SINGAPORE: A new localised Chinese-language curriculum for pre-schools and kindergartens will be an additional option for pre-schools in Singapore to supplement existing resources, but those Channel NewsAsia spoke to pointed out that the materials they use are already rich in local culture.
The new curriculum, which was launched by Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung on Jan 3, features scenes of Singaporean daily life that children can relate to, like experiences in an HDB setting. It also includes local stories and incidents, such as Sang Nila Utama’s founding of Singapura, the clean-up of Singapore River as well as the Bukit Ho Swee fire.
It was developed by the Confucius Institute of Nanyang Technological University (NTU).
The Confucius Institute’s director Neo Peng Fu had noted that materials used by some pre-schools are sourced from other countries, or may not be of high quality. He added that many of the textbooks are imported from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
PRE-SCHOOLS ALREADY HAVE LOCAL ELEMENTS IN THEIR MATERIALS
But it appears that pre-schools here already have a local element to their materials, particularly for those which are developed in-house.
For example, the in-house curriculum at NTUC First Campus, which focuses on developing children’s oral skills, requires children to have conversations with each other. This, said NTUC First Campus’s Group Mother Tongue Languages Officer Connie Lum, means that children have a choice to include what they know in the conversation. NTUC First Campus operates more than 130 My First Skool childcare centres islandwide.
“So if the conversation is about food, they can include things like chee cheong fun and roti prata,” she explained.
Dr Lum added that the teaching aids and picture books they designed also depicts backdrops like Gardens by the Bay and a local bus terminal. Multi-racial children are also featured in the picture books.
“A lot of people have the stereotype that only boys draw things like buses or cars,” she said. “But in one particular book, we show an Indian girl drawing a truck and a Eurasian girl drawing a bus.”
“So we teach children about multi-racialism indirectly through the picture books, and we also show that girls can also draw buses or cars. So we are quite unique in that way.”
The Chinese-language curriculum developed by NTUC First Campus. (Photo: NTUC First Campus)
Over at EtonHouse, which has children, family and teaching staff from all over the world, its director of pedagogy Tina Stephenson-Chin stressed the importance of giving children opportunities to engage in experiences and traditions from their own culture, as well as from different cultures.
“Alongside Singapore’s national celebrations, culture and way of life, our community also actively share traditions and culture from their home countries,” she said. For example, children may explore various local cuisines, and families may have a go at creating their own versions of nasi lemak or ice kachang.
“These experiences are conducted in Mandarin and hosted by the Mandarin teachers,” she added. “In one of our schools, children were inquiring on the different kinds of buildings and their functions.
“The Mandarin teachers took the chance to introduce local landmarks such as Marina Bay Sands, the Esplanade, Peranakan shophouses, various places of worship and museums.”
The local element is also evident in smaller preschools like Paya Lebar Methodist Church Kindergarten, which uses a curriculum named Le Zhong Xue, developed by a Singapore company and recommended by the Pre-School Chinese Language Education Support Group of the Committee to Promote Chinese Language Learning.
“The publisher invited teachers from China as well as teachers from Singapore to develop this curriculum in order to suit the Singapore culture and settings,” said the kindergarten’s Chinese senior teacher Teo Lee Kiang. “It is fully localised, especially in the ways that Chinese festivals are being celebrated in Singaporean style.”
“It has also been reviewed and revised in order to meet the needs of Singaporean children.”
Nonetheless, the various pre-schools do not appear to have ruled out the NTU curriculum entirely.
Paya Lebar Methodist Church Kindergarten’s principal Adeline Tso said that while she has yet to see the new NTU curriculum, they are “open to consider any programme that will be beneficial to our children”.
Likewise, EtonHouse noted that the books and resources developed in the curriculum could be used as reference and a value-add to its teaching and learning resources.
“We are open to sharing ideas with educators from all over the world and greatly appreciate intelligent approaches no matter where they are from,” said EtonHouse’s Ms Stephenson-Chin. “However, many of our children are not local and so it would not be practical to offer an only localised environment to our families.”
