff who got together to make
for a very successful day. At the moment
we rely on teachers travelling up from
Bandar but hopefully we’ll soon have
teachers based in KB who can deliver
EFL training. In addition to the general
English classes we are also in discussion
with a number of corporate clients
based in the KB region and expect to
start Functional English Classes within
the next month or two.
from the
Examinations Centre
BN091 IELTS Examiners
Recruitment 2014
CfBT Examinations Centre is looking
for suitably qualified and experienced
individuals to join our team of IELTS
Examiners.
You will need:
• An undergraduate degree or a
qualification
which
can
be
demonstrated to be equivalent to
an undergraduate degree.
• A recognised qualification in Teaching
English to Speakers of Other
Languages (TESOL) or recognised
equivalent as part of a recognised
university award course.
from the
• At least 3 years’ full time (or equivalent
part time) relevant TESOL teaching
experience (minimum one postcertificate level qualification). The
majority of this teaching experience
must relate to adult students (16 years
and over).
• The required professional attributes
and interpersonal skills.
Examiner Training Schedule
Session 1 - March 2014*
Session 2 - July 2014*
*Dates to be advised.
For more information on Minimum
Professional Requirements and an
application form, please contact:
Dk Nooraini Pg Ahmad
Examinations Manager
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 2451905
When emailing, please indicate:
BN091 Examiners Recruitment 2014
Closing date for applications to
returned to CfBT Exams Centre: Friday,
25 October 2013.
The training sessions will be delivered
during the Term 1 & Term 2 school
holidays.
Welfare Department
Mandie Whitehouse
[email protected]
For anyone trying to give up smoking,
now is the time. STOPTOBER is an
initiative to help people kick the habit in
28 days. There are many useful links to
keep you going and focused. One very
good website is the UK NHS site
www.stoptober.smokefree.nhs.uk
which has many resources that are
downloadable along with www.
campaigns.dh.gov.uk. So what are you
waiting for?
You will shortly be receiving the annual
renewal form for your medical insurance.
Your present insurance runs out on 31
December at midnight regardless of
when you joined the scheme. Can you
please ensure you complete the form
and return as soon as possible. Don't
forget to add children under 12 to the
repatriation section if they are not included
in your MI. If you have any questions
please get in touch.
The RIPAS Blood Donation Department
will be here to conduct a blood drive as
stocks are extremely low. If you are
over 45kg, have lived in Brunei for
longer than 6 months, are fit and well and
not taking medication please consider
giving generously to help save a life.
Outstation visits will be announced via
email until the end of the year.
11 November 2013, Monday. 1.30pm 3.30pm, Blood Donation in the
Education Centre, Bandar.
August 2013
October
13
17
ATTENTION:
BRUNEI IMMIGRATION REGULATIONS
Please be aware that once the penalty is paid/served,
offenders will be deported and will not be able to enter Brunei for at least 2 years.
A CT
15 (1)
OF F E N C E
Remaining in Brunei after the expiry
of valid immigration stamps.
PENALTY
If not more than 90 days - Offenders can be issued a fine of not
more than B$4,000, or face imprisonment of not more than 6
months, under provision 15 (2) (a) of the Immigration
Regulations.
If more than 90 days - Offenders can be issued a compound fine
of B$600 under Section 58(1)(a), or face imprisonment of not
more than 24 months and will receive not less than 3 strokes of
the cane.
9 (4)
Any person who holds a social visit
pass or tourist pass in Brunei
Darussalam is not allowed to engage
in work in any type of form, whether
paid or unpaid.
Offenders can be issued a compound fine of not more than
B$600 under Section 58A(1) (a), or face imprisonment of not
more than 6 months or a fine not exceeding B$2,000, or both,
under provision 35(2) of the Immigration Regulations.
15 (2)
Employees are reminded that if they
have been granted an Empass by a
specific company, they cannot work
with another company - whether paid,
unpaid, casual or on a part-time basis.
(Accepting a position of responsibility
(e.g. chairperson, treasurer etc) in a
club or within an organisation (e.g.
PTA, Nature Society etc) will also
contravene Brunei Immigration
Regulations. Please seek advice from
CfBT before accepting work, whether
paid or unpaid, in any capacity.)
