A doctoral student of Indonesian Language Education at Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI), Destiani, achieved an international milestone through her participation in the Teaching Assistant Program in Australia from October to December 2025. Through this program, Desti had the opportunity to serve as a guest instructor in Vanuatu under the coordination of the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra (28–29 November 2025). This assignment was directly granted by the Education and Cultural Attaché in Canberra, Prof. Yuli Rahmawati, Ph.D., as part of efforts to strengthen Indonesian language diplomacy in the Pacific region.
In addition to being a fourth-semester doctoral student, Desti, as she is familiarly known, is also a lecturer in the Indonesian Language and Literature Education Study Program at the University of Lampung. She is currently completing her dissertation on the development of learning models for Indonesian for Foreign Speakers (BIPA). During her assignment, she also utilized the opportunity to collect data for her field research.
Teaching activities began on Friday, 28 November 2025, when Destiani led three learning sessions covering the introduction of the Indonesian alphabet, numbers, and self-introductions. In the alphabet session, learners were introduced to vowel and consonant pronunciation through creative activities such as singing, phonetic games, and articulation exercises. For teaching numbers one to ten, she employed a “game hunter” activity that actively engaged all participants, even in large groups. In the self-introduction session, Desti introduced basic vocabulary such as my name is…, I am from…, and my hobby is…, and then asked participants to write a short paragraph to be practiced orally.
The learning sessions continued on Saturday, 29 November 2025, with a review of the previous day’s material and the introduction of various Indonesian greetings, such as selamat pagi, siang, sore, and malam. To maintain an enthusiastic learning atmosphere, interactive games were incorporated into each teaching segment. Desti also collaborated with other instructors who introduced elements of Indonesian culture, including the song “Soleram,” the folktale Malin Kundang, and the creation of paper puppets. Around 40 participants were also invited to perform Papuan dance movements while learning directional vocabulary such as to the right, to the left, turn around, and move forward.
The activity was also attended by the Education and Cultural Attaché in Canberra, Prof. Yuli Rahmawati, Ph.D., who on this occasion introduced two Indonesian scholarship schemes, namely TIAS (The Indonesian AID Scholarship) and KNB (Developing Countries Partnership Scholarship). She stated that opportunities to study in Indonesia are becoming increasingly open, especially after the Indonesian language was designated as the 10th official language at the UNESCO General Conference. Through this program, Indonesian language and culture gain greater international exposure, while the contribution of young academics like Destiani represents UPI’s tangible role in strengthening linguistic diplomacy at the global level.