Singapore Government Press Release
Media Division, Ministry of Information and The Arts,
MITA Building, 140 Hill Street, 2^nd Storey, Singapore 179369
Tel: 837-9666

The Speak Good English Movement (SGEM) was first launched in April last year by Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong as a drive to encourage Singaporeans to speak good English. For this year, the Official Launch of SGEM 2001 will be officiated by Deputy Prime Minister BG Lee Hsien Loong on Thursday 5 April 2001, 3.00 pm at ITE HQ Auditorium, Dover Drive.

Adopting a light-hearted approach, SGEM aims to encourage Singaporeans to speak good English and reduce the use of Singlish. However, the Movement will not disparage Singlish speakers. For 2001, the Movement will continue to adopt the logo, slogan and jingle of "Speak Well. Be Understood".

The SGEM Committee, comprising 14 individuals from both the private and public sectors, sets the direction for the Movement. Colonel (NS) David Wong, Group Managing Director, Wearnes Technology Pte Ltd and President, YMCA of Singapore chairs the Committee (see Annex A: List of Committee Members).

Highlights of the launch ceremony on 5 April include a witty stand-up comedy/cross-talk entitled The Singlish Patient by well-known artistes, Dr Loke Loo Pin and Ms Jennifer Castelino, on the merits and demerits of Singapore English and good English. Audiences can also catch the first glimpse of this year’s SGEM new interstitials, produced by Channel NewsAsia.

The week-long SGEM Festival 2001 will be held from Friday 6 April to Sunday 15 April. During this period, the public can take part in the over 100 activities on good English which will take place at community clubs, libraries, schools etc. These activities are being organised by the SGEM Secretariat, People’s Association, Ministry of Education, educational institutions and National Library Board etc. During the Festival Week, Singaporeans can also look out for entertaining TV programmes and telephone lessons on good English — attesting that learning good English can be fun. The highlights are as follows:

Following the success of its first play on speak good English last year, SGEM has once again commissioned local theatre group, Act 3 to produce a play for primary school children. This half-hour play will bring young audiences on the English learning journey of the leading character, Anastasia Samantha. Act 3 will perform the play at selected libraries, community clubs and schools.

With the support of the newly set-up English Language and Literature Teachers Association of Singapore, ELLTA(S), SGEM is organising a Storytelling Competition for primary and secondary schoolchildren. The Finals will be held on Saturday 14 April at 9.00 am at IRAS Auditorium. This competition is part of the Movement’s efforts to bring the "speak good English" message to schoolchildren.

In collaboration with The British Council, SGEM has produced a series of 30 telephone English lessons. The public can dial the toll-free number, 1800-734-1015 to listen to the lessons from 6 April to 5 May. These lessons highlight commonly-spoken English errors made by Singaporeans in humorous scenarios. The text of these daily lessons will be printed in The Straits Times Life! section and Lianhe Zaobao zbNOW section to make it easier for listeners to follow the lessons.

Full-time National Service men (NSFs) in the SAF will be reminded about the need to speak good English and be understood especially during training exercises. This will be done through short skits performed by artistes of the SAF Music and Drama Company (SAF MDC) in SAF camps.

For the second consecutive year, SGEM will adopt Channel NewsAsia (CNA) as the Official TV Station. For 2001, the station has produced a 30-minute programme Mind Your Language ... Even More. This is a light-hearted documentary that aims to make Singaporeans aware of the benefits of speaking good English. Asian and local celebrities, who have had to learn to use English to communicate with the rest of the world (such as Bai Ling and Anggun) will also be invited to share their insights. The programme will premiere on Thursday 5 April at 7.30 pm on CNA. In addition, four 30-seconds interstitials (or filmlets), taken from excerpts of the programme, will be produced and aired over TCS 5 & 8 and CNA.

The New Paper (TNP) is SGEM’s Official Print Media for 2001. For the month of April, TNP will run an article three days a week over four weeks. The article will deal with several issues about the nature of spoken English, in the form of anecdotes, amusing incidents or even comic strips. TNP will also run a series of contests, offering cash prizes, related to the English language in April.

Over the radio airwaves of Yes 93.3FM, Perfect Ten 98.7FM and Power 98FM, listeners can catch SGEM’s jingle (composed by local singer, Jai) and two commercials featuring snippets from the Phone-in Lessons. Power 98’s Breakfast Club of Joe Augustin, Denise Tan and Hamish Brown will talk about the importance of speaking good English whilst Shareen and Timothy in Evening Drive Time will point out some examples of grammatically incorrect English.

(see Annexes B, C and D for the detailed list of activities)

The SGEM Official Launch and Festival 2001 will kick start this year’s series of activities/programmes on good English. It will be followed by a year-round programme to be run by the public and private sector organisations. Members of the public can find out more about the Movement from the SGEM website at www.sgem.org.sg.

ISSUED BY:

SPEAK GOOD ENGLISH MOVEMENT COMMITTEE

c/o MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND THE ARTS

3 APRIL 2001

For media enquiries, please contact:

Ms Ang Hwee Sim

Programmes Officer, MITA

DID: 837 9863

Fax: 837 9848

e-mail: ang_hwee_sim@mita.gov.sg

Mr Fong Weng Kiong

Programmes Officer, MITA

DID: 837 9807

Fax: 837 9848

e-mail: fong_weng_kiong@mita.gov.sg

Lecturer, Department of English Language and Literature,

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore

Community clubs, residents’ committees, polytechnics, Institutes of Technical Education, vocational training centres, junior colleges, secondary schools and primary schools will also hold various activities/programmes related to good English.