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