Press Releases
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew Declares Singapore Centre for Chinese Language Officially Open
Singapore Centre for Chinese Language (SCCL) celebrated its official opening at its newly refurbished campus in a ceremony officiated by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.
The event marked a key milestone in SCCL’s journey towards becoming a regional centre of excellence for the teaching and learning of Chinese Language in a bilingual environment. Invited guests, including foreign and local delegates at SCCL’s first international conference on teaching and learning of Chinese Language, also witnessed the signing of collaboration agreements between SCCL and four regional and local partners, signifying a broad step forward in SCCL’s development.
SCCL’s Milestones
Since the commencement of its in-service training courses in June 2009, SCCL has provided training for more than 1,000 local teachers, surpassing its initial target set for the first year of its establishment. By the end of 2009, SCCL expects to offer about 80 courses in teaching and learning of Chinese Language in a bilingual environment. The full-time and part-time lecturers from Singapore, China, Taiwan, US and France have vast experience in the teaching of Chinese Language in bilingual and non-Chinese environments. Their fields of expertise, ranging from “Classroom Second Language Acquisition”, “Teaching of Speaking and Listening Skills Through ICT Tools”, to “Drama in Chinese Education”, and “IT in Chinese Language” teaching, form the strong foundation in SCCL’s training framework. The courses were well-received and highly rated by the teachers, especially in terms of usefulness and relevance.
Apart from regular training courses, SCCL lecturers also conduct customised courses for school clusters and individual schools based on the trainees’ needs. To date, SCCL has conducted about 23 such customised specialised courses, providing more than 200 hours of training for more than 400 Chinese Language teachers.
In addition, SCCL has also organised professional seminars for teachers and cultural forums for the public, featuring prominent international and local speakers such as linguistics expert Professor Kubler from the United States, award-winning local movie director Royston Tan and Lianhe Zaobao Senior Executive Editor Lee Huey Leng.
Besides providing quality training for in-service teachers, SCCL also focuses on research of teaching strategies. It leads and conducts research projects in collaboration with 15 local primary and secondary schools in areas ranging from Chinese Language pedagogies targeted at students from predominantly English-speaking backgrounds to infusion of ICT into Chinese lessons.
Collaboration Agreements
At the official opening, SCCL also signed collaboration agreements with four regional and local partners, namely the Media Development Authority of Singapore, UniSIM, the University of Hong Kong and NTUC First Campus. The signing symbolises SCCL’s commitment to keeping abreast with the latest research on the usage of ICT tools and pedagogical development in Chinese Language teaching, as well as to the provision of training and life-long learning opportunities for all in-service Chinese Language teachers. Please see Annex A for details.