Getting your children interested in their Mother Tongue: Learn tips from celebrity Fann Wong and language experts at weekend event

At work, artiste Fann Wong uses her Mother Tongue a lot. She reads drama scripts penned in Chinese and conducts media interviews in Mandarin.
    
“Using my Mother Tongue is not a very hard thing for me to do,” she says. “But when it comes to instruction manuals, I prefer reading them in English.” 
    
She finds reading both English and Chinese “enjoyable” and recalls how she would devour books in both languages in kindergarten.

The mother of nine-year-old Zed, who released a bilingual picture book series last year, will be one of the celebrity speakers at this year’s MOE Mother Tongue Languages Symposium 2023 (MTLS).

The annual symposium takes place at Suntec Convention Centre in Halls 404 and 405 on Aug 26, and will be officially opened by the Minister for Education, Mr Chan Chun Sing. This year’s theme is “Flourish in the Wonderland of Our Languages”. 

Learning the Mother Tongue Language helps children to be anchored in their rich heritage and grow up to have an edge in strengthening the culture of Singapore's multi-racial society, says a Ministry of Education (MOE) spokesperson.

Agrees Wong: “I feel very honoured to be part of this symposium because I feel that you have an advantage in society if you use your Mother Tongue. When you meet people who speak Mandarin, you can express yourself better in the language, and it’s also easier for us to communicate with the older generation who may be more comfortable speaking Mandarin.” 

Wong’s sharing session will be one of 19. Other personalities speaking at these sessions include Mdm Isadhora Mohamed, supervising editor at CNA938 of Mediacorp, and Mrs Sarojini Padmanathan, a director at Health Sciences Authority (HSA), who is also a parenting and marriage facilitator and has vast experience speaking at national conferences representing the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF).

While Mdm Isadhora will touch on using everyday items at home and games to instil a love of Malay in young children, Mrs Sarojini will delve into how parents can use creative ways and strategies to help their kids learn Tamil.

Parents can also learn to use tools and resources on Student Learning Space or SLS to engage kids in self-directed and collaborative learning.

For Wong, the trick is to let children pick up their Mother Tongue Language in “a natural environment.” This can be done by conversing in the language as much as possible at home.

“Parents can read Chinese newspapers and books at home and during play time, plant in Chinese idioms and proverbs so that picking up the language becomes a very natural process,” she says. 

At the symposium, visitors can meet the MTLS mascots: Xiao Tao, Sani, Kavin and Peppy as they go on whimsical adventures at Xiao Tao’s Farm, Sani’s Castle, Kavin’s Forest and Peppy’s Confectionery – all with a spoken, aural and hands-on component at the centrepiece activities.

There will also be 26 face-to-face interactive workshops for parents and children to learn the Mother Tongue Languages in fun ways. These include hands-on sessions on how parents can make crafts inspired by museum artefacts, draft superhero stories in Malay and deliver written lines in Tamil about themselves before a camera.

In addition, a live performance area will host a variety of activities like storytelling through song, choral speaking and dramatisation. 

Young visitors who complete the activities at each booth can collect stamps to redeem prizes like pencils that can be planted after use. The first 5,000 children to turn up will get a goodie bag, which consists of MTLS collectibles like sketchbooks and lanyards. 

To further encourage Mother Tongue Language literacy and appreciation, there are 42 exhibition booths by schools from preschool to secondary levels and other community partners. At the MOE Curriculum Booth, parents can find out more about key educational programmes for all age groups, from preschoolers to pre-university students.  

To register for the sharing sessions and interactive workshops or for more information on MTLS 2023, visit www.mtls.edu.sg. To get updates, follow MTLS 2023 on Facebook and Instagram.