Mr Robert Leong
Executive Director of Crestar Holding Pte Ltd

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentleman

Good Morning

Thank you for inviting me to the 1^st Asia Chinese Early Childhood Education Conference 2003. This Conference, being the first of its kind in Asia, marks a significant milestone for the early childhood field in Singapore as well as for the region.

I am pleased to see among us today early childhood experts and professionals from the region - China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore who have come together to share your expertise, knowledge and practices. This platform for deliberation and discussion will serve as a catalyst for fostering best practices in Chinese language learning experiences for our young children. .

In the last decade or so, there have been tremendous advancements and progress in the area of brain sciences. Together with the voluminous research in early childhood education, we can see that teachers and staff in pre-schools today are responding eagerly to these changing demands and trends. This is clearly reflected in the way early childhood professionals like yourselves have tailored teaching methods to meet the developmental needs of young children in your centres.

One of the ways of teaching a complex subject to a child is through play and fun activities. We have heard how these methods have worked in the teaching of the language arts, maths, science and creative arts. Young children learn and develop best through a holistic and integrated curriculum.

However, the culture of change I have just described has not been as evident in the development of teaching methods of the Chinese language. I am sure you will agree with me that there are considerable differences in the way we facilitate the English and Chinese language learning experiences for our young children.

We have a challenging task ahead of us. We need to review and upgrade our teaching practices, methods and materials to bridge the gap before the Chinese language suffers the fate of becoming a language that is boring, tedious and difficult to acquire. I believe that we tend to be somewhat confined to traditional methods such as rote learning and repetitive copying, even for young children

Many of us may not necessarily subscribe to such methods. However, when we juxtapose our approach to teaching Chinese language with the progressive leaps taking place in the other pre-school curriculum areas, we are unwittingly relegating the Chinese language to one which is unable to meet the new demands and challenges of the 21^st century.

The challenge faced is real. The predominant use of, and exposure to, the English language in our preschool settings and our external environment make it a challenge to ensure that our children are bi-lingual, master as well as enjoy the Chinese language.

The Chinese language has a 5000-year old legacy. The richness and beauty of the language has survived the centuries. We need to bring this richness and beauty alive. Make it interesting, make it imaginative and make it innovative. We must draw on research from the brain sciences and early childhood education and make it work to our advantage.

We must strive to ensure that our approach inspires not only the children’s minds but their hearts as well. As early childhood professionals, you are aware that an inspired heart is a vital ingredient for enhancing and stimulating the brain’s capacity to process and learn effectively. Being early childhood professionals, you will also agree with me that young children are at their most impressionable in their early years.

Confucius once said, "I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand". This constitutes the heart of effective learning which is to learn by doing. I see a parallel in this with the developmental theory of Swiss Psychologist Jean Piaget, whom many of you will be familiar with as early childhood professionals. According to Piaget, young children’s cognition is primed to develop when they actively explore and interact with their learning environment by engaging all their senses. Chinese language teachers must exercise greater flexibility of mind to embrace these concepts fully and translate them wholeheartedly.

I believe that when we provide positive Chinese language learning experiences for our young children, we are creating valuable lifelong resources for them. These experiences will help to lay a firm foundation for developing and preserving strong cultural and moral roots in the latter years and enable them to access the wealth of 5000 years of Chinese civilisation.

This Conference is a good start and a timely call for all of us to re-think and re-package the way we structure and facilitate the Chinese language learning experience for our children. For the future of our nation, it is our duty and responsibility to invest appropriately in developing our young minds so that future generations would be well anchored in the rich cultural heritage that is inherent in the Chinese language.

I commend KLC School of Education for organising this Conference. We must continue to work closely in promoting such initiatives among prechool educators. Allow me to end with this:

If you want 1 year of prosperity, grow grain.
If you want 10 years of prosperity, grow trees.
If you want 100 years of prosperity, grow people.

I wish all of you an enjoyable and enriching Conference.

Thank you.

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