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Punggol Green Primary School

Mother Tongue Languages

Discover how PGPS equips students with bilingual skills through Chinese, Malay, and Tamil Language. Our programmes build strong foundations in listening, speaking, reading, and writing from Primary 1 to 6.

Last updated 3 August 2026

Subject Overview

The purpose of learning MTL at primary school is to equip our students with literacy skills that will enable them to harness opportunities in the future as bilingual individuals. MTL teachers adopt differentiated teaching approaches to cater to the needs of students from different home language backgrounds. To ignite students’ joy of learning MTL, PGPS provides a broad range of MTL learning experiences to help students discover their talents and interests.

Slide titled "At a Glance: Learning MTL at Primary School" with two text panels on bilingualism and teaching approaches.

The 3 MTL subjects offered at PGPS are Chinese Language, Malay Language and Tamil Language. At the end of Primary 6, students are expected to have a sound foundation in listening, speaking, reading and writing MTL, coupled with interaction skills that would enable them to use MTL for communication in their daily life.

For lower primary students and students who need more support in MTL, the learning of oracy will precede the learning of reading and writing. For students at the higher levels and students with a stronger foundation in MTL, learning proceed from reading to oracy and writing. Students are provided with opportunities to progress to different levels of achievement during their primary school years.

Table showing MTL Subject Expectations for Chinese, Malay, and Tamil Language Curricula with bullet points on teaching approaches.

Mission and Stage Outcomes

In alignment with the school’s direction, the mission of the PGPS MTL Department is to curate MTL experiences that are relevant, fun and integrated.

MTL Mission slide showing PGPS vision, philosophy, motto, curriculum framework, and MTL department mission table.

MTL teachers make intentional efforts to ignite the Joy of Learning (JOL), leverage on EdTech to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of MTL learning, and integrate MTL with the Emerging 21st Century Competencies (E21CC).

At the Orientation Stage (Primary 1 and 2), MTL teachers focus on arousing students’ interest and inculcating good learning habits. At the Exploration Stage (Primary 3 and 4), students are exposed to a variety of MTL activities that allow them to discover and pursue their interests. At the Mastery Stage (Primary 5 and 6), MTL teachers empower students to apply MTL within and beyond the classroom with confidence.

PGPS MTL Journey chart showing three growing plant stages mapped to Orientation, Exploration, and Mastery for P1-P6.

Approach
PGPS delivers the MTL curriculum using the A3 approach that:

  • Activates students’ interest in learning MTL through engaging lessons and activities;

  • Enables students to Acquire MTL knowledge and competencies by leveraging on EdTech;

  • Provides students with opportunities to apply MTL skills and E21CC simultaneously.

Triangle labeled PGPS MTL A3 Approach with three corners: Activate at top, Acquire bottom left, Apply bottom right.

Key Programmes

PGPS students are exposed to a wide variety of MTL programmes that are aligned with the PGPS Desired Outcomes. These programmes are customised, segmentised and progressive, so as to cater to different students’ interests, needs and abilities.

  • Self-Directed Learners

    • PGPS MTL Voice 21 Enrichment Programme

    • MTL Assessment for Learning Tasks

  • Confident Leaders

    • MTL Competitions

  • Innovative Collaborators

    • Reading Programme

    • Language Week


  • Caring Citizens

    • Experiential Learning