An
invitation from the Ministry of Education in Singapore led to
a two week consultancy visit in February 2001. The Ministry has
been introducing more integrated work through a project work team
of Education Officers. These very talented young teachers and
designers were my link with the school curriculum in Singapore.
Their thorough preparatory work meant that it was easy for me
to make contact with the teachers from secondary and primary schools
who attended my workshop courses. However, the success or otherwise
of these courses will depend on the extent to which the participants
have managed to put the ideas into worthwhile practice. I await
with great interest the results of the evaluation of the follow-up
exercise.
While
in Singapore I also gave a course for Kindergarten teachers on
the use of LEGO Duplo at the request of an old Danish friend Lars
Vahl who is now the Regional Director for LEGO Dacta A/S, Asia
Pacific.
NEWSArticles- latest at the top
Chinese Conference
in Singapore The
1st International Chinese Early Education Conference 2005 was held in
Singapore from 19 to 21 August 2005. Organised by the KLC School of
Education and supported by the Crestar Educational Group including LEGO
Educational Centres, it attracted 300 Mandarin-speaking delegates and
was held in The Legends Fort Canning Park. Mr Chan Soo Sen, Minister
of State for Education, was the guest of honour and welcomed the participants.
60% of those attending were from China and the others from Singapore
and neighbouring countries. Early Education was the focus and Steve
Bell was invited by LEGO Educational Division to present a keynote speech
on the ways in which Fairy Tales could be used in early education. This
was as part of the celebration for the bicentenary of the birth of Hans
Christian Andersen. At the invitation of LEGO Educational Centres two
three-hour workshops were also presented by Steve Bell. The first was
for 100 teachers in the Kinderland Kindergarten network and the second
for 40 parents.
More
News from Huamin Primary School, Singapore Jessie
Siva, a class teacher in Huamin School, writes
"I've
great news. As
you know (see news item below) my students and I took the 'Letter' Storyline
to great heights. We invented some games to promote Singapore and some
of these have now been developed commercially. A bazaar 'Wacky Inventor's
Tournament' was held where pupils exhibited their masterpieces. Students,
parents, teachers and the Cluster Superintendent voted for the best
games. Fourteen were selected. So far five have been developed commercially
and they look beautiful. It started with the letter and now we
have these games to promote interesting places in Singapore. Isn't it
wonderful? I submitted an article describing our work to the Ministry
of Education and it came out as the top story in the month of December."
News
from Huamin Primary School, Singapore Mrs
Jessie Siva a teacher working with 12-year-old pupils in Huamin Primary
School recently contacted me to describe her enthusiasm in working with
Storyline. Jessie attended a workshop organised by the Ministry of Education
in January this year. Since then she has, with the support of her Headteacher
Mrs Rashidah Marican, put the ideas into practice and she reports that
the pupils have really enjoyed their involvement in the 'Letter' topic
and have produced the most amazing quality of creative work, full of
ingenuity, which has also delighted the parents who have visited the
exhibition
of classwork. On 5th August the classroom was visited by Parliamentary
Secretary (Ministry of Education) Mr Hawazi Daipi. The group photograph
shows Mr Daipi with the P6A1 class who worked on the topic. Also in
the picture (from left to right) are Mrs Rashidah Marican, Principal
of the school, Mrs Esther Mok, superintendent of North 2 Cluster, Mrs
Jessie Siva, Level Head for English, Mrs Chris Shie, English Head of
Department and two Japanese guests.
Other teachers in
the school have also been working with a Primary 2 class on the Storyline
topic 'Market Place' with similar success.
Television News
from Singapore
Storyline article
in TELL Teaching
English Language & Literature (TELL) - is published by the English
Unit, Curriculum Planning & Development Division, Ministry of Education,
Singapore. The author of the article "Engaging Learners through
the Storyline Method" is Jo Ann Netto Shek who is on secondment
from the Project Work Unit of the Ministry to work in teacher education
at the National Institute of Education. She describes the ways in which
the Open Market topic can provide opportunities for curriculum links.
