BEd (Hons) TESL
MEd (UM) TESL
CELTA (Cambridge)
Certified Voice Assessor
Nicholas is a Senior Trainer with a UK based call centre servicing one of the largest banking and financial services organization in the world. He specializes in soft skills training related to language, culture and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and has over 12 years of experience in the field of education and training. Prior to joining the call centre, he was an English language & communications lecturer with Unitek College, Kolej Damansara Utama (KDU), Lim Kok Wing University of Creative Technology (LUCT) and Sunway University College (SUC). He obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Education (Upper Second Class Honours) in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) from University Putra Malaysia (UPM) in 1996 and his Masters Degree in English as a Second Language (MESL) from University Malaya (UM) in 2001. He was certified as a Voice Assessor based on the Common European Framework (CEF) in January 2006 by the British Council, Kuala Lumpur and is accredited to assess and classify language users according to the six defined levels of A1 to C2. In October 2006, Nicholas was awarded the Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA) by Cambridge ESOL, part of the world-famous University of Cambridge.
Apart from courses related to culture in the US and UK, Nicholas now trains his current work force in International English, Pronunciation Skills, Customer Experience and Writing Skills. His previous professional experience includes ESP trainings such as Business Communication courses for staff at MIE Industrial Sdn Bhd in Puchong, English for Technicians for the production staff of Matsushita Electronic Corporation (MECOM), Communication and Business English for the support staff at Tanco Resorts, Business English for Workplace Purposes for support staff at Hewlett-Packard head office, Kuala Lumpur, and Intensive English for General Proficiency for the paralegal staff of Zaid Ibrahim & Co Kuala Lumpur. He was also involved in teaching preparatory English courses for undergraduates in the Faculty of Law (UiTM, Shah Alam) Faculty of Accounting & Economic Development (UPM) and Faculty of Language & Linguistics (UM).
Throughout his tenure with KDU and LUCT, he trained staff in the Academic and Staff Development Programmes specializing in Effective Presentation Skills, Report Writing Skills, Writing & Research Skills and Basic Telephone Skills. With Sunway University College, he helped trained a group of JPA sponsored graduates in a three-week training programme designed to improve their presentation and report writing skills along with the language skills to participate in meetings. Inline with his interest in the area of research, Nicholas was also a member of the Sunway Academic Journal Editorial Board in 2004 and 2005.
Nicholas believes that the primary ingredient for achievement is a positive mental attitude and echoes the adage that it is your attitude more than your aptitude that determines your eventual altitude
