The Ministry of Education of Singapore has just announced a new curriculum and strategy to teaching the English language in primary schools. It is not enough to be competent in English, but students now need critical thinking skills to help them navigate in today's demanding world.
Since everyone learns differently, this new strategy will cater to a diverse range of learners. Some are critical of this new curriculum, saying that it favours students from English-speaking backgrounds. However, those who don't speak English at home can draw from their different perspectives and cultural backgrounds to speak and write, thus enriching their teachers and classmates.
This new strategy intents to use visuals, in addition to traditional methods of teaching like sentence drills. Children need to cultivate a lifelong love for language and reading.
All that said, the same applies to the learning of any language. It is not enough to know the grammar rules and make eloquent sentences in the foreign language. We need to be able to express our thoughts and desires, think logically, analyse facts and make decisions. All this takes much more than grammar rules and sentence drills.
I have met too many students of English who are obsessed with grammar rules but cannot string a proper sentence in English. Learning a language is best done through every avenue possible - hearing, speaking, reading and writing. Whatever works for you, go for it. The more you are immersed in the language, the faster you will pick it up.
There is no shortcut to learning a language, but in the midst of the hard work, have fun!
Happy learning!
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