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Can LKY's mother-tongue pass Secondary 4 Chinese Test in Beijing schools?
:oIo::oIo:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1057447/1/.html
May 18, 2010
MM meets Chinese VP
MM Lee also launches Global Chinese Dictionary project
By Peh Shing Huei, China Bureau Chief
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Chinese Vice-Premier Li Keqiang at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing yesterday. MM Lee first met Mr Li four years ago in Shenyang, the provincial capital of north-east Liaoning, where Mr Li was party boss. Now the seventh-ranked leader in the Chinese Communist Party, Mr Li hosted MM Lee to a dinner. --PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
BEIJING - FOUR years after they first met, both Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Chinese Vice-Premier Li Keqiang found that times have changed.
While their maiden meeting was held in Shenyang, the provincial capital of north-east Liaoning where Mr Li was party boss, yesterday's was at the cavernous Great Hall of the People in the Chinese capital.
The change was not lost on the visiting Singapore leader, who complimented Mr Li on his rise up the ranks.
'Ni bu bu gao sheng,' said MM Lee in Mandarin, using a Chinese proverb which means 'rising up the ranks'.
Mr Li, who is now the seventh-ranked leader in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is among the fifth-generation Chinese leaders who have been getting to know MM Lee in the past few years as they prepare to take over the reins of government in 2012.
The Chinese Vice-Premier told MM Lee that he has long admired him for 'being full of vitality and wisdom'. But the 86-year-old Singapore statesman replied 'sui yue bu liu ren', which means 'time does not stand still for man'.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1057447/1/.html
Aim of Mother Tongue review is to set realistic standards: Education Minister
By Imelda Saad | Posted: 18 May 2010 1815 hrs
SINGAPORE : The Mother Tongue Language review sparked off a lively debate in Parliament on Tuesday, with some members concerned that standards will be diluted.
In response, Education Minister Ng Eng Hen stressed that the aim is really about setting realistic standards.
The challenge is in aligning what is taught in schools to exams, and to how the language is used.
Just one week after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong clarified the government's stand on the review of Mother Tongue education, it is still a hot topic in Parliament.
Seven MPs engaged the Education Minister in a one-hour debate.
Baey Yam Keng, MP, Tanjong Pagar GRC, said: "I would like the Minister to clarify if the objective of this review is to enable better learning of the Mother Tongue, and it is not really to pander to the declining interest and willingness of certain segments of the student population to put in the effort to master respective Mother Tongue Language?"
Low Thia Khiang, MP, Hougang, asked: "Sir, the bottom line is, what is the bottomline? What is the bottomline of proficiency that we are looking at?"
Putting things in perspective, the Education Minister said the review of the teaching of Mother Tongue is an ongoing process starting as far back as 1992, with the most recent being in 2004.
Over the past 10 years, the performance in all three Mother Tongue languages has remained relatively stable.
Last year, 98 per cent of Primary School Leaving Examination candidates scored A-star to C grades.
13 per cent of the cohort scored A-stars, 69 per cent scored A's, 11 per cent scored B's, while 5 per cent scored C's.
Among the students who scored in the top 30 per cent for English, Math and Science, one in 10 was in the bottom 30 per cent for Mother Tongue Language.
Dr Ng said: "MOE's (Ministry of Education) goal is to help every child to be proficient in Mother Tongue Language and to encourage those with the ability to go as far as possible."
He added: "Ultimately, we do not want a system where the message is you do not have to work hard for Mother Tongue or any other language."
Instead, the difference would be in the way languages are taught - for example, teaching weaker students Mother Tongue in English, or even having a day set aside in school to only speak in Mother Tongue.
Dr Ng said: "It is not our purpose to try to order the system so that one group benefits over the other, because everyone will have to put in the effort and you have to strive for the subjects.
"Our purpose is to make sure the Mother Tongue is retained, that when you gain proficiency, you can keep the language alive, to pass on the cultural heritage and to keep that language alive for the next generation".
The review committee will deliver its first report by the end of the year.
This will give details of a new curriculum and test formats for lower primary students. - CNA/ms
:oIo::oIo:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1057447/1/.html
May 18, 2010
MM meets Chinese VP
MM Lee also launches Global Chinese Dictionary project
By Peh Shing Huei, China Bureau Chief
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Chinese Vice-Premier Li Keqiang at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing yesterday. MM Lee first met Mr Li four years ago in Shenyang, the provincial capital of north-east Liaoning, where Mr Li was party boss. Now the seventh-ranked leader in the Chinese Communist Party, Mr Li hosted MM Lee to a dinner. --PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
BEIJING - FOUR years after they first met, both Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Chinese Vice-Premier Li Keqiang found that times have changed.
While their maiden meeting was held in Shenyang, the provincial capital of north-east Liaoning where Mr Li was party boss, yesterday's was at the cavernous Great Hall of the People in the Chinese capital.
The change was not lost on the visiting Singapore leader, who complimented Mr Li on his rise up the ranks.
'Ni bu bu gao sheng,' said MM Lee in Mandarin, using a Chinese proverb which means 'rising up the ranks'.
Mr Li, who is now the seventh-ranked leader in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is among the fifth-generation Chinese leaders who have been getting to know MM Lee in the past few years as they prepare to take over the reins of government in 2012.
The Chinese Vice-Premier told MM Lee that he has long admired him for 'being full of vitality and wisdom'. But the 86-year-old Singapore statesman replied 'sui yue bu liu ren', which means 'time does not stand still for man'.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1057447/1/.html
Aim of Mother Tongue review is to set realistic standards: Education Minister
By Imelda Saad | Posted: 18 May 2010 1815 hrs
SINGAPORE : The Mother Tongue Language review sparked off a lively debate in Parliament on Tuesday, with some members concerned that standards will be diluted.
In response, Education Minister Ng Eng Hen stressed that the aim is really about setting realistic standards.
The challenge is in aligning what is taught in schools to exams, and to how the language is used.
Just one week after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong clarified the government's stand on the review of Mother Tongue education, it is still a hot topic in Parliament.
Seven MPs engaged the Education Minister in a one-hour debate.
Baey Yam Keng, MP, Tanjong Pagar GRC, said: "I would like the Minister to clarify if the objective of this review is to enable better learning of the Mother Tongue, and it is not really to pander to the declining interest and willingness of certain segments of the student population to put in the effort to master respective Mother Tongue Language?"
Low Thia Khiang, MP, Hougang, asked: "Sir, the bottom line is, what is the bottomline? What is the bottomline of proficiency that we are looking at?"
Putting things in perspective, the Education Minister said the review of the teaching of Mother Tongue is an ongoing process starting as far back as 1992, with the most recent being in 2004.
Over the past 10 years, the performance in all three Mother Tongue languages has remained relatively stable.
Last year, 98 per cent of Primary School Leaving Examination candidates scored A-star to C grades.
13 per cent of the cohort scored A-stars, 69 per cent scored A's, 11 per cent scored B's, while 5 per cent scored C's.
Among the students who scored in the top 30 per cent for English, Math and Science, one in 10 was in the bottom 30 per cent for Mother Tongue Language.
Dr Ng said: "MOE's (Ministry of Education) goal is to help every child to be proficient in Mother Tongue Language and to encourage those with the ability to go as far as possible."
He added: "Ultimately, we do not want a system where the message is you do not have to work hard for Mother Tongue or any other language."
Instead, the difference would be in the way languages are taught - for example, teaching weaker students Mother Tongue in English, or even having a day set aside in school to only speak in Mother Tongue.
Dr Ng said: "It is not our purpose to try to order the system so that one group benefits over the other, because everyone will have to put in the effort and you have to strive for the subjects.
"Our purpose is to make sure the Mother Tongue is retained, that when you gain proficiency, you can keep the language alive, to pass on the cultural heritage and to keep that language alive for the next generation".
The review committee will deliver its first report by the end of the year.
This will give details of a new curriculum and test formats for lower primary students. - CNA/ms
