Now showing 1 - 10 of 37
  • Publication
    Open Access
    Use of Tamil language and IT in Tamil language education
    (2009-06) ;
    Peer, Jarina
    'There is a compulsion, not option to use technology', said Raveendran N., President of the Computer Society of India. (The Hindu Newspaper 2008). He stressed that barriers including language should be circumvented to make technology available to all. The use of computer technology enhances the knowledge and resources of the Tamil language. National Institute of Education and Ministry of Education in Singapore are continuously harnessing effective Information Technology in Teaching and Learning in Singapore Schools. Tamil Language Education is not an exception for it. Naa Go Tamil Language Information Technology competition was one of the process to develop the IT and Language skills among the Singapore Primary School Tamil Students and Tamil teacher trainees. 50 Primary schools and Diploma in Education Year 2 teacher trainees took part in this competition which capitalized on their skills. From the palm leaves in the olden age when Tamil words were written more than 2500 years ago to the age of computers and internet has made Tamil a living language. Among all the Indian Languages, Tamil has already made a considerable presence on the internet. Naa Govindasamy was known as "The Father of Tamil Internet". In view of all his noteworthy contributions towards Tamil Language and the Tamil community, the Naa Govindasamy Tamil IT Award was inaugurated to inspire our young generation to engage in the development, use and promotion of Tamil IT. The National Institute of Education (Tamil Language & Culture Division) and Tamil Murasu, a local Tamil newspaper, jointly organized the Naa Govindasamy Tamil IT Award Competition at the national level to all Primary schools offering Tamil language and Tamil teacher trainees from NIE. This paper shares the process, the experience and the outcomes in terms of IT and language skills among the students and teacher trainees.
      2617  3811
  • Publication
    Metadata only
    ICT and its significance in knowledge based economy development [அறிவு சார்ந்த பொருளியல் மேம்பாட்டில், தகவல் தொடர்பு தொழில்நுட்பத்தின் பங்கும் தாக்கமும்]

    Today’s 21st globalized world expects different set of skills from our young students. Hence the educators and the leaders in educational field need to inculcate surviving skills for 21st century and relevant knowledge to their students. For this, the educators and leaders of educational institutions at all levels are being trained themselves and developing their capabilities. This will enable the future citizens of the global world to be equipped with knowledge, skills, and experience to work for employers with high expectations and far-sighted goals. Currently, the knowledge based functional skills that are expected among our students are ability to use the digital technology, assessing capability of technological information and the intelligence to integrate the information and create new information. These skills are felt necessary at functional level in the knowledge-based economy (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2004). Using technology (Mike Eisenberg, Doug Johnson & Bob Berkowitz, 2010) in a responsible and ethical way to do research and solve the problems of a community is a level of skills needed for today’s youth. To develop this kind of future leaders, the educators and institutional leaders have to formulate themselves as 21st century educators and educational leaders. This paper will highlight the place of ICT in today’s knowledge based economy and how it plays a critical role in developing young students to facilitate the growth of knowledge based economy (Kenneth J. Literacy & Kenneth J. Luterbach, 2011) with a reference to ICT in Singapore’s Educational Institutions.

