Singapore needs to deal with
the reality of the shift towards English at home if it wants its
bilingual policy to remain relevant and
effective.
The Director of General Education
is therefore leading a review to make the teaching of Chinese
language more engaging and useful so as to ensure it keeps pace
with the changing language environment.
And among the changes taking
place soon - more subject bands for the Chinese
language.
Education Minister Ng Eng Hen
announced this today at the 12th appointment ceremony for
principals.
Jeremy Koh tells us
more.
Making the learning of the
Chinese language more relevant and useful for
students.
That is what the Education
Ministry wants to do.
Dr Ng says the changes being made
will be an extension of measures from the Mother Tongue Language
review in 2004.
Firstly, there'll be more subject
bands for the Chinese language at the primary and secondary
levels.
This is to allow separate groups
with different abilities to progress at a more realistic pace at
each level.
"This over-arching policy to
match the teaching methods and outcomes appropriate to the
students' ability should sensibly start as soon as they enter
primary 1. For some primary students who are at the basic level, it
would require using English to help them learn Chinese, as our
initial pilots have shown positive results."
Secondly, there'll be greater
emphasis on speaking and listening.
Dr Ng says MOE will further
increase the oral component at the primary and secondary levels,
though he did not specify the level of increase.
Yet another change involves using
more info-communication technologies to help students learn and
write the language.
And for those students who can
excel in the Chinese language, the ministry will continue to help
them to do so.
Dr Ng says MOE could consider
setting up one more SAP school if there's a
demand.
"These changes are not to dilute
our bilingual policy but to reaffirm it. We are responding
decisively to ongoing trends and preparing our students for their
future. "
As part of the language review,
MOE is also looking at curriculum and testing approaches from other
systems, like the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi.
These systems are less focused on
writing components but more targeted to help students use the
language and build confidence progressively.
But Dr Ng says it's likely that
Singapore will evolve its own model, by integrating the most
appropriate features it finds in good teaching systems around the
world.
More details on the changes will
be announced during the Committee of Supply debates in
March.
--938Live