By Goh Chin Lian

Using English to teach Chinese has proven to be effective for children from predominantly English-speaking homes.

So, teachers should not be hung up on whether it is taboo to use a mix of English and Chinese for these children, Education Minister Ng Eng Hen said yesterday.

He also revealed that a task force is due to make proposals soon on how this group of children can be taught the language.

Game for Chinese class?

Rote memorisation and repetitive teaching methods are being toned down in favour of blogs, pop music and even movie screenings in a bid to pique students' interest.

The Ministry of Education told The Sunday Times that its policy is to encourage every Singaporean student to study his mother tongue for as long as possible and at a level he is capable of achieving.

'We have since moved from a 'one-size-fits-all' approach in our curriculum and teaching approaches, to a more customised approach which recognises the different abilities and home language backgrounds of our students,' said a spokesman.

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