Mother Tongue

MISSION:

(1) To create a conducive MTL learning environment

(2) To empower pupils to become effective communicators in their MTL

(3) To inculcate a passion for heritage and culture

VISION:

Active Mother Tongue Language Learners

Programmes Overview

Other Celebrations

1. Mother Tongue Fortnight

To provide an immersive environment for students to learn and use the mother tongue language in a more in-depth manner, and to appreciate the culture through hands-on tasks, the MTL department organises a spectrum of activities for the annual Mother Tongue Fortnight. The theme for this year is “Innovation and Creativity”.

This year, the 3 mother tongue languages collaborated and conducted a session on kite-making during the respective recesses.

Recess Activity: Kite-making

Please follow the links for more information on the activities conducted by the respective mother tongue languages: CL; ML; TL

2. Talent Development Programmes

Talent Development Programme is designed to stretch and challenge the students in the learning of the MTL. Students with special talent(s) or skill(s) are identified by their respective MTL teachers and given the opportunity to participate in competitions at the Cluster or/and National / International level.

Tamil External Competition

Inter-school Tamil Language Competition 2022

Organiser: Kolam Ayer CC Indian Activity Executive committee & Kolam Ayer Youth network

Name and Award Title:

Chinese External Competition

7th National Primary Schools “Picture Book Creation” Competition 2021

Organiser: Nan Hua Primary School

Name and Award Title:

3. Conversational Chinese/Malay Programme (CCM) 

Conversational Chinese/Malay is an MOE initiated programme which aims to strengthen Singapore’s multi-racial compact and to enable students to have some grounding of the language so that they could more easily pick up the language should they need it for economic or other reasons in adult life.

In West Grove Primary School, this module is being offered as an enrichment programme to our Primary 3 and 4 students who are interested in learning the Chinese / Malay language and culture, other than their own mother tongue language.  The CCM programme comprises of two 20-hour modules (Beginner Module and Basic Module). Upon completion of the Beginner Module in Primary 3, students will advance to Basic Module 1 in Primary 4. Students who have completed each module will be awarded with a certificate of completion.

Based on the survey conducted after each module, students generally enjoyed the lessons and agreed that they had learnt more about the Chinese/Malay language & culture. Moreover, students also mentioned that this programme provided them the opportunity to understand their peers of another race better as they are now better equipped to converse in their peers’ own mother tongue language to some extent.

4. Mother Tongue Flipped Classroom 2023

Mother Tongue classes have adopted the flipped classroom model to promote active learning, increase student engagement, and improve student performance by allowing more opportunities for collaboration and interaction with peers.

While the flipped classroom model offers many potential benefits, there are also some challenges to consider. Flipped classroom relies on technology, such as access to internet, computers, and mobile devices. Not all students may have access to these resources, which can create a digital divide and limit the effectiveness of the flipped classroom approach. Besides that, flipped classroom requires students to take responsibility for their own learning and manage their time effectively to complete the required pre-class assignments. Some students may struggle with motivation or time management skills. In addition, students who are used to a more passive learning style may struggle with the increased level of responsibility and independence required in a flipped classroom.

Thus, at this stage, teachers still create time and space for students to access their Student Learning Space (SLS) to complete their pre-class assignments so that all students benefit from this teaching approach.

5. Mother Tongue Little Reporters 2023

To encourage the learning of Mother Tongue Languages as a living language and to ignite our students’ love for the language, we have little reporters’ programs and a microsite for our student reporters to bring interesting news to their school’s mates in mother tongue languages.

Little Reporters Program for selected P4 – P6 students

The aim of this program is to nurture West Grovians in speaking and writing of the Mother Tongue Language. We aimed to get the trained little reporters to report on school-based events with a termly theme.

Mother Tongue News Buzz

In the microsite, there are two sections, namely “Spotlight” and “Feature Me”. In the section “Spotlight”, students would discover exciting happening around him/her. As for the section “Feature Me”, West Grovians are encouraged to be an active news contributor. He/she could drop in a few liners (in mother tongue language) for our student reporters to interview and report on.

Yearly Learning Journey trips for Little Reporters

Our little reporters went on to SPH for an enriching learning journey and got to visit the office of local reporters.

Useful Links:

Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board Approved Dictionary

https://www.seab.gov.sg/docs/default-source/documents/list_of_dictionaries_for_examination.pdf