And when asked if they will consider using the NTU curriculum, My First Skool said it will need to know more about it.
A Chinese lesson in progress at an EtonHouse pre-school. (Photo: EtonHouse)
RESOURCES USED AT MOE KINDERGARTENS SHARED WITH THE REST OF PRE-SCHOOL SECTOR
However, already available in the pre-school sector are the materials developed by the Ministry of Education (MOE) for its 18 MOE Kindergartens (MKs). The curriculum, based on MOE’s Nurturing Early Learners Framework, develops children’s early literacy skills and seeks to nurture early bilingualism, with a focus on developing their listening and speaking skills through the use of songs and stories. All pre-school centres are invited to attend engagement sessions to check out MOE’s Big Books, which are used in English and Mother Tongue languages.
These Big Books, MOE told Channel NewsAsia, use contexts that children relate to, such as a walk in the neighbourhood, visits to Singapore landmarks like Changi Airport and Gardens by the Bay, as well as celebration of local festivals like Deepavali, Hari Raya, Chinese New Year and National Day. Anchor and partner operators, as well as non-profit operators, get the Big Books for free, while commercial centres get it at cost price.
A set of 24 Big Books in English and 32 Big Books for each of the three official mother tongue languages for K1 have been delivered to more than 800 pre-school centres which have indicated interest to use them, said MOE, adding that it has also started showcasing the use of these resources at pre-school forums.
Private operator Cherie Hearts is one pre-school that uses these Big Books, which it says adds literacy content to the classroom environment. Its Chinese-language curriculum, according to Noorsiah Allaudeen, head of curriculum at G8 Education Singapore, is developed by in-house curriculum specialists, and uses a “thematic-based integrated curriculum” encompassing the various learning domains of language and literacy, numeracy, discovery of the world, socio-emotional development, motor skills development and creative and aesthetic expression. G8 Education Singapore owns and manages Cherie Hearts.
Mrs Allaudeen also noted the local element is also embedded in the curriculum themes covered, especially during festive celebrations. “Chinese lessons are also brought to life when children go on field trips to places of attraction to learn about local culture and experiences,” she said.
She added that Cherie Hearts will also definitely consider using the new localised curriculum from NTU. “Our curriculum specialists will review its content and gauge the suitability and appropriateness, ensuring it matches our in-house materials.”
Nonetheless, it also taps on resources developed in places like China and Taiwan, because they have a “rich” source of Mandarin preschool teaching materials.
“As these countries have an abundance of highly qualified Mandarin educators and children’s book authors and publishers, G8 Education Singapore actively seeks out and uses the myriad of resources available,” said Mrs Allaudeen. “Similarly, we turn to the UK, US and Australia for English teaching materials.”
LOCAL GOOD, OVERSEAS BAD? IMPORTANT TO STRIKE A BALANCE
There are, however, drawbacks to using materials developed overseas. For one, said G8 Education’s Mrs Allaudeen, some themes, illustration, culture and practices may be irrelevant.
“As pre-schoolers relate best to daily and first-hand experiences, learning about things like the four seasons and looking at illustrations that they cannot relate to their immediate surroundings make some of these content inappropriate for our children,” she said.
Ms Teo from Paya Lebar Methodist Church Kindergarten added that curriculum developed overseas generally have a Chinese-language standard that is too high, as Mandarin is likely to be the first language for children overseas. “Using overseas curricula may cause the children to lose interest,” she said. “The children may also not be able to relate to the content as it is quite different from their daily life settings.”
However, using materials developed overseas may not be a bad thing, stressed Dr Lum from NTUC First Campus. Using the classic picture book The Very Hungry Caterpillar as an example, she said many countries use this book as the content is “very common”.
“We cannot say that only localised content is good and discount some of the overseas picture books,” she said. “Then we will have a very narrow perspective.”
“There are many good picture books around the world, and some of the materials from overseas have very good Chinese values,” she added, citing a Chinese-language picture book which teaches children the values of the Chinese reunion dinner.
“It’s not a bad thing to expose them to different cultures.”
