Gusrizal: Teaching Indonesian abroad

Syofiardi Bachyul Jb ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Bukittinggi   |  Thu, 09/04/2008 10:14 AM  |  People

GUSRIZAL: (JP/Syofiardi Bachyul Jb)

Gusrizal is one of only a few Indonesians who have paid close attention to the progress of Indonesian language studies in Australia.

After more than eight years of introducing Indonesian culture and teaching Indonesian language studies at Australian high schools and universities, Gusrizal wrote and published his own Indonesian studies textbook.

The book, titled Let's Study Bahasa Indonesia with a New Method, was first published in Jakarta in 1999. The second edition came out in August 2000, and a third revised edition was published in February 2007.

The textbook has become one of the principle resources for Indonesian language studies in Australia.

"As far as I know, this was the first Indonesian language textbook written by an Indonesian person to be used in Australian schools," Gusrizal told The Jakarta Post in his hometown of Bukittinggi, West Sumatra.

"Indonesian language textbooks in Australia have mostly been written by Australian people themselves," he added.

Born in Bukittinggi on Aug. 6, 1962, Gusrizal graduated with a degree in education from the English Language Teaching Faculty at Jakarta National University.

He began his career teaching Indonesian language to foreigners, and since 1988 has trained foreign Indonesian language teachers.

Gusrizal first became interested in developing Indonesian language studies in Australia after reading a newspaper article which reported that although there was a high level of interest among Australians to learn Indonesian language, the number of teachers and textbooks available were (unfortunately) limited.

"Before reading that article, I spent most of my time teaching. But after the political changes of 1997, I made the decision to start writing the textbook," he said.

The first edition was published at his own expense. With a print run of 3,000 copies, the book received a positive response from the education section of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta. One year later it was reprinted.

"I was offered the opportunity to teach at several schools and universities in Tasmania. I went there for almost two months in 2002 on an invitation from the Tasmanian government."

During his visits to schools there, Gusrizal discovered a sad reality: While Australian students were keen to learn Indonesian language (more popular than the four other Asian languages taught in Australian schools at that time), the Indonesian government had paid little attention to support the teaching of the language abroad.

"Many schools didn't even have maps of Indonesia or flags or any other Indonesian symbols. How much would it have cost our government to supply a couple of pictures of our president, the State emblem and a flag?" he asked.

"Where was Indonesia's input? This is what motivated me to get involved in producing teaching materials," he said.

Gusrizal applied touches of Indonesian culture to his classes in Australia: He brought Indonesian currency, maps and miniature models of Minangkabau traditional houses to his lessons. He also invited students to sing Indonesian songs such as "Topi Saya Bundar" (My Hat is Round) and "Burung Kakaktua" (Cockatoo). Learning these songs encouraged students to learn more about Indonesia, he said.

A foreword by the West Sumatra Governor in the third edition of Gusrizal's language textbook was included to place a focus on Indonesia's West Sumatra province in the book. Gusrizal also included a number of traditional stories from West Sumatra, such as the legendary tale of Malin Kundang and the history of the Minangkabau people (the majority ethnic culture in the West Sumatra region).

The inclusion of local content from West Sumatra, Gusrizal said, was to promote the region in Australia.

"I feel we should no longer be promoting Bali or Java in Australia. The time has come to promote Sumatra and the provincial government of West Sumatra, so I helped by featuring West Sumatra in my textbook," he said.

Through education, he added, that region could promote its culture and tourist attractions to students in Australia. Indirectly, this could help to promote Indonesia overall.

Gusrizal now lives in Bukittinggi and is focussing on building socio-cultural bridges between West Sumatra and Australia through exchange programs for students and teachers. He established Element for Indonesia, an education, culture, research and development non-government organization, which has an office in Bukittinggi.

Through this NGO, senior high school teachers from West Sumatra were sent to Victoria, Australia, for three weeks in 2007 to learn about the Australian education system. This year, Gusrizal said, there is a plan for 30 high school teachers from Australia to visit Bukittinggi.

"I'll continue working to encourage cooperation in the fields of education and culture between Australia and Indonesia -- in particular West Sumatra. This is my way of helping promote Indonesian culture and tourism."

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