Mother Tongue Language

Mother Tongue

Mission

The Mother Tongue Language (MTL) Department aims to foster a community of 21st century learners and critical thinkers who are confident speakers of their Mother Tongue Languages and appreciate its cultural values.

Vision

We aim to develop our students to become future-oriented learners who are able to communicate in their Mother Tongue language confidently, therefore enabling them to connect with others through the language to learn about its cultural values.

Overview

The department offers Chinese Language, Tamil Language and Malay Language. In addition to the MOE syllabus, the MTL Department provides a customised curriculum that caters to the needs of our students. The curriculum aims to develop our students to achieve our Kellock Girls Outcomes, so as to become Future-Oriented Learners.

Please click on the links below for information on the various departments.

i) Chinese Language
ii) Tamil Language
iii) Malay Language

Key Programmes

Mother Tongue Fortnight
Mother Tongue Fortnight was mooted in 2012 by MOE to encourage the use of Mother Tongue languages among students. The theme that our school adopts is Language Unlocks Culture, Culture Reflects Values. This is in line with our objective of having more cultural activities in the context of an IJ school.

P4 Mother Tongue Language and Cultural Camp Every year, a Language and Cultural camp will be organised for all P4 students to provide them with an immersive environment to learn about the use of Mother Tongue Languages (MTL), and to appreciate the respective MTL cultures through hands-on tasks.

P5 Mother Tongue Supplementary Programme The programme is designed for all P5 students taking CL, ML and TL respectively. The intended outcomes of the programme are to:

1. enable students to have a better understanding of the P5 MTL syllabus.

2. help students cope with the rigour of the P5 syllabus and facilitate the transition from the P4 syllabus.

3. enable students to understand the examinable components of the P5 MTL papers.

4. equip students with the QAR strategies to answer comprehension questions.

Highlights

Parents can help in the following ways:
Encourage your child to speak to family members in both Mother Tongue and English as the learning of languages begins at home. Build your child’s confidence in using Mother Tongue by not excessively correcting her mistakes.

Encourage your child to read good Mother Tongue and English books. You may wish to get audio books, electronic books or books with attractive illustrations and relatively fewer words if your child is a beginning reader. When she is more prepared, you can choose books with more words.

Expose your child to good Mother Tongue and English programmes, for example, animation features such as cartoons. This provides an alternative avenue for your child to be exposed to Mother Tongue. It would also be good to build up her language proficiency by allowing her to play meaningful games while using the language.