A very good afternoon,
Mr Jason Leow, Chairman of the Speak Good English Movement
Mr Jaime Ho, Editor, The Straits Times
Colleagues from the education sector and distinguished guests,
Introduction
1. I am glad to join you at the 2025 Inspiring Teacher of English Awards Ceremony, to celebrate the passion and dedication of English Language teachers.
2. When I first found out about this award, I cast my mind back and looked at the influences in my own life, and my ability to communicate in English, and I thought whether I could request for a new category – the Heritage Awards to celebrate and to honour teachers in the past who played a major part in our lives.
- For instance, I still keep in touch with my Primary One Form Teacher who was my first English teacher in school. Being her kind and caring self, she would never fail to correct me if I were to make a mistake, even on TV, when she hears me speak.
- My Secondary One Form Teacher was also my English teacher. She would write letters of encouragement to all her students, including myself, to encourage us to keep up with our studies, and contribute to our school and community.
- My Secondary Four Literature teacher was also a major influence in my life. Even as we revelled in themes of prejudice in books like "To kill a mocking bird", or the romanticism of Romeo and Juliet, which we then acted out as part of a school play, she would be very focused on the way we articulate our thoughts.
- My JC GP teacher would be another teacher I would nominate if there were such a category. Not only did she made it a lesson, she would also discuss news and current affairs from all around the world. Through the teaching of current affairs and drawing up of themes that played out in each incident around the world, she would then help us to improve the way we articulate our thoughts and express ourselves accurately in the English language.
3. So to all these teachers and more, thank you for being such an inspiration in the lives of so many of us. I also want to thank the Speak Good English Movement and The Straits Times for your partnership in organising these awards over the past 18 years, to recognise and honour our English Language teachers.
Role of English Language in Singapore
4. The English language has given Singapore a competitive advantage.
- It connects the world, and allows us to serve as a bridge between the world and Asia. It enables us to be a hub for the world's companies who base themselves here, creating job opportunities for our people.
- Speaking English also helps Singaporeans and our businesses to go abroad to seize opportunities. And it enables our researchers and academics to collaborate more readily with their international counterparts.
- In our multiracial, multireligious and multilingual society, with all its diversity, the English language serves as a common working language in the community and in the workplace, binding us all together.
5. In our schools, English is also a common denominator across most of our subjects:
- Allowing our students to learn deeply in the sciences and humanities, and to plug into the depth and breadth of literature and material across much of the English-speaking world.
Importance of English Language Teachers
6. So our English teachers play a key role:
- To give voice to our students, by helping them articulate their thoughts clearly,
- And building their capacity to navigate an increasingly complex and troubling world, by teaching them to construct nuanced arguments and understand complex texts.
7. Thank you to all our English teachers for your hard work to educate successive generations of our students. In particular, today we recognise and celebrate the work of our award winners and nominees.
8. Our eight award winners are English teachers who have inspired their students and fellow teachers, and serve as role models of our education fraternity. Let me share just three of their stories of our award winners.
9. First, Ms Amirinazeb D/O Aurangzeb, a teacher at CHIJ Kellock, teaches her students how to engage with AI critically.
- Ami incorporates the use of a chatbot during writing lessons, enabling her students to evaluate suggestions and make informed decisions when interacting with feedback thrown up by AI.
- She role-models how to critically evaluate AI feedback by demonstrating how to question its accuracy and relevance.
10. Second, Mr Cliffton Tay Xiang Rui, a General Paper tutor at Anderson Serangoon Junior College, makes use of games and simulations to help students understand complex global issues –
- Not just as distant theories but as realities they can influence.
- For instance, Cliffton conceived a dilemma game to introduce the concept of cooperation versus conflict in international relations. To strengthen his students' knowledge, he identifies real-world situations that show how these concepts play out.
11. And third, Mr Perdana Putra Pan, Subject Head of English Language from Queenstown Secondary School. A Leadership Award recipient, he demonstrates how leadership can multiply impact.
- Perdana is building a community of practice that benefits students well beyond his own school.
- He organises regular professional learning initiatives for his Literature colleagues to foster collaborative curriculum development, and leads a book club for Literature teachers in his cluster.
Teaching English as Technology Evolves
12. The stories of our award winners affirm the important role teachers play in guiding our children in a fast-changing and sometimes confusing world.
13. For example, with artificial intelligence (AI), students can now write essays, translate languages, and even compose poetry with just a few engineered prompts.
- But to use AI well, our students need to learn to use it as a tool, and not a crutch.
- They need to develop human competencies: critical and adaptive thinking, cross-cultural literacy, and communication and collaboration skills.
- These will allow our students to critique AI output and add human value to their work.
- And as our award winners show, our teachers bring a human touch to teaching, guiding, and moulding these competencies, that AI cannot replicate.
14. As English Language teachers, you play an important role in this. You do not simply teach vocabulary and grammar so that students can consume and process information.
- You teach your students to question it critically, distinguishing between facts and fiction, between truth and falsehoods, between authenticity and artificial voices. In an age of information overload, you teach critical judgement and discernment.
15. You also role -model how to make good use of technology, such as through our Student Learning Space's Annotated Feedback Assistant.
- This assistant provides students with instant feedback on writing: helping them identify errors, understand their mistakes, and improve their language skills.
- However, it is teachers who make it powerful, by using it to teach students how to engage thoughtfully with the feedback, recognise their own gaps, and address these in future writing.
Conclusion
16. So to all award recipients and nominees, congratulations and thank you for your dedication.
17. As we look to the future, let us all continue these important efforts:
- To develop our students to their fullest potential, as critical thinkers and authentic communicators,
- And to support fellow educators, by sharing your experiences, tips and tricks, and collective wisdom generously, so that they in turn can mould our students well.
18. Thank you.