SINGAPORE — Getting children to fold their own clothes at home, or tending to a bonsai plant are among the simple tasks that can help inculcate values like care, responsibility, respect and honesty, in the young ones.

As such, these daily activities have been incorporated into a new Chinese language character-building programme for more than 7,000 pre-schoolers at NTUC First Campus’ (NFC) My First Skool.

Touted as the first of its kind, the programme was rolled out in March to children, aged between four and six, who are attending nursery to kindergarten classes at its 120 centres.

“These values were chosen as it is important to choose values that pre-schoolers will be able to understand easily at this young age,” said Dr Connie Lum, Head of Chinese Language Curriculum, Specialist Headquarters of NFC, at a media briefing today (May 14).

“We were very aware of the need to choose values that are (also) deemed easy to practise by these pre-schoolers”.

The pedagogy, designed and developed by NFC’s Chinese Language Curriculum Department, is designed to inculcate values in children through daily activities, instead of just teaching them as subjects in the classrooms.

During the 75-minute programme, conducted in Mandarin every Thursday, the pre-schoolers will learn about different values during each school term.

For example, when it comes to responsibility, they will be taught how to wash the dishes at home, or record their daily attendance on their own.

As for the value of respect, they will be taught, for example, how to respect the different religions and cultural festivals. 

Dr Lum said Mandarin has been chosen as the medium of instruction as many parents want to discuss common topics with their children in the language at home.

The new curriculum framework also provides for parents and teachers to take on a greater role in moulding the children’s character. Over 300 teachers have been trained to carry out the lessons for the programme.

Parents will also be given tips to evaluate and assess their children’s behaviour so that they could track their progress.

For example, pre-schoolers will be given a new activity worksheet every two weeks, which allows them to discuss its contents with their parents and classmates.

Madam Soh Xin Kai, whose son is in the nursery class, said he is more polite now. For example, her son will say “I’m so sorry” or “Pardon me” when he makes a mistake.

“There’s a lot more politeness than before, there’s great improvement,” said the 33-year-old staff nurse. 

The programme was implemented after a one-year pilot at three of My First Skool’s centres at Jurong Point, Yung An Road and Block 209 Ang Mo Kio.