My Teacher, My School

MY Teacher MYSchool
“Something as simple as
seeing twigs on the ground
can lead to discussions on
N A COUNTRY where
how they can be used to
English is the ürst
start a üre or a conversation
language, Mother
about the shapes of leaves.”
Tongue Language (MTL)
Ms Zheng also believes
educators in Singapore
that parent involvement is
tend to face an uphill battle
crucial for MTL learning.
garnering children’s interest.
“Children will easily forget
It is a challenge Ms Zheng
what they have learned
Min, a winner of the ECDA
at school if they do not
Outstanding Early Childhood
practise the language at
Teacher Award 2014, knows
home,” she says. As part of
all too well in her 12 years as
the classroom’s ‘Inventions’
a Mandarin teacher in the
theme, the K2 children were
early childhood sector. Since
asked to give a presentation
2012, she has been with
in Mandarin on famous
Kinderland Preschool
inventors, based on research
@ Republic Polytechnic
they conducted at home
where she teaches Nursery
with their parents.
to K2 children.
Janelle Ho’s enthusiasm
“It’s common for children
for MTL can be traced to
not to know any Mandarin
her pre-school years at
when they enter the Nursery
Kinderland. The eight-yearlevel,” says Ms Zheng, 37,
old is now studying Higher
who believes this may be
Chinese in primary school.
due to lack of exposure at
Her mother Ms Jolene
home. “Most parents speak
Chiam, a lecturer, says, “I
remember Janelle showing
me the Chinese books which
Ms Zheng gave her, and
singing Chinese songs she
learned at pre-school.”
She also received regular
updates on Janelle’s
progress from Ms Zheng,
in addition to feedback at
parent–teacher meetings.
ve for
lo
“Ms Zheng genuinely
’s
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g
en
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s
M
cares about children and I
ident as her
ev
as
is
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M
believe they can feel it.
love for children.
They feel comfortable
communicating in
Mandarin with her,”
says Ms Chiam. Indeed,
she is conüdent that
Ms Zheng will have the
same positive inýuence
on her son Jared, three,
not have
when he starts Nursery
MTL learning does
as there are
in 2016.
to end at school
parents to
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Ms Zheng hopes to
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to read to you.
More importantly,
14 Beanstalk
make it fun!
I
The
English at home to their
children because they
think it is a more important
language to learn.” However,
Ms Zheng is not discouraged
and makes every eûort to
cultivate an appreciation for
Mandarin among children at
her centre.
“I want to instil a love
for Mandarin in children,
and it will certainly help
if they enjoy learning the
language in class,” she
explains. Ms Zheng does
this by incorporating indoor
and outdoor play into her
lessons. For example, when
teaching inventions, she
asks her K2 children to talk
in Mandarin about their
favourite toys and who
invented them, during showand-tell sessions. Ms Zheng
also takes the pre-schoolers
on nature walks to provide
rich hands-on opportunities
for them to improve
their Chinese vocabulary.
G
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W ormula
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ZHENG MIN
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PHOTO BY EALBERT HO
FORGING THE CENTREPARENT PARTNERSHIP