Teacher Training for Islamic schools

As part of the AusAID-funded Islamic Schools English Language Project (ISELP), IALF Surabaya has just completed a series of four teacher-training workshops for English Language teachers in Islamic schools (madrasah and pesantren) in East Java. The IALF instructors on the program were Patrick Strei, Lusvita Fitri, Philip Rees, Marita Bodman and Liz Crothers.

The goals of the course were two-fold – firstly to upgrade the participants’ level of English, and secondly to introduce them to communicative language teaching practices. This was achieved through IALF teachers modeling a range of teaching techniques and giving each participant the opportunity to micro- teach lessons and receive feedback from their peers, their teachers and the Director of Studies of IALF, Surabaya, Don Hancock.

The participants also took part in workshops where they were given access to materials for young learners. From these materials they devised their own lessons, games and activities, relevant to their particular needs. Some of the courses included a cross-cultural component which looked at aspects of the Australian way of life and compared lifestyles and values with those in Indonesia.

Caroline Bentley from IALF Bali is an adviser to ISELP and visited IALF Surabaya during the second teacher training workshop. Caroline also provides professional advice and support to the Australian English language teachers placed in madrasah and pesantren throughout East Java as part of the ISELP project.

The following are comments from two workshop participants:

Many things I can take back to my students:

• new spirit because I have more self-confidence
• new technique in teaching.
  Umi R

I will try to take back what I got from this course to my students because the materials and the methods to teach are very nice
and suitable to my students.
Elin

Indonesia Australia Language Foundation

IALF Language Centres in Indonesia: