Driving out of my gate at sunrise, to see a backdrop of misty mountains with jungle sprouting up between the high rises in the city, is quite spectacular, and it’s a daily reminder of how fortunate I feel to live here. 

I work in an international school, which follows a broadly American curriculum (adapted to the more than 60 nationalities that make up our student body). Our school families come from a wide variety of backgrounds, from locals to diplomats to expatriate workers employed in tech, oil and other industries. 

The journey to school takes around 15 minutes, as the roads are quiet at that time of the morning. Although the school day starts at 8am, I like to arrive at least an hour earlier, to set myself up for the day and have a calm start. 

Cosy environment

As soon as the middle-schoolers arrive, the school atmosphere changes to one of high energy. Everyone at the school is part of a strong community, and we are genuinely excited to greet each other every day.

The school day kicks off with homegroup (form time) - one of my favourite times of the day. We have around 12 students from three different year levels, who stay together with their teacher for the three years that they are in the middle school (key stage 3). It’s a great way to connect with students in a cosy environment, and it breaks down the age barriers so often seen in other schools, where students are kept strictly within their own age groups.

After homegroup, there’s a short break, and then it’s straight into the first of the four 80-minute lessons of the day. Each lesson has a 10-minute break afterwards, with lunch dividing the first and latter halves of the timetable. 

As a teacher of humanities - which incorporates English, history, geography, civics and economics - I’m lucky enough see the students every day. I’m one of four teachers on our team, so there is a lot of collaborative work time built into our timetables. One day I’ll teach two lessons and the next day I’ll teach three, though most of my “frees” are taken up with (worthwhile) meetings.

Diversity

We have families from all over the world, and a fairly high percentage will not have English as their first language. Although it can be challenging on a professional level, the diversity is one of the best aspects of the school, and seeing a student acquiring the social and language skills they need to feel at home is hugely rewarding.

We have great sporting facilities, including three swimming pools, a full-sized rugby pitch, gym and sports halls - sport is an important part of the school culture, and almost all students take part in at least one. 

The school also has a one-to-one laptop programme, which means that all students and teachers have a Macbook. Many of our teachers are qualified as Google trainers and Apple Distinguished Educators. As a result, there are numerous possibilities for enriching our curriculum and extending students’ experience. Like anywhere, it can be a challenge to guide students toward healthy laptop use. This is my third school with a one-to-one laptop programme, and I feel we do better than most.

All in all, l feel I have good work-life balance. Morale in the school is generally high, and I look forward to coming to work every day. It might not be for everyone to leave their home country and try working abroad, but for me it was definitely the right decision.

Abena Baiden is a humanities teacher at ISKL, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia