Message by HOD

Message by HOD (Mother Tongue Languages)

In Serangoon Secondary School, the Mother Tongue Department plays a crucial role in preserving and promoting the richness of our cultural heritage through the teaching and learning of the Mother Tongue Languages (MTLs).

Learning a MTL is an essential part of our identity. Firstly, it reflects our history, traditions, values and connects us to our roots. Secondly, in our increasingly interconnected world, by embracing and promoting our own MTLs, we pave the way for a more inclusive society, where diverse voices are valued and heard.

As such, my team of dedicated and passionate MTL teachers aim to create an environment where our students, aka, Serangoon StaRs are encouraged to explore and express themselves in their MTLs.

In the classrooms, we design our lessons using The Task-based Teaching Approach, where we focus on creating meaningful tasks, relevant to our daily lives, to engage the students and develop their confidence, critical thinking skills, and a strong sense of cultural identity.

We also leverage on ICT and technology to expose students to a wide variety of language-based resources such as e-reading platforms, news clips, documentaries, animated videos and many more, to inspire our StaRs to know more about their community, nation and the world beyond Singapore. Through discussions, debates, show and tell, journal reviews, we want our StaRs to be able to understand and express themselves in their MTL, and appreciate the nuances and subtleties of our cultural heritage. By exposing them to the different forms of media, workshops, and utilizing language learning tools, we believe that everyone can make significant improvements in their language proficiency.

Beyond the classrooms, we celebrate the beauty of our MTLs by organising in-house cultural events such as the MT Fortnight and Camp, local learning journeys to the various Heritage Centres, Art Houses and Museums, as well as overseas immersion programmes to enrich our StaRs learning of their MTLs. The best way to learn and improve one’s mother tongue language is to practice speaking, reading, and writing regularly.

In conclusion, we believe that every StaR can learn, and our objective is to help every StaR learn MTL to the best of their ability. To achieve this, collaboration and cooperation are equally essential. We will continue our efforts to work together as a department, as a school, and as a community to create opportunities for our StaRs to learn and appreciate their MTLs. We will also continue to collaborate with parents, community, and external organizations to support and promote MTL education. Together, we can ensure that our MTLs continue to flourish and that our cultural heritage remains vibrant.

Ms Liam Hsiao Wen
HOD (Mother Tongue Languages)