The Indonesian Language Teacher Immersion (ILTI) program is designed to produce high-quality Indonesian language teachers through a tailored ‘in-country’ program, based at the prestigious Universitas Sanata Dharma (USD) in Yogyakarta. USD is well-known for its educational expertise and maintains an extensive network with local feeder schools through which practicum activities are conducted. ILTI accommodates pre-service and in-service teachers, thereby increasing teacher supply and providing attractive and innovative pathways to fast-track advanced linguistic and classroom competence. The program is open to both new incoming candidates or as a second semester option for annual students.

The semester-long ILTI program adheres to regular semester dates for USD and will see participants enrolled in a mixture of regular semester units, a practicum module, and language classes (if required). The units of BIPA (methodology and materials), PPL (Practicum) and FLOTE are compulsory and comprise 50% of the minimum required credit load. The remaining 6 credit points (2-3 units) are electives. Participants will be learning alongside young Indonesian teaching majors. Participants are required to have an upper-intermediate to advanced proficiency in Indonesian. The program provides participants with a greater understanding of unfamiliar linguistic, cultural and political environments, and also the opportunity to learn and practice innovative methods of language teaching. It encourages partnerships between Australian and Indonesian teachers to provide the personal foundation upon which to build student exchanges in future years, and thus, offer both students and teachers real world experiences in an Indonesian context.

Benefits of the ILTI Program

  • Rich and focused opportunity for pre and in-service school teachers.
  • ILTI can be credited to undergraduate and post-graduate degrees and diplomas.
  • An attractive and innovative means of fast-tracking advanced linguistic and classroom competence.

Expected Outcomes

  • Increased supply of high quality Indonesian language teachers.
  • Enhanced reciprocal links between Australian teachers and Indonesian colleagues.

Acknowledgement and Disclaimer
This material (ILTI webpages) was funded by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations under the National Asian Languages and Studies in Schools Program. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.