British Council Supports The Empowerment Of English Teachers In The Digitalization Era

Country Director of British Council Indonesia Summer Xia (photo: Rana/VOI)

JAKARTA The British Council, an international organization in the field of English education, wants to empower teachers in remote areas in Indonesia. This is done so that teachers can face the era of technology.

Currently, there are still many English teachers who do not have access to technology or even the internet so the teaching and learning process cannot be carried out optimally. In order to empower the younger generation, the British Council wants to help with the limitations of teachers.

There are several programs that the British Council launched to help English teachers in dealing with the technological era, one of which is UK-ID Digital Innovation. This program was created to prepare teachers in the Disadvantaged, Frontier, and Outermost (3T) areas.

"(This program) has lower requirements on technology and the internet that people offline can use in remote areas," said Country Director of the Indonesian Council Summer Xia in a Limited Interview session on Thursday, September 19.

Next, the British Council also provides a special platform for English teachers called Teaching English. Summer says that Teaching English is a leading online platform from the British Council because it can be accessed for free online.

This platform is accessed by millions of teachers every year because of its diverse materials, ranging from teaching materials, articles, webinar videos, to online courses to improve the ability of English teachers. This platform also provides discussion spaces for sharing teaching experiences.

"This platform has reached more than 7 million users every year in more than 200 countries around the world. We are very happy to see that Indonesia is also an important country where many teachers have benefited from this platform. Last year alone, we reached more than 2 million teachers in Indonesia," Summer said.

In addition to developing programs to support English teachers in the digital era, Summer explained that the British Council also adopted Artificial Intelligence (AI). According to Xia, this technology will not replace teachers, but encourage teacher abilities.

"(This technology can) offer students a more personal learning experience," Summer said. "We are also evolving by adopting and adapting AI into our services and products, especially in English teaching."

Summer added that the British Council will continue to adopt AI in some of its services so that the process can be much more effective and efficient. The British Council is also committed to utilizing technology in a way they think is best.