13 December 2024
An Indonesian language teacher who educates isolated students across the state has taken out a top award.
Danielle Horne was awarded the Australia-Indonesia Institute Language Teaching Award, which recognises excellence in Indonesian language teaching.
School of Isolated and Distance Education teacher Danielle Horne was awarded the Australia-Indonesia Institute Language Teaching Award, which recognises excellence in Indonesian language teaching.
Ms Horne is a teacher at the School of Isolated and Distance Education (SIDE) where she teaches Indonesian to students from all over Western Australia through interactive resources, video meetings and online courses.
Her contributions to Indonesian language teaching beyond the classroom include sharing resources online and in workshops, co-authoring a textbook, sitting on committees, and being president of the Westralian Indonesian Language Teachers Association.
Ms Horne, who is currently chair of Balai Bahasa Indonesia Perth, said learning a language allowed students to develop a range of skills.
“I'm passionate about how much we can learn when we learn a language,” she said.
“It's all about problem-solving and metacognition, as well as about building connections with others and seeing other people’s perspectives.
“Indonesian is particularly important, as it's the language of our nearest neighbour. Indonesia is such a vibrant and exciting place, with a really young population.
“There are so many exciting opportunities for young Australians to connect and collaborate in the future, so Indonesian is definitely a great language to learn.”
The award winners were announced at the annual National Australian Indonesian Language Awards (NAILA) ceremony in Canberra on 7 December.