Australian government helps to professionalize English teaching

Australian government helps to professionalize English teaching

The Welshs are part of the Islamic Schools English Language
Project (ISELP), an Australian government program.

It is being managed by Australian Volunteers International and
will run till 2007. The cost is AU$ 3.3 million (about Rp 25
billion).

Fifteen Australian English language teacher trainers have been
placed in selected Islamic junior secondary schools. Most are in
East Java, including Madura. One is in Palembang (South Sumatra)
and one in Jakarta.

The program grew out of a visit some years ago by a group of
Indonesian Islamic leaders to the United States where they
realized the need for improved training of English language
teachers in pesantren (Islamic boarding schools).

Australia offered to fund the project, which started in 2004.
Education and training are the largest component of the
Indonesia-Australia Development Cooperation Program.

ISELP manager Chloe Olliver said fewer than 10 percent of
teachers in the Indonesian school system had tertiary training.

"Professional development opportunities in under-funded
Islamic schools are scarce," she said.

"This project allows for on-the-job training and mentoring.
ISELP trainers work with groups of teachers and conduct one-on-
one team teaching.

"There's been a notable shift away from a traditional, passive
and grammar-focused approach to teaching English toward more
active and participative methods.

"Indonesian teachers have been hesitant to use such methods in
the past as they may appear to be noisy and undisciplined in
rustic classrooms with rattan walls separating one class from the
next."

The Indonesian government's new English language curriculum
focuses more on speaking and listening. The required pass grade
has also been lifted.

All the Australian teachers working on the project have
experience in competency-based curricula.

-- Duncan Graham