Mother Tongue Language

The Mother Tongue Language (MTL) Department offers the following languages in our school.

Chinese Language
Malay Language
Tamil Language

The MTL department seeks to nurture active learners and proficient users of the Mother Tongue Language in an engaging learning environment. The department firmly believes in the importance of fostering students’ interest, appreciation and respect for our culture and traditions. The school aims to develop every student to be a competent and confident user of their Mother Tongue Language.

MTL Curriculum

The Beacon MTL curriculum focuses on the functional use of Mother Tongue Languages, with greater emphasis on listening and speaking skills as the cornerstone of language proficiency. Students are also provided with the opportunity to further enhance their language-learning capabilities through cultural exchanges and other practical opportunities for greater appreciation of the language and culture.

As students learn their Mother Tongue Language through the curriculum, there is a close connection to their daily life and interests, e.g. animation, digital interactive games, and authentic language tasks.

ICT for Learning in the MTL Curriculum

Students’ learning in MTL lessons are enriched with various digital resources via online platforms. With the online resources, students extend their learning beyond the classroom. Students are also able to revisit the learning content at their own pace.

The Beacon MTL curriculum integrates multiple learning experiences. Through these customised programmes, students gain knowledge of their Mother Tongue Languages, share cross-cultural understanding, and acquire practical communication and collaborative skills.

Confident Learner Programme

“小演说家 Little speaker / Pencerita Cilik / இளம் பேச்சாளர் & 小记者 Little journalist / Wartawan Cilik/ இளம் நிருபர்”

Students are equipped with relevant speaking, presentation and writing skills through these programmes where they are able to showcase their talents through various school competitions such as storytelling, read aloud, spelling, and composition writing competition.

Mother Tongue Language Festival

The Mother Tongue Language Festival creates an immersive environment for learning and appreciating Mother Tongue Languages and cultures. Students are exposed to a wide variety of activities such as Chinese Painting, Malay Batik Painting, and Indian Arts etc. These culturally rich activities deepen students’ understanding of their cultural roots and promote the learning of their Mother Tongue Language in a fun and engaging way.

Conversational Chinese and Malay (CCM) Programme

CCM is a three-year enrichment programme, catered for Primary 3 to Primary 5 students who are interested in learning Chinese or Malay language and culture, other than their own mother tongue language. The learner will be able to hold a simple conversation with a native Chinese or Malay language speaker upon completing the programme.

Festive Celebrations

Students experience the different cultures and traditions through these festive celebrations, such as Chinese New Year, Hari Raya and Deepavali.

Cultural Celebration cum Beacon Family Day

The annual Cultural Celebration cum Beacon Family Day is a highly anticipated event. One of the main highlights for the students and the community is the dragon dance. On this day, both students and parents are invited to take part in various cultural games and activities in the school. Students and teachers also prepare cultural performances to showcase their talents.

Cultural Programme Exposure Scheme (CPES)

CPES provides students with greater opportunities to enjoy theatre experiences, and to foster lifelong theatre patronage to cultural performances. Students learn and appreciate the beauty of their Mother Tongue Language and culture through this programme.

International Exchange Programme

In this programme, selected Chinese Language students will attend lessons and cultural enrichment activities at local schools in Suzhou, as well as visit sites of historical and cultural significance in Suzhou and Shanghai. Students will experience the rich Chinese culture and practise speaking Mandarin in an authentic language environment.

With Covid-19, the International Exchange Programme has shifted online since 2020. Students participating in the programme continue to engage students from Suzhou through the various collaborative activities online.

Please view the programme photos in the Event Gallery.

MTL Learning Support Programme

This is a customised programme to support the learning of pupils in Mother Tongue Languages in Pri 3 and Pri 4. This programme focuses on building basic listening and speaking skills before the students move on to reading and writing skills. Students learn the language through games and fun learning activities.

Higher Mother Tongue Language Programme

Higher Chinese Language, Higher Malay Language and Higher Tamil Language are offered to students who demonstrate the ability and interest to develop higher levels of MTL language proficiency and cultural knowledge. HMTL is offered to Primary 5 and 6 students. From 2022, HMTL will be offered to P3 students as well.