Mother Tongue
Discover how the Mother Tongue Department helps students develop language skills and a love for their cultures through enrichment programmes, competitions, and festive celebrations.
Department Vision
Effective Global Communicators rooted in Values with a Love for the Languages and Cultures
Department Mission
To nurture Active Learners, Proficient Users anchored in values who embrace their ethnic identities.
To develop Adaptive Thinkers with a global outlook and appreciation for unity in diversity
The Mother Tongue Department believes in the importance of nurturing students to learn and love Mother Tongue Languages as living languages and appreciate the beauty of colourful cultures behind them. To engage our learners, our teachers engage in life-long learning to continuously improve our pedagogies and effective use of ICT in their lesson and assessment design.
Mother Tongue Department teachers and designations
Teacher | Designation | Unit |
|---|---|---|
Mdm Tan Lay Teng | HOD Mother Tongue | Chinese |
Mdm Yeo Leng | Year Head (Lower Sec) | Chinese |
Mrs Tan Woan Chyn | Subject Head | Chinese |
Mdm Su Xiaoling | Teacher | Chinese |
Mr Tham Wen Xi | Teacher | Chinese |
Mdm Whong Tung Geok | Teacher | Chinese |
Mdm Wong Mui Lin | Teacher | Chinese |
Ms Wong Yin Sung | Teacher | Chinese |
Mr Yang Peiqiang | Teacher | Chinese |
Mr Mohamed Naguib Ngadnan | Teacher | Malay |
Ms Nadia Sharin | Asst Year Head | Malay |
Mdm Norhidayah Mohamed Sis | Teacher | Malay |
Mdm Nur Shahirah Shahir Sha Hir | Teacher | Malay |
Mdm Siti Fatimah Muhammad | Teacher | Malay |
Mdm Lee Low Eng | Flexi-adjunct Teacher | Chinese |
Signature Programmes / Enrichment Programmes
Chinese New Year Celebration 2025
Mayflower students and staff celebrated a special Chinese New Year with our very own Chinese New Year Card Design Competition followed by a physical concert in the hall.
Our School Leaders with the Lion Dance Troupe
Sharing the Festivity with AWWA
To spread our love to the community during the festive season, staff and students also rallied together for a donation drive to provide the AWWA elderly with daily necessities. This year, our students from Table Tennis Team also went down to the AWWA Dementia Care Centre to share the festivity with the seniors.
Mother Tongue Language Fortnight 2025
Our Secondary 3 Chinese Language students went for a learning journey to Tea Chapter to learn about history of Chinese tea and the art of tea drinking.
The Malay Language students attended a Dikir Barat Workshop to learn its culture and form. After attending the workshop, the students came together and took initiative to prepare and perform during Hari Raya assembly programme.
International Friendship Day Commemoration cum Hari Raya Celebration
Our Malay Language students put together a Malay Dance item and a Dikir Barat performance for the International Friendship Day cum Hari Raya Celebration Assembly Programme. The programme is a collaboration between CCE Committee and Mother Tongue Department.
Secondary 4/5 Mother Tongue Intensive Programme
Every year, the school will set aside 4 full days of Mother Tongue Intensive Programme at the end of Term 2 to help prepare our graduating students for the O Level Mid-Year Mother Tongue examination. During this period, the Mother Tongue Department will come together to customise the revision packages for our students and work along side with them.
Applied Learning Programme (Effective Communication)
The MTL ALP aims to provide authentic learning experiences, riding on the foundation of language skills taught in EL ALP, based on the students’ interests. The learning experiences are customised based on the profile and interests of the students, by providing them different platforms and opportunities to use the MT languages and code switch to apply the skills taught in EL ALP.
Tier 1 Programme:
Secondary 1: Reading Programme
Secondary 2: Speech and Drama
Secondary 3: Journalism and Broadcasting
Tier 2
Recital Training
Translation Skills
Debate Skills
Chinese Language Applied Learning Programme
The teachers work closely with the instructors to conduct quality lessons for our students to teach them skills for reading, speech and drama and journalism and broadcasting.
Malay Language Applied Learning Programme
The ML Speech and Drama instructor conducted an engaging lesson for our students.
Achievements and Programmes
To enrich the students’ exposure to language and culture, we designed an ALP Programme in reading, speech and drama and Journalism and Broadcasting and also held Mother Tongue Language Fortnight, showcasing the theme on Chinese and Malay weddings. We had a festive Chinese New Year celebration which includes an e-concert and engaging classroom activities for the whole school.
In 2025, we continued to stretch our students by participating in a variety of competitions. These includes:
Malay Debate Competition 2025
Inter Schools Malay Scrabble - Sahibba Competition
MESRA Sahibba Scrabble Competition
Forming Words - Cipta Kata Competition
The 8th National Textbook Recital Competition
Xin Lei Creative Writing Competition
National Schools Translation Competition
National Translation Competition
National Mandarin Oratorical Competition for Secondary Schools & Junior Colleges / Centralised Institute
“Awe-Inspiring Virtue and Ocean of Wisdom” National Calligraphy Competition
National Chinese Poetry-Writing competition for Secondary and Pre-university students
8th Text Recital Competition 2025
Sec 1 & 2 Higher Chinese students attended the ALP Tier 2 training on recital skills. Two teams and 1 student took part in the 8th Text Recital Competition 2025 under the Group Category and Individual Category respectively. We have been sending our students for this competition for the few years and have attained good results for all.
In 2025, our Secondary 1 and 2 Teams have been awarded the gold award and were selected to participate in the finals. We were very proud and honoured to announce that they have clinched the accomplishment award and 2nd place respectively at the finals!
Accomplishment Award for Lower Sec Team
Overall 2nd Place for Lower Sec Team
National Translation Competition 2025
2 groups of our Secondary 3 Higher Chinese students participated in the National Translation Competition at NYJC after attending a Tier 2 translation programme. We were proud that Luo Yafei was awarded the Outstanding Award for her exceptional performance.
Xin Lei Jiang Creative Writing Competition
Rakan Bahasa 2025
2 of our Mayflowerians have been nominated by the Mother Tongue Department to be Malay Language ambassadors. This is an initiative by the Malay Language Council Singapore. As ambassadors, they are required to attend various workshops conducted in Malay Language as well as apply the usage of Malay Language in varied forms of medium. The ambassadors are also role models to their peers in encouraging their peers to develop the love of the language.
The 2 Malay Language Ambassadors, also known as Rakan Bahasa are Kejora binte Mokhazani and Sofia Aneesa binte Ramdzan.
Malay Debate Competition 2025
We have sent a group of Malay students participated in the Malay Debate Competition organised by the Malay Youth Literary Association 4PM. This is our third year participating in this competition and the students have improved since last year. The students are:
Marsya Adriana Binte Jeremy Sani 3E 2025
Dyan Nurqasdina Binte Nurazhar 2D 2025 (Best Speaker for Round 2)
Imaad Bin Jaafar 2D 2025
Kejora Binte Mokhzani 2A 2025
Narsha Erika Binte Muhammad Rostam 1F 2025
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