Singapore Course
Programme Significant
developments in the course programme for the Ministry of Education in
Singapore meant that, this year, three different groups of educators
were involved. The first course was aimed at teachers of science and
social studies, the second and third courses were for project work teachers
and the final one for teachers of mother-tongue (Tamil, Mandarin and
Malay). All the courses were held at the Teachers' Network, an inservice
teachers' centre except for the final one which was based at the Regional
Language Centre. Each course included a topic-planning element and the
response to this initiative was enthusiastic. Once again it was a joy
to be working together with such experienced curriculum development
officers and course organisers.
An invitation from the Ministry of Education in Singapore led to a two week consultancy visit in February 2001. The Ministry has been introducing more integrated work through a project work team of Education Officers. These very talented young teachers and designers were my link with the school curriculum in Singapore. Their thorough preparatory work meant that it was easy for me to make contact with the teachers from secondary and primary schools who attended my workshop courses. However, the success or otherwise of these courses will depend on the extent to which the participants have managed to put the ideas into worthwhile practice. I await with great interest the results of the evaluation of the follow-up exercise.
While in Singapore I also gave a course for Kindergarten teachers on the use of LEGO Duplo at the request of an old Danish friend Lars Vahl who is now the Regional Director for LEGO Dacta A/S,
Asia Pacific.
The 1st International Chinese Early Education Conference 2005 was held in Singapore from 19 to 21 August 2005. Organised by the KLC School of Education and supported by the Crestar Educational Group including LEGO Educational Centres, it attracted 300 Mandarin-speaking delegates and was held in The Legends Fort Canning Park. Mr Chan Soo Sen, Minister of State for Education, was the guest of honour and welcomed the participants. 60% of those attending were from China and the others from Singapore and neighbouring countries. Early Education was the focus and Steve Bell was invited by LEGO Educational Division to present a keynote speech on the ways in which Fairy Tales could be used in early education. This was as part of the celebration for the bicentenary of the birth of Hans Christian Andersen. At the invitation of LEGO Educational Centres two three-hour workshops were also presented by Steve Bell. The first was for 100 teachers in the Kinderland Kindergarten network and the second for 40 parents.
Jessie Siva, a class teacher in Huamin School, writes
Mrs Jessie Siva a teacher working with 12-year-old pupils in Huamin Primary School recently contacted me to describe her enthusiasm in working with Storyline. Jessie attended a workshop organised by the Ministry of Education in January this year. Since then she has, with the support of her Headteacher Mrs Rashidah Marican, put the ideas into practice and she reports that the pupils have really enjoyed their involvement in the 'Letter' topic and have produced the most amazing quality of creative work, full of ingenuity, which has also delighted the parents who have visited the
exhibition of classwork. On 5th August the classroom was visited by Parliamentary Secretary (Ministry of Education) Mr Hawazi Daipi. The group photograph shows Mr Daipi with the P6A1 class who worked on the topic. Also in the picture (from left to right) are Mrs Rashidah Marican, Principal of the school, Mrs Esther Mok, superintendent of North 2 Cluster, Mrs Jessie Siva, Level Head for English, Mrs Chris Shie, English Head of Department and two Japanese guests.
Teaching English Language & Literature (TELL) - is published by the English Unit, Curriculum Planning & Development Division, Ministry of Education, Singapore. The author of the article "Engaging Learners through the Storyline Method" is Jo Ann Netto Shek who is on secondment from the Project Work Unit of the Ministry to work in teacher education at the National Institute of Education. She describes the ways in which the Open Market topic can provide opportunities for curriculum links.
Significant developments in the course programme for the Ministry of Education in Singapore meant that, this year, three different groups of educators were involved. The first course was aimed at teachers of science and social studies, the second and third courses were for project work teachers and the final one for teachers of mother-tongue (Tamil, Mandarin and Malay). All the courses were held at the Teachers' Network, an inservice teachers' centre except for the final one which was based at the Regional Language Centre. Each course included a topic-planning element and the response to this initiative was enthusiastic. Once again it was a joy to be working together with such experienced curriculum development officers and course organisers.
