Ibu Presiden

Rekan-rekan yang terhormat,

Saya berharap Anda sekalian sempat beristirahat selama liburan Natal dan Tahun Baru. Saya tahu, ada beberapa yang bepergian ke Indonesia atau bisa berlatih Bahasa Indonesianya melalui kegiatan yang lain. Ibu Kellie Brophy, Bendahara WILTA, ikut Endeavour Teacher Fellowship ke Darwin pada bulan Januari dan mengirim catatan yang berikut tentang hal-hal yang paling menyenangkan ini:

the opportunity to network with like minded people and share ideas and beliefs on the teaching of Indonesian and learning another language
having the opportunity to speak Bahasa Indonesia to others on a daily basis and increase my vocabulary across an extensive range of topics from religion and education all the way through to polygamy.

being evacuated from accommodation due to Cyclone Helen... not a severe cyclone but the whole experience was something I will never forget and it certainly made the group even closer!

meeting two of the stars of the film 'Denias' who are also the producers... and then attending a screening of the film. If you haven't seen this film, it is an absolute gem and suitable for use from Year 4 upwards. It tells the story of a boy from Papua and the challenges he faced in order to attain an education.

Kellie will write about her experiences more fully in the next issue of Warta WILTA.

As you know, 2008 has been chosen by UNESCO as “International Year of Languages”. Director-General Koichiro Matsuura’s speech can be found on the UNESCO website (if anyone would like to translate it into Indonesian it could be a useful reading task for senior students.

This year is also significant as “Visit Indonesia 2008” - the first such year since the inaugural one in 1991.

The Indonesian Kementerian Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata (Budpar) are hoping that a target of 6 million visitors to Indonesia will result from their campaign, although as we know the DFAT travel warning is still in place. Budpar’s official Visit Indonesia site is unfortunately all in English but does contain some interesting material and downloadable images (I was pleased to find a poster of shopping malls since impressively armed security guards stopped me from taking my own at Bandung’ Supermal!).

Our first Warta WILTA of 2008 is timed to coincide with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s promised roll-out of more IT resources for schools. In it you will find lots of “How To” tips on blogging, downloading YouTube videos and other IT ideas from our resident guru Penny Coutas. The possibilities for using computers in learning Indonesian are endless, from instant images, video and sound through your interactive (or non-interactive) whiteboard and highly visual reading/viewing activities created on PowerPoint or MovieMaker, to student interaction with language learning tools, creative software and the internet. Jangan malu, ya … cobalah saja!

Look out for our first Workshop on Saturday 23 February, at which we will welcome the first

group of Language Assistants from Indonesia who will have begun their work at WA schools. As well, there

will be a hands-on workshop and a delicious brunch, not to mention the opportunity to chat with Ibu Kellie about ETF and Ibu Dani about RTV.

Sekian dulu surat saya ini. Kegiatan apapun Anda lakukan sambil berlibur, mudah-mudahan menyenangkan

dan memberi semangat untuk mengajar. Selamat mengajar dan sampai jumpa lagi!

Salam hormat

Sue Cooper

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This website was last updated on Monday April 28, 2008