 Rekan-rekan yang terhormat,
Berita dunia bahasa Indonesia selalu manis pait.
Di satu pihak peserta tur yang baru kembali dari pulau Sumatra membawa kenangan yang mengesankan, serta teman-teman baru di Sumatra yang sangat tertarik untuk menjalin hubungan dengan Australia Barat.
Ada juga kesempatan untuk mengajukan permohonan dana dari pemerintah Australia untuk proyek-proyek bahasa dan studi Asia, dan banyak sekolah di Indonesia yang sedang mencari kesempatan bekerjasama sekolah-sekolah di Australia.
Selain itu juga, pada tanggal 16 Mei lokakarya WILTA memukau sekitar 50 anggota yang hadir untuk belajar, ngobrol dan makan bersama, sambil menghadiri beberapa sesi yang sangat berguna dan menarik. Sesi tersebut itu antara lain pembicara utama Wieke Gur yang menjelaskan perbedaan antara bahasa formal, bahasa informal dan bahasa gaul. Selain itu, Danielle Horne mengajarkan cara bermain permainan bahasa; Daniel Bradbury membawakan dua perjalanan: satu di Indonesia melalui film dokumenternya, dan satu dunia linguistik; kemudian Laura Lochore bersama Linden Davis, Karen Bailey dan Grant Porteus yang berbagi kiat dalam menggunakan materi elektronik WestOne di kelas10 dan 11.
So, lots of good news and great experiences so far this year.
On the downside there is the uncertainty surrounding the new draft curriculum policy of the Department of Education and Training which is ringing alarm bells for all Languages Associations in the state as we see the potentially risky consequences for Languages programs. WILTA will do all it can to provide constructive feedback to the Department and represent all its members’ interests.
So let’s concentrate on what’s positive! On Thursday 25 June Moya McLauchlan ran an excellent workshop on creating viewing tasks from video. This added a whole new dimension to the classroom teaching skills of participants as well as being vital for our students as they practice the new course examination format. The workshop took place at AISWA from 1.00pm to 3.50pm.
In July both the AFMLTA and ASILE conferences will take place in Sydney and will bring together Indonesian and other language teachers for a wonderful learning and networking experience. It’s getting late but you can still enrol by visiting http://mltansw.asn.au/afmlta2009.htm (AFMLTA) and http://mltansw.asn.au/asilereg.htm (ASILE)
On Saturday 15 August, the MLTAWA will be holding a cross-language workshop at SIDE, where WILTA’s contributions will be a games session similar to the highly successful one for the WILTA Weekend Workshop on 16 May, and one on creating viewing materials. Other unilinguals will be offering workshops suitable for adapting to different languages. To attend you must be an MLTAWA member and I encourage you to join (see their website www.mltawa.org for both membership and workshop information).
Watch this space for a WILTA / Balai Bahasa to be held at the Indonesian Consulate on Friday 28 August – details will be posted on www.wilta.org and emailed to members.
And watch out later in the year (after the WILTA AGM) for a two-day sharing session on 26 and 27 November, where teachers of Year 10 to 12 courses of study can reflect on the year, share materials and resources, and start planning for the implementation of Units 3A and 3B in 2010.
All in all, more good news than bad!
Salam hormat,
Sue Cooper
President
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The Balai Bahasa Indonesia Perth was established in 2008. WILTA is a proud supporter of BBIP.
