The conference theme was Indonesian in the Era of Information Technology and the comprehensive program included seven plenary sessions, a panel discussion and thirteen parallel sessions. For each parallel session there was a choice of six and sometimes seven presentations!! Topics covered issues of curriculum, methodology, linguistics, culture, design and development of teaching materials and the role of information technology in the teaching of Indonesian. Both Indonesian and English were used as conference languages.

Sessions were presented by colleagues from Indonesia, Singapore and Russia, as well as from Australia. Presenters from negeri kangguru ini included David Reeve (UNSW) on teaching language through culture, Ceri Butler (Education Queensland) on curriculum design using a task-based approach and the Park Ridge immersion program, Karen Bailey (WA) on Perkembangan Bahasa Indonesia di Australia Barat, Nani Pollard (University of Melbourne) on teaching Indonesian through traditional oral tales, Pamela Davis (ACT) on raising the profile of Indonesian in the primary school, Nana Sheridan (Education Queensland) on planning a unit of work using the new Queensland syllabus, Monica McCauley (SA) on developing a comprehensive Indonesian language program in the junior school, Mary Aldous (NSW) on producing big books and Helen Pedlar (Open Access College, Adelaide) on genre. Andrea Corston, Michael Edwards and Serena Ruiz (Open Access College, Adelaide) demonstrated some of the CD-ROMs developed at the college. My presentation on multimedia in the Indonesian classroom included a demonstration of the Indonesian mode of HSC Online with live internet connection and a brief look at Album Indonesia. 

Pak Bundhowi, who has many friends in NSW after teaching on the north coast last year, presented an extremely lively and popular session on Apa yang tidak diajarkan di universitas; teknik pengajaran yang menarik, lucu dan praktis untuk mengajar bahasa dan kepekaan budaya yang tinggi. I cannot comment on all the sessions I attended, but other stimulating sessions were presented by Ibu Nuni from Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (formerly IKIP Bandung), Ibu Sally from UI, Ibu Tetty from IALF Jakarta and Pak Aminudin Aziz from Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia. You can read an extract from one of Pak  Aminudin's previous papers on indirect refusals on page 20-24. 

Beside the actual sessions and the rich linguistic and cultural input they offered, the conference provided a wonderful opportunity to catch up with old friends and make new ones. I met up with lecturers and fellow classmates from UKSW Salatiga (Pak Anton and Umi Quor from Tasmania), ASILE participants Ibu Lily and Ibu Nani from Victoria, teachers from JIS who spent six months working with teachers in Sydney several years ago (Iesye Kausar and Christine Susanto), IALF managers and teachers (Geoff Crewes, Denise Finney, Nyoman Riasa, Pak Bun to name a few), former colleagues from Sydney now resident in Bali (Vern Cork and Margareth Di Wit) not to mention NSW colleagues (Judy Ebner, Zoe Wakelin-King, Toni Pollard, Lee Herden, Hala Hazel, Linda Keyte, Terry and Adrienne Haddow and Mary Aldous). It was good to finally meet many interstate colleagues, who had been previously faceless telephone or email contacts.

The conference also provided a unique opportunity to meet key Indonesian figures in BIPA (Bahasa Indonesia bagi Penutur Asing). I was invited to two meetings and a dinner with the committee of APBIPA, the Association of BIPA teachers. At the dinner Nyoman Riasa handed me the dreaded envelope, an invitation to be a member of the panel discussion before the closing ceremony. The old saying Ada udang di balik batu came to mind as soon as I read the contents. Tapi apa boleh buat? Nasi sudah jadi bubur. So I accepted the challenge and joined David Reeve and three Indonesian colleagues on the podium.

Overall the conference provided the opportunity to:

• keep up to date with trends in Indonesian language teaching
• view new materials, including CD-ROMs and websites 
• exchange ideas with colleagues from Indonesia
• showcase NSW multimedia resources for Indonesian
• hear and use Indonesian at a high level in a professional context
• renew old friendships with colleagues in Indonesia 
• extend my network of key figures involved in BIPA on an international level.

The next KIPBIPA will be held in 2003. I would urge all teachers to consider attending. The venue has not been finalised as the committee has asked interested institutions to submit proposals by the end of October.