MAPLE LEAF TIMES

Did you know that mother tongue development has two key benefits: it plays an important role in a child's learning and inspires a deeper understanding of one's culture. As mother tongues are an integral part of CIS' cultural makeup, primary vice-principal Tonia Whyte Potter-Mal decided to bring the community closer by highlighting the faces behind the different languages and dialects spoken at CIS.

And so, the Mother Tongue Voices initiative was launched last school year. Tonia began by approaching the different support teams for volunteers who would read a book in their native language to a virtual audience of Lakeside primary students.

One of the storytellers was Michael Joseph from CIS's security team, who read the book "The Snake and the Frogs" to 30 classes in Tamil via livestream. Chef Naveen also enjoyed a brief celebrity moment when his entire family in India tuned in to show their support during his Hindi storytelling session.

According to Tonia, students and staff seemed equally delighted by the sessions, a sentiment shared by Grade 6 lead, Ryan Sayer. "My class recognised Michael on their way to PE class later in the afternoon and they immediately waved happily to say hello and thank you to him. Even the entire grade 6 level, who was in the middle of preparing for the PYP exhibition, took the time to tune in for the storytelling session," he says.

These types of initiatives allow CIS educators like Tonia to support their students' literacy development by taking language learning opportunities well beyond the classroom, and into the real world. In fact, CIS was the first school in the world to be certified as a BML school – a testament to its commitment in building both linguistic skills and cultural understanding.

Find out more about CIS' languages programmes at cis.edu.sg/learning/languages.