Set aside time for pre-schoolers to speak mother tongues

I agree with Mr Lee Teck Chuan that we need to re-examine our language policy ("Time to master Asian languages"; Dec 22).

We have to ramp up our mastery of Asian languages, otherwise we would be left behind economically and culturally in the Asian Century.

People in neighbouring nations speak more languages than us because they grow up in a more multilingual setting.

If we seldom speak mother tongue languages to our young children, they will lose the opportunity to learn them early. It may be too late for them by the time they get to primary school.

One way to compensate is to let thempick up or practise mother tongue languages in childcare centres and kindergartens.

We should not burden them with learning the written form at this point, as they may lose interest as a result.

We should focus on the spoken form. We could set aside two days a week where only a mother tongue language would be spoken between teachers and children and among the children themselves, outside of English classes.

Special materials on stories, poems and vocabulary used in daily life or relating to health and nature could be developed. Children could be encouraged to read and recite these materials.

More emphasis should also be given to learning how to speak mother tongue languages in primary school.