Offenders can be issued a compound fine of B$600 under
Section 58A(1) (a), or face imprisonment of not more than 6
months or a fine not exceeding B$2,000, or both, under
provision 35(2) of the Immigration Regulations.
16 (3)
Any person who holds a Dependent
pass in Brunei Darussalam is not
allowed to engage in work in any type
of form, whether paid or unpaid
without the written consent from the
Immigration Officer.
Offenders can be issued a compound fine of not more than
B$600 under Section 58A(1) (a), or face imprisonment of not
more than 6 months or a fine not exceeding B$2,000, or both,
under provision 35(2) of the Immigration Regulations.
Email Etiquette, some handy tips adapted and borrowed from the Microsoft Office Website
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/12-tips-for-better-e-mail-etiquette-HA001205410.aspx
12 Tips for Better E Mail Etiquette Don't you wish that every person who received a new e‐mail account had to agree to follow certain rules to use it? There are certain professional standards expected for e‐mail use. Here are some things to keep in mind regarding professional e‐mail conduct: 1.
Be informal, not sloppy. Your colleagues may use commonly accepted abbreviations in e‐mail, but when communicating with external customers, everyone should follow standard writing protocol. Your e‐mail message reflects you and your company, so traditional spelling, grammar, and punctuation rules apply. 2. Keep messages brief and to the point. Just because your writing is grammatically correct does not mean that it has to be long. 3. Use sentence case. USING ALL CAPITAL LETTERS LOOKS AS IF YOU'RE SHOUTING, (so do trailing !!!!!!!! and ?????????.). Using all lowercase letters looks lazy. 4. Use the blind copy and courtesy copy appropriately. Don't use BCC to keep others from seeing who you copied; it shows confidence when you directly CC anyone receiving a copy. Do use BCC, however, when sending to a large distribution list, so recipients won't have to see a huge list of names. 5. Don't use e‐mail as an excuse to avoid personal contact. Don't forget the value of face‐to‐face or even voice‐
to‐voice communication. E‐mail communication isn't appropriate when sending confusing or emotional messages. Think of the times you've heard someone in the office indignantly say, "Well, I sent you e‐mail." If you have a problem with someone, speak with that person directly. Don't use e‐mail to avoid an uncomfortable situation or to cover up a mistake. 6. Remember that e‐mail isn't private. I've seen people fired for using e‐mail inappropriately. E‐mail is considered company property and can be retrieved, examined, and used in a court of law. Never put in an e‐
mail message anything that you wouldn't put on a postcard. Remember that e‐mail can be forwarded, so unintended audiences may see what you've written. You might also inadvertently send something to the wrong party, so always keep the content professional to avoid embarrassment. 7. Be sparing with group e‐mail. Send group e‐mail only when it's useful to every recipient. Use the "reply all" button only when compiling results requiring collective input and only if you have something to add. Recipients get quite annoyed to open an e‐mail that says only "Me too!" 8. Use the subject field to indicate content and purpose. Don't just say, "Hi!" or "From Laura." Agree on acronyms to use that quickly identify actions. For example, your team could use <AR> to mean "Action Required" or <MSR> for the Monthly Status Report. It's also a good practice to include the word "Long" in the subject field, if necessary, so that the recipient knows that the message will take time to read. 9. Don't send chain letters, virus warnings, or junk mail. Always check a reputable antivirus Web site or your IT department before sending out an alarm. If a constant stream of jokes from a friend annoys you, be honest and ask to be removed from the list. Direct personal e‐mail to your home e‐mail account. 10. Remember that your tone can't be heard in e‐mail. Have you ever attempted sarcasm in an e‐mail, and the recipient took it the wrong way? E‐mail communication can't convey the nuances of verbal communication. In an attempt to infer tone of voice, some people use emoticons, but use them sparingly so that you don't appear unprofessional. Also, don't assume that using a smiley will diffuse a difficult message. 11. Use a signature that includes contact information. To ensure that people know who you are, include a signature that has your contact information, including your mailing address, Web site, and phone numbers. 12. Summarize long discussions. Scrolling through pages of replies to understand a discussion is annoying. Instead of continuing to forward a message string, take a minute to summarize it for your reader. You could even highlight or quote the relevant passage, then include your response. Some words of caution: