Mother Tongue Languages

Mother Tongue Languages

The Mother Tongue Languages (MTL) Department aims to inspire and empower each student to attain adequate language proficiency in their MTL and become passionate MTL lifelong learners. In order to achieve the vision that MTL has to be a living language for students, to be applied and valued in everyday life, our teachers believe in making lessons more engaging and interactive so that students can see the purpose and relevance of their learning experiences.

Department Programmes and Events

MTL Fortnight & Learning Journey

This 2-weeks long programme aims to create an immersive environment for learning MTL. A wide range of hands-on activities such as tea appreciation, and making traditional food and handicrafts have been organised to provide authentic opportunities for students to speak their MTL as well as gain a better understanding of their own heritage and culture.

Students learning to draw Batik design.

Students learning how to weave a coaster (Menganyam Alas Cawan) 

Students learning to do Ancient Stick Painting Students learning to draw sunflowers as part of traditional Chinese Painting

Students participating in an outdoor Escape Room learning activity at Chinatown to learn about the culture and language of Chinese.

Conversational Chinese & Malay (CCM)

Conversational Chinese/Malay is MOE initiated programme since 2005. This programme aims to encourage the learning of MTL of another ethnic community in Singapore at the conversational level.

Chinese students are learning basic Malay vocabulary or short phrases.

Cultural Performance Enrichment Scheme (CPES)

Every year, we will select a group of students to watch a drama performance. This is funded by the MOE committee to promote the learning of MTL. The purpose is to expose students to local theatre plays and enhance students’ interest in the language and culture.

Overseas Learning Journey (OLJ)

We have been organising Overseas Learning Journeys to Asia countries such as China, India and Malaysia for Secondary One to Three students. The overseas learning experience aims to allow our students to experience a different education system through meaningful immersion with students from local schools and to cultivate a deeper understanding and appreciation for the language and culture.

Students watching a Chinese Drama under the Cultural Performance Enrichment Scheme

External Competitions

To hone our students’ language competencies, we encourage them to participate in external competitions for greater exposure. For instance, our students have participated in script writing, story-telling, translation, oratorical, essay writing and text recital competitions. Under the guidance of our teachers, our students have consistently demonstrated excellence.

Winners of 2021 National Chinese Text Recital Competition

Winners of 2022 National Chinese Text Recital Competition