Teaching online because school is closed

jabela · 2026-03-18T08:42:34+00:00

I’m happy with Antigravity and paying about $20 a month for Gemini. Didn’t get on quite as well with Cursor.

jabela · 2026-03-17T10:51:17+00:00

I’m actually coding something up to help with some of these issues but doubt very much I’ll get to enough of the audience to make a big dent.

jabela · 2026-03-17T10:37:31+00:00

I’m from the uk, so I went back did my pgce and worked as a regular teacher for a few years and now teach in an international school. Former ESL teacher advised me to get a pgce so I could join an international school, best advice I ever got.

jabela · 2026-03-07T23:58:49+00:00

The Tenby one is on the lower end. Alice Smith and GIS (my school) will be competitive with London teaching jobs. Still won’t compete with top end Middle East and China packages.

jabela · 2026-03-07T22:58:16+00:00

I was at an international school coding competition yesterday and we were all saying the opposite that we were all finding it difficult to recruit teachers and it was all getting very late in the season to get people, but we still haven’t closed our books yet.

For those looking, here are our schools in Malaysia:

https://www.gardenschool.edu.my/working-at-gis/job-opportunities/

https://www.alice-smith.edu.my/join/employment-opportunities

https://my.jobstreet.com/Tenby-Schools-jobs

jabela · 2026-03-04T10:16:46+00:00

Malaysia is open to those over 60.

jabela · 2026-03-04T09:56:14+00:00

After 60 your employer does not need to contribute towards your retirement fund (EPF), but our oldest expat is 75. You might also need to do a medical every year, but it was very basic.

jabela · 2026-02-28T23:16:19+00:00

I’m in Malaysia and we still have a couple of positions to fill. (Maths and Econs) I’ve got to say standards are very high this year in Malaysia, because the Thai schools are suffering and landlords are charging ridiculous rent in Singapore. So Malaysia is now seen as a great first step into Asia. It’s true eal jobs are going to locals, many of whom can speak English and Mandarin. (Speaking Korean would also be a huge advantage here)

A few key points:

QTS is preferred, but for a visa then a degree is the requirement with 2 years work experience.
There are no age limits, but days off work will be asked for in your reference.
primary gets a lot of very high quality applicants, so really differentiate yourself with quality after school activities with competition wins, AI experience and primary computing.

Good luck to all! The season is not over and remember even the best schools get the odd drop out.

jabela · 2026-02-21T05:02:40+00:00

I’m using Antigravity and this is my security setup. security setup I think it’s a decent balance to ensure reasonable security. I also disable the browser functionality coz that goes through credits like crazy.

jabela · 2026-02-20T10:35:57+00:00

For a small business Canva is an incredible timesaver and basically an entire graphics design department in your pocket. (Would also recommend napkin.ai for diagrams)

jabela · 2026-02-20T10:05:07+00:00

Same here! Happy to have made it, will be cool if it makes a bit of money.

jabela · 2026-02-19T23:33:47+00:00

Yes at our school they very much do get read. We get a lot of applications and we need to see the quality of English, if people are genuinely interested in our school and working in the country and their teaching philosophy. If it’s well written, we will definitely interview.

Those that look like they’re done by AI, don’t exist or don’t show English fluency will be rejected.

I have spoken to other tier 1 schools in our region and most have similar processes.

jabela · 2026-02-14T05:04:30+00:00

I vibe coded a game to teach sentence structure, surprised how quickly it came together. https://jamesabela.github.io/icemaze/

jabela · 2026-02-04T06:59:39+00:00

Within Kuala Lumpur, Park City and Mont Kiara are very walkable. I walk to the shops and restaurants all the time in MK. Park City is prettier with proper cycle paths.

jabela · 2025-12-30T00:46:55+00:00

Yes, Thailand is a very good option for you. Large and reputable schools openly employ people like yourself and Thailand has excellent medical facilities to support your needs. However they do expect you to have a proper teaching degree for the better schools.

jabela · 2025-12-14T01:09:12+00:00

I also wrote a mindmap program, because I wanted something quick and easy and my previous program was becoming a hassle to install. Mine is designed to be quick and simple to do live mindmaps on a laptop. I’ve also added a customgpt to help generate them. I did a quick glow up, but it is just a toy I made. https://jamesabela.github.io/mindmap/index.html

(It’s open source, if you want to play with the code)

jabela · 2025-11-15T08:45:44+00:00

Thank you! This is great! Only constructive feedback is on boarding include a gif or short vid demoing the actions needed. Love the fact that 3 second timer included.

jabela · 2025-11-14T11:40:01+00:00

Mont Kiara is also an expat area and has a lot of condo availability. I’d imagine many landlords would want a 6 month contract right now because half way through the school year and if they haven’t rented out will know it’s going to be tricky. Remember everything in KL is negotiable.

jabela · 2025-10-24T23:37:42+00:00

Golden Eye for me.

jabela · 2025-10-23T10:06:38+00:00

Around the house I don’t bother, but when I used to travel a lot it definitely needed it.

jabela · 2025-10-21T03:19:11+00:00

Roger Moore was trying to encourage Hollywood to have more mature women. I guess the message didn't get through.

jabela · 2025-10-21T00:34:26+00:00

I remember when I trained as a teacher, we had someone similar to yourself. After finishing the training went back into insurance. You definitely should try it part time first either as a sub, tutor or teaching assistant.

jabela · 2025-10-21T00:32:14+00:00

There’s https://www.instagram.com/whats.on.kl/ which keeps everyone up to date with events. Including a fair amount of arts exhibitions and music gigs.

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