80 proposals received to promote bilingualism among pre—schoolers

SINGAPORE: The Lee Kuan Yew Fund for Bilingualism has received some 80 proposals to promote bilingualism among children at pre—school level so far. The public was invited to submit ideas in July 2012.

The fund seeks to raise the quality of teaching and learning of the English and mother tongue languages in pre—schools, at home and in the community.

Results from the first round of evaluation are expected to be announced by year—end.

Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education and Law, Ms Sim Ann, shared this with reporters after she presented the Outstanding Pre—school Chinese Language Teachers Awards to three teachers on Saturday.

The recipients are Ms Qian Yi Jun from the Caterpillar’s Cove Child Development and Study Centre, Madam Peng Xia from My First Skool and Ms Su Yu from The Little Skool—House International.

Seven other teachers received the merit awards.

The awardees were selected from a record 55 nominations by a panel of experienced educators.

The judging criteria included the teachers’ lesson plans, teaching videos, on—site observation and interviews.

Ms Sim added that from next year, the awards will be expanded to include Malay and Tamil language teachers.

"The teachers share the same kind of aspirations and they share the same kind of challenges, when they are trying to help children," said Ms Sim. "They have found a lot of synergy in exchanging views with one another."

— CNA/xq