Home is where your love of Mother Tongue begins. 

Just ask local actress Fann Wong who speaks a mix of English and Mandarin with her 10-year-old son, Zed. His father, actor Christopher Lee, and maternal grandmother converse with him only in Mandarin, creating an environment where he gets to immerse in the language daily. 

Wong also enrolled Zed in a kindergarten where Mandarin is the main language. “He began to pick it up because he wanted to understand what his teachers and classmates were discussing,” she says. 

As one of the celebrity speakers at this year’s Mother Tongue Languages Symposium (MTLS), Wong will be sharing more on how she has helped Zed to learn Chinese “happily” by creating a conducive environment at home. 

Learning the language doesn’t have to be confined to a classroom setting. It can be as simple as ordering food, chatting with family or listening to bedtime stories.

These days, she believes in taking things naturally, like peppering her conversations at home with Chinese idioms and proverbs, and taking Zed on holidays to countries where Mandarin is the native language.  

“We want to make learning Chinese something that isn’t boring and that goes beyond the books and classroom. Even if he doesn’t love Chinese wholeheartedly yet, we are happy that he knows what we are talking about in the language,” she explains.

Discover fun and engaging ways to learn Mother Tongue

Organised by the Ministry of Education (MOE), and the three Mother Tongue Language Learning and Promotion Committees, the symposium embraces the theme “Our Mother Tongues as Living Languages.”

It aims to show that learning one’s Mother Tongue language – be it Mandarin, Malay or Tamil – does not have to be confined to a classroom setting. It can be as simple as ordering food, chatting with family or listening to bedtime stories.

Now in its 13th year, the one-day event takes place on 14 Sep. It reaches out to children aged four to nine by letting them practise their Mother Tongues in a simulated environment, which includes an Explorer Zone, interactive workshops with parent-child participation and exhibition booths.

Parents can also glean practices and tips from academics, educators, curriculum specialists and media personalities, through sharing sessions and interactive workshops. 

At the symposium, parents can also look forward to Malay and Tamil workshops conducted by local media personality Hafeez Harun, also known as DJ Hafeez Glamour, and theatre artiste Rani Kanna respectively. 

Both will share their unique perspectives and creative approaches to language learning, offering practical tips and engaging activities that make mastering a Mother Tongue an enjoyable experience for children and parents alike.

Pick up expert tips at interactive workshops

Hafeez’s workshop will explore the Malay language, its culture and heritage through songs and traditional games. To the renowned presenter, being bilingual is like owning a powerful passport that opens doors to new worlds. 

He says: “Learning and loving your mother tongue is like discovering a superpower that connects you to your past, enriches your present, and equips you for the future… even getting you that extra sambal at the hawker centre!”

Hafeez feels that young children may not find speaking Malay cool these days due to peer pressure, and limited opportunities to hear and use Malay in everyday life. 

“Some parents even have to use Google Translate to help their kids with Malay homework,” he jokes. 

All is not lost though. Parents can start creating a Malay-rich environment at home by exposing young ones to Malay books, music and TV programmes, or signing them up for enrichment classes or cultural activities where Malay is the medium of communication. Bilingual books can also help children cross-learn English and Malay.

Hafeez adds: “Speak in Malay during family meals or outings. Discuss the day's events, plans or interesting facts in Malay. Get them to help with the cooking but use family recipes written in Malay. It’s like a mini-immersion programme.”

For Kanna, her love of Tamil began as a child when she devoured Tamil-language books in her school library. This is why she strongly believes in integrating the language into enjoyable activities to foster a lasting interest, as well as proficiency, in the Mother Tongue language.

Her workshop, “Engaging Young Minds in Tamil Language through Puppetry”, will equip parents with interactive tools and games that make it fun to learn Tamil.

Kanna’s advice: “Let your kids watch TV shows in Tamil, listen to Tamil radio programmes, order food in Tamil at restaurants. Schedule time for language games and read Tamil bedtime stories.”

And if all else fails, Hafeez suggests offering rewards for every new word learnt in Mother Tongue. 

“Nothing motivates kids more than knowing they’ll get an extra scoop of ice cream for every new Malay word they use correctly. Soon, they’ll be linguistic maestros, bargaining for desserts in perfect Malay!”