Program Guru Bantu

- Updated 130102022 -

Program Guru Bantu which was initiated by Silvy Wantania last year collaborates VILTA with various universities in Indonesia to assist teachers and lecturers in Victoria, Australia, to teach Bahasa Indonesian at schools and Universities with the virtual help of professional native speakers from Indonesia.

'Guru Bantu' can assist in delivering cultural programs and preparing teaching materials and conversation classes (online). Currently, the program runs for approximately one month each term. This program is free and subsidised by VILTA for members only.

Before the assignment, the Guru Bantu candidates will be prepared and trained intensively by VILTA to adapt to the teaching conditions in Australia, including:

- Teacher training

- Working with children

- BIPA method (Bahasa Indonesia untuk Penutur Asing - Indonesian for Foreigners).

- Australian Curriculum

Registration for Program Guru Bantu will commence at the end of each term, and you can find the announcements at https://www.vilta.org.au/our-events.

The following are testimonials from the first assisting teacher program in Term 1, 2021.

"We enjoyed working with Diah. She joined google meet with my year 12 classes numerous times as well as prepared some written work for us. Our highlight was when we were discussing woman that inspires us the students got to hear three different voices Diah (Sumatera) Agnes our language assistant (Timor) and myself (Australia). This was a great listening activity for our year 12 students as they heard about a broad range of inspirational women from environmentalists, teachers, journalists and our own family members. ( I have attached a photo).

I would highly recommend this program to other teachers to have a native speaker work with our students was very beneficial especially as they were exposed to another accent too."

- Michelle Ladhams, Warrnambool College -

"We truly appreciate the opportunity offered by VILTA to work with Pak Muhammad Adek from Universitas Negeri Padang (UNP). Pak Adek gave very valuable input in our Indonesian 5 and advanced Indonesian Literature classes. Topics included the cultural background to the novel Sitti Nurbaya and the economic and environmental impact of the cement industry in Padang, Pak Adek’s home region. In other classes, we discussed broader topics related to human rights issues in Indonesia. We hope to continue collaborating with Pak Adek and UNP. He has invited us for participation in an online conference in July this year. Thank you VILTA!"

- Edwin Jurriens, Melbourne University -

Testimonial from Annette Sugiyanto - Oberon High School

"We were very fortunate to have Fiqa as our Guru Bantu from Padang. Fiqa worked with my Year 11 students once a week over video conferencing, working on their general conversation. She also produced some powerpoints, worksheets and some videos about life in Indonesia. And she also recorded some of the transcripts for listening tasks. The students looked forward to their sessions each week with Fiqa, and enjoyed getting to know an Indonesian and learning about her life in Padang. It was a fabulous opportunity for our school, and I would recommend this program to others. It is lovely to know that something so positive has essentially come out of