NTUC First Campus (NFC) has launched its own original Chinese Language books, songs and teaching aids which encourage bilingualism in its preschools since 2017. This year, its team of Chinese Language specialists from the Child Development Department produced 6 books centered on Singapore’s festivals such as National Day, Chinese New Year, Hari Raya Puasa and Deepavali.
As a majority of Chinese Language books used in local pre-schools are currently imported from China and Taiwan, these “locally-flavoured” books are a refreshing addition to bookshelves, with words, dialogues and social scenarios which are more relatable to our children. Ideally, these books will help school-going children appreciate our multi-cultural society from a young age.
Apart from helping our children hone their Chinese Language skills, NFC also uses these books to nurture soft skills, such as communication, social interaction, inter-cultural understanding and an appreciation of diversity and friendships with people from all walks of life.
Dr Connie Lum, Director of the Mother Tongue Language Curriculum and Professional Development at NTUC First Campus shared that “NFC believes the best way for children to learn the Chinese Language is through ‘Living Chinese’. Hence, we created books, songs and learning moments for our children to learn and use the language in their daily lives. Our focus is to make the lessons fun, interactive as well as relevant and applicable to their daily lives. We do this through the constructive use of play-based learning materials and by encouraging conversations between our children and their teachers and peers.”
Ms Ni Xuejing, Chinese Lead Teacher, My First Skool at 51 Fernvale Link finds it a breeze to teach her K1 class with these Chinese Language teaching resources.
“As the Chinese Language books are very localised with stories which our children can easily understand and speak about, they have been very effective in helping me teach the language to our children in class,” said Ms Ni.
Ms Eileen Goh, whose two sons are enrolled both K2 and K1 at My First Skool at 51 Fernvale Link, found that her children have increasingly shown interest in the Chinese Language since they started school. She believes that the high-quality Chinese Language curriculum and the teachers play a huge part in nurturing her children’s interest in the language.
“My sons have shown a deep appreciation and interest in the Chinese Language since they started school at My First Skool,” said Ms Goh. “They have been asking me a lot of questions about the language, and even break into dance and action learnt in their classes.”
Thank you NTUC First Campus and My Messy Box for sending to us the National Day-themed sensory play kit specially curated by My Messy Box and inspired by the book contents!
To find out more about NTUC First Campus, please visit https://www.ntucfirstcampus.com/
To find out more about My Messy Box, please visit https://mymessybox.sg/
To read the Ebook, please go to https://bit.ly/NFC-EBOOK
