SINGAPORE — Two years ago when the language experts at Nanyang Technological University’s Confucius Institute looked around at the Chinese curriculum of preschools here, they found some materials used to be sourced from other countries or not of high quality.

The institute began developing a localised Chinese curriculum for preschoolers and came up with a set of 68 books, 544 lesson plans, 2,800 flashcards and 16 student activity books. Each set costs S$1,800.

Catering to four preschool levels – Nursery 1 and 2, and Kindergarten 1 and 2 – it is aligned with the Ministry of Education’s Nurturing Early Learners framework and features vignettes of Singaporean life, such as public housing and the MRT.

The curriculum, called Chinese for Early Learners, was launched on Wednesday (Jan 3) at the People’s Action Party Community Foundation (PCF) Sparkletots Preschool at Gambas Blk 408 in Yishun by Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung.

But it does not mean that PCF’s preschools have decided to take up the curriculum – the Confucius Institute said it is planning to reach out to anchor operators including PCF Sparkletots, and private childcare centres.

Mdm Ng Lay Tin, executive principal at PCF headquarters who had helped in reviewing the curriculum, told reporters that the operator is still in discussions on acquiring the resource.

The curriculum will supplement but not replace the PCF’s Chinese syllabus, which Mdm Ng said is developed in tandem with its English curriculum.

Confucius Institute’s director Neo Peng Fu said its curriculum – developed with S$300,000 seed funding from NTU – would help preschool operators that may not have the resources to design their own curriculum.

Apart from the books, which feature illustrations by local comic artist Wee Tian Beng, there will also be five language games — designed by 12 Institute of Technical Education students — which can be accessed online.

The key to piquing interest in the language among young students is to “relate it to the environment that they are most familiar with”, such as places within their neighbourhoods, said Dr Neo.

The institute’s curriculum focuses on listening and speaking skills, which will help children in primary school when the emphasis will shift towards writing and recognising Chinese characters, he said.

The institute worked with academics and educators to design and develop the content from scratch. It tested the content at four preschools and kindergartens — two PCF Sparkletots preschools in Whampoa, My Little Treasure International Preschool, and Presbyterian Community Services – Ghim Moh Childcare Centre — from 2016.

The institute also tested the materials at its own preschool enrichment programmes.

Ms Josephine Loo, 36, who has a five-year-old son in kindergarten, told TODAY that the new curriculum “looked promising”.

“Hopefully, with interesting elements like the reading pen (which ‘reads’ aloud when pressed against words on a page) and the activity (books), it will make my son more interested in picking up the language,” Ms Loo said.