Build small habits for PSLE mother tongue fluency

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SINGAPORE – Even parents who are not confident in their second language can help their children when it comes to preparing for mother tongue oral examinations.

Ahead of the PSLE oral exams on Aug 12 and 13 in 2026, tuition providers say simple steps can be taken at home to improve fluency in mother tongue languages such as Chinese, Malay and Tamil.

The mother tongue oral exams require Primary 6 pupils to read aloud and hold a stimulus-based conversation, such as by responding to questions based on a short video.

Educators across the main mother tongue languages highlight similar strategies in preparing for the oral paper for the Primary School Leaving Examination.

Mr Tan Seng Thye, a senior teacher in charge of the Primary 6 curriculum at Hua Language Centre, which provides Chinese tuition and enrichment, suggests turning screen time into conversation practice for the family.

He advises parents: “When watching a television programme together, even an English one, take the opportunity to ask your child questions in Mandarin about what he has just watched. What does he think about a character’s decision? What would he have done differently? What does the scene remind him of in his own life?

“For English-speaking parents who are not confident in Mandarin, it is acceptable to ask the questions in English. More importantly, encourage your child to answer in Mandarin.”

Conversations in Mandarin can also be incorporated into daily routines, he says. During mealtimes, ask the child basic questions like which dish she likes and why, or urge her to recount one event on the way home from school.

Mr Tan says: “Small, consistent conversations build fluency, confidence and the habit of spontaneous expression in Chinese that no amount of last-minute revision can replace. Over time, it comes naturally to the child to process stimuli and respond in Mandarin spontaneously. This is exactly what the oral exam requires.”

Students who regularly practise forming opinions in Mandarin, rather than only reading or writing Chinese, become more fluent speakers, Mr Tan says.

“In this way, the students are trained to think in Chinese instead of mentally translating from English. This reduces hesitation and makes their responses sound natural and confident,” says Mr Tan.

“Many students, especially those from English-speaking homes, freeze when asked for their opinions in Chinese because they are not used to doing so spontaneously. This helps break this mental block over time.”

Have opinions

In learning to articulate opinions, Mr Tan recommends building a daily habit of watching Mandarin short videos, news or variety programmes for children, on platforms like YouTube Kids and eZhishi, an online learning platform for Chinese language for primary school users.

He advises children to practise verbalising their thoughts after watching such content, asking themselves questions such as: What happened? How does it make me feel? Do I agree or disagree with what was shown? Why?

Expressing one’s opinions and relating them to one’s personal experiences is directly relevant to the video-based conversation in the oral exam, Mr Tan says.

“Many questions are framed as ‘Do you agree? What would you do?’ or ‘Why?’. Based on recent trends in the PSLE Chinese oral examination, the questions usually focus on daily life, values and issues closely related to students’ experiences – school, family, society and technology,” he adds.

For example: “Singapore already has many places of interest to visit. We don’t need to travel any more. Do you agree?” or “If you see a classmate being bullied, what would you do and why?”

Mr Tan advises pupils to prepare well for the oral paper by compiling a personal list of 10 to 15 common topics such as school life, hobbies, family outings and current issues affecting young people.

Boost grades through PSLE oral

Ms Ling Boon Xiu, senior Chinese teacher at MandarinStars Learning Centre, says the oral component for the PSLE is sometimes overlooked as a way of boosting one’s Achievement Level score.

The oral examination contains 50 marks out of a total of 200 marks for all the mother tongue papers.

“As the examination approaches, many students and parents tend to focus more on Paper 1 and Paper 2 (the written components), while paying less attention to oral preparation. However, since the oral exam accounts for 25 per cent of the total marks, insufficient preparation may have a significant impact on a student’s overall performance,” says Ms Ling.

She adds that in terms of difficulty, Paper 1 (composition) and Paper 2 (language use and reading comprehension) are generally more challenging. “In contrast, the oral examination has a more focused scope. With systematic training, students can more easily master the required skills, such as reading a passage aloud and video-based conversation.”

When reading aloud, for example, she advises pupils not to immediately start reading when they receive the passage.

“Instead, they should first quickly scan the text to understand its main idea and overall theme. By preparing in this way, students feel more at ease with the passage and are less likely to make errors under pressure,” says Ms Ling.

She adds that many words in the exam passages can be found in the textbooks, making regular revision of vocabulary and reading passages in the texts essential.

She also advises Primary 6 pupils to consciously slow their pace and not read too fast – a common pitfall due to nervousness.

Taking proper pauses during punctuation – full stops, commas, and exclamation and question marks – improves rhythm and clarity in one’s delivery. Pupils should also identify the tone and emotions within the passage, making for lively reading.

Structure is useful

Ms Ling recommends that parents guide their Primary 6 children in using structured frameworks to organise their thoughts clearly and produce more complete answers.

“Many students lack structure when answering questions and tend to say whatever comes to mind,” she says. “Compared with such spontaneous answers, trained students tend to be more structured and confident, and more likely to achieve higher marks.”

One such framework would be to answer the examiners’ questions directly, retell the content of the video, share one’s personal opinions and provide reasons for them, and express one’s feelings and suggestions, before concluding.

Another organising tool used at MandarinStars is the “fish structure”, says Ms Ling. The “fish head” denotes the introduction of the topic, its “bones” signal providing main points with explanations and examples, and the “tail” indicates it is time to state one’s conclusion.

Getting past a mental block

Mr A.T. Pillai, managing director at Tamilcube, which provides Tamil tuition and enrichment, advises children to build their own vocabulary lists, with the guidance of their parents, as early as possible.

“That’s where they struggle and lack confidence,” he says. Pupils should try and learn not only useful phrases and idioms, but also common vocabulary items from everyday scenarios they may not know, such as what a trolley or a cashier is called in Tamil.

Mr Pillai adds: “What matters is fluency and confidence, even if you make mistakes here and there.”

Ms Noraisah Ahmad, head of department for Malay at EduReach Tuition Centre, gives tips on what to do when the pupil is stuck.

“If you forget a word, pause briefly, rephrase using simpler words and continue speaking,” she says. “For example, if you forget the word ‘berdisiplin’ (disciplined), say ‘pandai mengawal diri’ (being able to control oneself).”

She adds that pupils often give very short answers or do not know how to carry on.

Practising phrases – such as “in my opinion” and “this is important because...” – or giving a specific example helps their ideas come unstuck when they have difficulty starting their answers.

“It is common to have students freeze up when they forget one word, but continuing smoothly is better than stopping,” says Ms Noraisah. “Examiners reward communication, not perfection.”