4 Things We Learnt From MOE Deputy-Director-General About Mother Tongue (Chinese, Malay, Tamil)

Recently, CNA Talking Point looks at effective learning of Mother Tongue (Chinese, Malay, Tamil).

In this article summarizing the episode, Ministry of Education deputy director-general Sng Chern Wei shared how the joy of learning Mother Tongue can be promoted. Mr Sng oversees the general curriculum planning for schools.

And here’s our four takeaways.

1) Kids need to enjoy the learning of the language – and this interest will sustain even if the home environment is not conducive.

2) Interactive digitial learning materials work to help our kids gain competency in the language. (P.S. Screen time can be meaningful)

3) Teachers need to tap on popular culture and current affairs to make the learning of Mandarin relevant to the students.

4) If parents can lead by example to learn Mother Tongue better, they can inspire their children too.

And this pretty much sums up what we have been doing at Vitamin M. We literally breathe these pointers when it comes to the teaching of Chinese.

Our GamiStory video content is designed for our digital native students to have fun and to nurture their interest in Chinese first – before we build competency.

Our online Vitamin M Hour classes tap heavily on popular culture and current affairs. Students learn through pop songs and acting in some classes. And once a month, they learn through watching short documentaries.

And while we pull all the strings together, we also encourage our parents to learn TOGETHER with their kids. Make use of our content, start a conversation based on it, and you have just established your daily goal of conversing and discussing in Mandarin!