Forging Bonds Through Language: The Relaunch of the ILLA Pilot Program

We were thrilled to launch the Indonesian Language Learning Ambassadors (ILLA) pilot program on 7 February 2024, fostering language and cultural exchange that will help build connections and understanding between the people of Australia and Indonesia.

The ILLA program will match Indonesian Australia Awards scholars with Australian schools for language and cross-cultural learning opportunities. The Indonesian scholars, known as “Ambassadors”, will share the Indonesian language, culture and customs with students and teachers at their school, building connections with the local community. The initiative was announced by the Australian Prime Minister and Indonesian President in July 2023.

"As an ILLA Ambassador, I am beyond grateful for the opportunity to not only motivate Australian students to learn Bahasa Indonesia but also to promote our wonderful Indonesia, highlighting the culture of Eastern Indonesia”, said Yacob Manuhua, one of the ILLA Ambassadors.  

The program, which builds on a previous version of ILLA, which ran until 2019, will forge lasting connections between Indonesian Australia Awards scholars and the local Australian community.

The initial ILLA pilot will commence with six Australian schools partnering with ten Ambassadors. Let us shine a light on some of these Ambassadors; what aspirations and objectives do they harbour for this remarkable endeavour? Let us hear directly from the individuals themselves!

We send our warmest wishes to each ILLA Ambassador as they head into the classroom for Term 1.  And please keep an eye out for the ILLA program in universities coming later this year!