      30
  • Publication
    Metadata only
    தமிழ்மொழிக் கல்வி: புதிய சாத்தியங்கள் புதிய சவால்கள் [Tamil language education: Responses to new challenges].
    (Indian Heritage Centre; Institute of Policy Studies, 2021)
    Gopinathan, Saravanan
    ;
    ;
    Saravanan, Vanithamani
    This paper critically explains the history of Singapore’s Tamil Language Education, its achievements, challenges, and long-term goals. Internationally, Tamil education contributes as an education model for mother tongue, minority, and heritage languages. Within Singapore Tamil education, Tamil tertiary programmes, Tamil Curriculum, Pedagogy, Educational Research and PD courses has been developed to build Tamil teachers’ capacity in a multicultural context. This paper describes the contributions from various Tamil educational and linguistic dimensions and resources for implementing new initiatives in Tamil Education.
      103
  • Publication
    Open Access
    An insight into the Tamil language alphabet and primary school learners of Tamil: Research essay = தமிழ் மொழியில் நெடுங்கணக்கைக் கற்றல் கற்பித்தல் மற்றும் தொடக்கப்பள்ளித் தமிழ் மாணவர்கள் : ஓர் உள்நோக்குப் பார்வை
    (2005) ;
    Saravanan, Vanithamani
    A key recommendation of the Tamil Language Curriculum & Pedagogy and Review Committee Report released in 2005 was that the Tamil alphabet be taught over a period of 2 years. With the increased emphasis on the use of Spoken Tamil in classroom, it is important that students use oral language as an important starting point. Although spoken language can be written down, written language is largely different from speech. The reading of texts aloud is a bridge between spoken language and reading, because it helps them to understand what written script looks like. Tamil orthography involves 24 7 letters to represent various meaning bearing words. The challenge to students then, becomes the gradual mastery of sub skills such as symbol sound relationships, the recognition of words and later comprehending the text. Several methods can be instrumental in strengthening the student's command of the language, these include, the use phonic, semantic and contextual strategies to develop confidence in word recognition, the fostering of spelling skills and comprehension, appreciating the alphabet, reading alphabet books creating words with alphabet, exploring different kinds of writing the alphabet, recognizing and producing the alphabet through word processing.
      730  359
  • Publication
    Metadata only
    தமிழகத்துக்கும் இலங்கைக்கும் வெளியே நாமும் நமது தாய்மொழியும் / பாரம்பரிய மொழியும்
    (Association of Tamil Journal Publishers, 2019)

    Mother Tongue, Heritage Language, First Language and Second Language have their unique and in-depth meanings in today’s globalization. In Singapore, we have a special arrangement in our bilingual education. Ideally, a child acquires its first language i.e. its mother tongue, at home and come to the school to learn English. Under our Singapore’s meaningful bilingual policy, a child learns English at School as first language and mother tongue language at second language level. Mother tongue acquisition provides a strong foundation to itself and for the facilitation of English language. It is an additional resource for a child to use its mother tongue language to learn and acquire English. Parents can believe this to introduce mother tongue language and English at home. Without the mother tongue language acquisition, the child will lose its invaluable ancestors’ language and its rich cultural benefits. Outside Tamil Nadu (India) and Sri Lanka Tamil language has its official language status in Singapore along with Chinese, Malay and English. Government continuously supports all of its initiatives towards Tamil. Let us continuously let a Tamil child to acquire its cultural language, that is, its mother tongue language (Tamil) and also to develop its character and confidence. As educators, we can try our best to facilitate them to use Standard Spoken Tamil (Spoken Tamil), create interesting story books and design our lessons based on their interesting topics. In today’s globalization, it is unique and important for a child to know its Mother tongue language to understand its linguistic and cultural features and develop itself as a confident user of its cultural language. And also, to stand on its own without losing the identity. This also provides a great opportunity to be bilingual and a bicultural citizen.

      62
  • Publication
    Open Access
    Usage of spoken Tamil in mass media
    (Thol Ila Muragu Pathipagam, 2006) ;
    Saravanan, Vanithamani
      225  216
  • Publication
    Restricted
    Building an evidence-base for teacher education: Phase II
    (Office of Education Research, National Institute of Education, Singapore, 2024) ;
    Goodwin, A. Lin
    ;
    ; ;
    This is the fourth in a suite of four projects which aim to establish an evidence-base for the continual review and enhancement of initial teacher education (ITE) and early career teacher professional learning and development (TPL&D) within Singapore. Therefore, this project is the continuation and expansion of our three previously funded research projects (OER 13/09 LEL, OER 04/10 LEL, and OER 15/11 LEL). Specifically, this project investigates how ITE programmes and the first two years of teaching experiences impact the development of professional competencies and identities of student teachers and beginning teachers (BTs) in Singapore.
      23  57