The use of Singapore language is increasingly inclined to English, making people worry that the status of mother tongue is constantly marginalized.In order to prevent Singapore from moving towards a monosalous society, the government has always worked hard to enhance mother tongue education, hoping that Chinese people will retain the advantages of bilingual.Education Minister Chen Zhensheng announced a series of new plans on Saturday (September 14) to help students learn their mother tongue at different stages and strengthen the cornerstone of bilingual policies in the education system.
At the primary school stage, the Ministry of Education will create more opportunities to use mother tongue and cultivate their interest in mother tongue reading for students.After being promoted to middle school, students with outstanding Chinese ability have the opportunity to study senior mother tongue. They will not miss the opportunity because the overall scores of the primary school departure exam are not up to the standard; this year, the five students will become the first beneficiary.This change helps to cultivate students who have strong interest and ability to mother tongue, breaking the premise that the overall achievements must be met in the past is a great progress of bilingual policy and respect for students' personalized development.
Although English is enough to meet the needs of daily life and international exchanges, the use of single language cannot meet the social needs of Singapore's multicultural and diverse ethnic groups, and it is not enough to deeply expand our international view.As Chen Zhensheng pointed out that mother tongue is not only a language tool, it carries unique culture and history, master the ability of English and mother tongue, allows us to be in line with the world, but also allows us to have a deeper connection and understanding of regional culture.
A survey conducted by Singapore Policy Research in 2020 found that the level of mother tongue in Singapore has declined. More than one -third of the Chinese people recognize the language of English is English, and the recognition of mother tongue has declined.There are more than 70 % of the Chinese families in Singapore who speak English mainly at home. Those families who are still using Chinese must create opportunities for their children to continue immersing in the Chinese environment and cultivate them to become "essences."By learning advanced Chinese, you can improve the depth and cultural connotation of language use, master Gao Hua allows individuals to show more cultural heritage and rhetoric skills in the communication, express profound thoughts and feelings, and have more serious and deep dialogue.In this way, our bilingual advantage can really be played, rather than staying at the surface level of general dialogue.
To encourage people to master their mother tongue, they must start from childhood.In order to strengthen the mother tongue learning of preschool children, the Ministry of Education will start a trial plan in the two kindergartens next year to extend the time of mother tongue learning, which will increase from an hour a day to one and a half hours for two years.As for the school children who have been promoted to elementary school, they will use 30 minutes of mother tongue lessons to read their mother tongue readings per week under the reading plan of "Flying with Books".Expand to all grades.
Multiple studies have shown that the time for students to contact a language is directly proportional to his level.However, for families with relatively weak Chinese environment, children have almost no chance to use Chinese at home.Many parents have limited Chinese levels and cannot communicate with their children or accompany them to read Chinese books in Chinese.For these children, an increase of half an hour of learning every day may have a positive impact.However, learning content and teaching form are equally critical.If you lack fun, you may feel tired and lose interest or even disgusted. Especially in these two trial kindergartens, students will get out of school half an hour later.
In any case, it is obviously not enough to rely on the 30 -minute school alone. Parents need to cooperate to create an environment to support learning at home.Teaching is not as good as teaching. Parents' own willpower is important. Olympic medal winner Mo Shilian is a good example, because his mother Ding Huiqing's insistence, ignoring the child's appeal in other languages, so Mo Shilian alsoCan use Chinese fluently.
The new announcement of the Ministry of Education is undoubtedly an important step towards improving the quality of bilingual education. However, in order to truly achieve results, many objective challenges must be overcome.The most obvious is the issue of teachers.In addition, the use and communication of mother tongue also need to get more attention. It must be part of life, not just subjects in class.Only when students have the opportunity to naturally use their mother tongue in daily life, can students truly grasp and maintain the fluency and use ability of this language.The successful reliance on the reform of the education system also requires the participation and support of the entire society.
