A GROUP of 189 primary and secondary school teachers attended a Straits Times (ST) forum on media literacy and how to use newspapers as learning tools on Saturday.

Then, as a treat for Teachers' Day today, and as a gesture of appreciation for their continued use of the newspaper in the classroom, they were given a ride on the Singapore Flyer.

The forum, held on the Flyer's premises, was the fourth such one ST has held for teachers. Copies of the paper going out to primary schools subscribing to it are bundled with Little Red Dot on Tuesdays, while those for secondary schools are packaged with IN on Mondays.

Forum participant Chee Bee Phaik of Loyang Secondary School said: 'The forum was very helpful and I learnt a lot about critical thinking.'

Panelist Soo Kim Bee of the Education Ministry's Gifted Education Division said Little Red Dot and IN sharpen students' critical thinking and creativity. She also urged teachers to develop a newspaper-reading habit among their charges.

In the forum for primary school teachers, three teachers - Da Qiao Primary's Ms Ng Sai Choo, and East View Primary's Madam Kamalnoorzaman Osman and Mrs Monica Berger - discussed how they used Little Red Dot in English lessons.

Ms Ng showed how her pupils used the newspapers for writing reflections and role-playing; Madam Kamalnoorzaman showed how issues raised in the news could be used in problem-based learning.

At the session for secondary school teachers, IN journalist and former teacher Lim Pow Hong said newspapers could be used to teach media literacy and to raise awareness of current affairs.

ST's associate editor Bertha Henson said that with such skills, 'students can discern the 'con job' from real content on the various media platforms they go to, especially now that they are bombarded with information and views from all directions'.