Bilingual Carnival aims to make learning mother tongue fun
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Preschoolers from Admiralty's PCF SparkleTots creating different STEM objects guided by teachers using their mother tongue language.
ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
SINGAPORE – Be it through programming a toy robot or creating a sensory bottle with glitter and water, pre-school teachers hope to get their young charges to embrace their mother tongue through carnival activities in April.
Eight activity booths will be set up at the Fun With Bilingualism carnival at community and lifestyle hub One Punggol on April 8.
These hands-on activities for pre-school children will be conducted in Mandarin, Malay and Tamil, along with a slew of performances and short films.
The carnival is organised by SPH Media and supported by the Lee Kuan Yew Fund for Bilingualism, in partnership with PCF Sparkletots and the National Library Board.
It aims to draw 2,000 to 3,000 attendees.
Of the eight booths, six will be run by 36 teachers from 12 PCF centres.
At the Let’s Invent booth managed by teachers from PCF Sparkletots pre-school in Admiralty, children will be able to create a variety of inventions to solve the problems posed to them, with prompts from the teachers to encourage independent and creative thinking.
Participants and teachers will have to converse in their mother tongue during the activity.
For instance, children may be asked how they would calm their friends who are sad or miss home.
They can then choose to create a sensory bottle, using a recycled plastic bottle filled with water and colourful objects, that they can give to their friend.
Or, participants could be challenged to come up with a way to remind their friends and family to wash their hands with soap after using the toilet.
Children can also put together a mobile light to aid children and the elderly when they visit the toilet at night.
A preschooler creating different objects while conversing in their mother tongues.
ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
Tamil teacher Rebekah Lee Retna Devi said these three activities are based on common problems children face at home, gleaned from teachers’ daily interactions with the pupils.
At the end of the activity, each child would have created a unique invention, as “there is no set way a child thinks”, she said, adding: “Different children come up with different solutions.”
Ms Astuty Ismail, a senior teacher at PCF Sparkletots pre-school in Kampong Chai Chee, will conduct an activity with a bee-shaped toy robot guided by the young participants.
Able to move across four directions on a grid-like map, the Bee-Bot also encourages children to broaden their vocabulary of directions and numbers.
Children will also learn more about foods of different ethnic groups as they direct the Bee-Bot towards images of them.
Senior teacher Astuty Bte Ismail (right) engages preschoolers in activities that support bilingual learning.
ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
The Bee-Bot introduces children to design and technology, and helps improve their computational thinking skills, said Ms Astuty.
It also encourages children to converse in their mother tongues while developing a deeper understanding of their cultural identities through play.
She added: “This is one way that the children can learn and have fun, not just we teach and they listen. It allows for more hands-on learning, and it’s engaging.”
