Job Discussion Forums

guruengerish · Joined: 28 Mar 2004 Posts: 424 Location: Australia

I've just a had a letter from a former colleague who is still teaching English in Indonesia. He tells me he is going to have to get into studying Indonesian more seriously, as the Govt are pushing for expats to pass a test if they wish to stay and work in the country.

I've heard this mentioned in the past; is this still fact or urban myth?

Cynical though it may sound, I wonder what the recruitment rate of English teachers is going to be like with the latest bombs in Bali.

hairyrambutan · Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 11:49 pm Post subject:

The Jakarta Post published an article on it last week.

Yes indeed, foolish as it sounds, this is what the ministry of labour wants people to do.

The say they plan to implement the test at the beginning of next quarter.

ps2_machine · Joined: 29 Apr 2004 Posts: 22 Location: korea

How many people are going to learn Indonesian before coming here and where are they going to learn it?

I hope the test is for free also.

Any details about this?

hairyrambutan · Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2005 7:37 am Post subject:

The article said something about how applicants would have to spend some money in reference to tuition.

God knows how they're going to work it for people who have never been here before.

There's no way all the expat workers living here are going to 'master Indonesian' for their next visa extension (the test is meant to rememble the TOEFL in terms of difficulty).

Expect either common sense prevailing or large sums of dirty money changing hands.

Salam · Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2005 8:17 am Post subject:

Does anyone have a copy of this article, as I couldn't find it on the Jakarta Post website.

This is something I really need to know about as I'm moving there at the end of the year and while my Indonesian is good enough that I wont starve to death, it certainly isn't at a high standard.

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

When I taught in Indonesia, only two of the seven foreign teachers knew any Indonesian before coming to the school. The rest of us learned Indonesian to perhaps a high beginner level over the course of a year.

I don't think this is a very well thought-out plan.

El Llama · Joined: 12 Jul 2004 Posts: 70 Location: The Big Durian

Here's the link to a jakarta post article about the proposed test:

http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20050926.L01

However, I don't think us teachers should be filling our britches just yet. Here are a couple of quotes from the article:

kasihan deh loh · Joined: 26 Sep 2005 Posts: 28 Location: Jakarta

Half the Indonesians I know would be lucky to pass a TOEFL level test of Bahasa Indonesia, so what chance has the average expat got.

I think it's just another way to get more money out of the bule ATM's.