mother tongue department

Bilingualism is what makes us unique as a nation. It is about Learning and knowing who we are.

MTL eopen house video.wmv

The Mother Tongue Department seeks to maximise the language competence and inculcate the love for mother tongue languages in all Tampinesians. We aspire to do this by providing varied language based activities that infuse cultural knowledge and use contemporary materials, stories and IT-enabled platforms.

key programmes

ARTS PERFORMANCES TO SPARK INTEREST IN LANGUAGES

Our school exposes our students to cultural performances to make language learning enjoyable. Beyond learning the language, our students also understand Singapore and the culture embedded in our mother tongue languages. Undaunted by COVID-19, the department also creates opportunities for students to attend arts performances online.

MOTHER TONGUE FORTNIGHT

This is a programme organised for our students to understand and develop a lifelong interest in Mother Tongue language and its culture. They learn by taking part in many experiential activities that promote the rich culture of the Chinese, Malay and Indian communities.

PAPER CUTTING - ART OF PAPER

The art of paper cutting ( jiǎnzhǐ 剪纸 ) has a long history in China. It is one of the most important types of Chinese folk art and is very popular during Chinese festivals.

For example, during the Chinese New Year, the character ‘Fu (福, blessing)’ is pasted upside down on the door to express the wish for blessings to come. At a birthday party of an old person, paper cuttings with the character ‘Shou (寿, longevity)’ are often seen.

Paper cuttings were also used to decorate sacrifices. Paper was cut into images of people or things such as money and clothes, which were buried with the dead or burned at funerals.

DISTINCTLY CULTURAL – Weaving rattan into coasters

Our students learnt that rattan, or rotan in Malay, has many uses in the Malay community. Rattan can be weaved into furniture, bags, containers and many other useful appliances. Here, our students learnt to weave rattan into coasters.

GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS

The COVID-19 pandemic has not stopped our students from learning about the world. Our partnership with Bei An Junior High (Taipei) has enabled the students to form friendships beyond our shores. The partnership aims to create an authentic setting for our students to use Chinese, broaden our students’ experiences and develop their cross-cultural communicative and collaborative skills as they interact with people of another culture.

achievements

2021

  • Finalist in National Penmanship Competition 2021年威德智海全国硬笔书法比赛

  • Bahas 4PM Inter School Malay Language Debate Competition 2021

Fatin Hanisah Binte Hamsari (3E4) emerged as one of the Best Speaker in the competition

  • 'I Can Write' Malay Language National Essay Writing Competition 2021

Nor Nasriyah Bte Jumahat (4E3) - Gold Award winner

Nur Nabilah Bte Mohammad Effendi (2E4) - Gold Award winner

Nurul Sarah Bte baharudin (1E2) - Gold Award winner

Halizah Bte Hasanudin (3E4) - Silver Award winner

Myra Irysha Mohd Izam (1N1) - Silver Award winner

Muhammad Thaqif Bin Muhammad Toha (3T1) - Bronze Award winner


2020

  • 1st in the Lower Secondary Category of the 18th National Secondary Schools Creative Writing Competition 第十八届全国中学生华文创作比赛 - 新蕾奖2020

Pern Wen Xian (2E4) emerged 1st in the Lower Secondary category

Kum Hao Wen (2E4) awarded Certificate of Participation

Chen Yihao (2E2) awarded Certification of Participation

  • Obtained Merit Award ( 新蕾奖 ) in the "Our Covid stories 2020" National Primary and Secondary Schools Essay Writing Competition “2020年，我们的战疫故事” 全国中小学征文大赛

Pern Wen Xian (2E4) obtained Merit Award


2019

  • Awarded 1 Gold, 1 Silver and 2 Bronze in the Saya Boleh Mengarang Writing Competition


2018

  • Semi-finalist for the Inter-school Debate Competition