Alex Guenther

About Me

I am an experienced travel writer, editor and translator who has worked as a tutor, adult ESL teacher and full-time replacement/substitute teacher at Mont’ Kiara International School (M’KIS) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for two years. My main areas of interest are English Literature and English as a Second Language. I have Virginia State Teaching Certification in ESL and English (PK-12), and will finish my Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction in the summer of 2007.

When we moved to Malaysia in 2005, I had adult ESL and tutoring experience, but I initially planned on continuing my career as a professional editor and writer. However, after just one month of substitute teaching at M’KIS I realized that I love teaching. I realized that writing, while it will remain a lifelong passion of mine, is a career that only indirectly benefits others; as a teacher, I can directly make a difference in people’s lives. I immediately began working towards my certification and M.Ed., putting all my effort into becoming a teacher via the U.S. State Department’s Fast Train program at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Since then I have garnered a tremendous amount of practical experience teaching a range of students with differing abilities and backgrounds.

My nine years of previous professional experience – as an in-house trainer and head copy editor for a travel guide publishing company in Germany, and as a project manager for a translation firm in the United States – showcased not only my skill with the English language but my planning, peer training and project coordination abilities. The international and multilingual nature of these positions also highlights my enduring fascination with the diversity of different countries, cultures and languages, an international focus I share with my wife, Kim. These years of experience are now combined with an intense, recently-kindled desire to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with students. I am not only passionate about languages and linguistics, but I am also creative, good-humored, patient, excellent with children and very flexible, all of which helps make me a motivated and inspiring ESL and English teacher.