14 Pre-School Teachers Recognised at the 11th Mother Tongue Languages Symposium

Minister for Education, Mr Chan Chun Sing, launched the 11th Mother Tongue Languages Symposium (MTLS) on Saturday, 27 August 2022, at the Republic Cultural Centre in Republic Polytechnic. Members of the public joined the Symposium virtually via a live steam on the MTLS website, www.mtls.edu.sg.

2. The theme of this year's symposium "A Garden for Joyful Discovery" focuses on how educators, parents and community partners can work together to create an enjoyable, vibrant and nurturing environment for pre-school and primary school children to learn and appreciate their Mother Tongue Languages (MTLs).

Outstanding Pre-School Mother Tongue Language Teacher Award

3. At the Symposium, 14 dedicated pre-school teachers were recognised as recipients of the annual Outstanding Pre-school Mother Tongue Language (OPMTL) Teacher Award – eight received the Outstanding Award and six received the Merit Award. The award recipients were selected from a total of 139 nominations. (Please see Annex for the list of award recipients).

4. The OPMTL Teacher Award – jointly presented by the Committee to Promote Chinese Language Learning (CPCLL), the Malay Language Learning and Promotion Committee (MLLPC), and the Tamil Language Learning and Promotion Committee (TLLPC) – recognises the contributions of our pre-school teachers in making the learning of MTLs engaging, and in nurturing a love for MTLs among pre-school children. The selection panel for the award recipients comprised nine experienced pre-school educators and academics, who conducted lesson observations and interviews with the teachers as part of the selection process.

Highlights of MTLS 2022

5. A highlight of this year's Symposium was the live panel discussion titled "Co-creating a Joyful MTL Learning Environment for Our Children". Moderated by Minister of State for Education and Chairperson of the CPCLL, Ms Gan Siow Huang, the panellists, consisting of Mr Chan Chun Sing, Second Minister for Education and Chairperson of the MLLPC, Dr Maliki Osman, and Chairperson of the TLLPC, Mr Vikram Nair, shared their personal anecdotes on the importance of having a language-rich environment for young children, and also examples of how community stakeholders can help build an environment that promotes the joyful learning of our MTLs.

6. In addition, this year's Symposium features new activities for children, educators, and parents to participate in. These activities include:

1. The Explore@MTLS Activity Package, comprising eight activities ranging from word search to video making for parents to enjoy with their children. The Activity Package can be accessed via the MTLS website.
2. Online interactive workshops, featuring hands-on activities for parents and their children to participate in to provide opportunities for parent-child interaction.
3. Online engagement sessions, which are targeted at primary school children to help them experience the joy of learning MTL and equip them with skills to use their MTLs in their everyday routines. Activities include the making of Mid-Autumn Festival lanterns, and the learning of adjectives through Augmented Reality.
4. Online storytelling sessions by librarians from the National Library Board. These sessions are targeted at pre-school and lower primary children to spark joy in the reading of MTL books.

7. The MTLS website, which will be available till April 2023, will also feature more than 40 online exhibits and close to 30 sharing sessions on ways to promote Mother Tongue Language literacy and appreciation, drawing from the perspectives of academics, educators, curriculum specialists and media personalities. There is also an online quest featuring interactive task-based games, and an online sales booth for the public to purchase curated MTL digital and non-digital learning resources.