Mother Tongue Languages

Find out how the school's Mother Tongue Languages programmes help students build language skills and appreciate their cultures.

Last updated 11 August 2026

Mother Tongue Languages

The Mother Tongue Languages Department offers the following languages in the school:
1) Chinese Language
2) Malay Language
3) Tamil Language

The Mother Tongue Languages Department aims to deliver a dynamic Mother Tongue Languages curriculum which builds a strong foundation in the languages among our students while providing them with a rich language learning environment to develop a love for learning the languages and appreciating the cultures.

Teaching and Learning Approach

We hope to achieve the objectives through:

1) Creating an enjoyable and conducive environment for the learning of Mother Tongue languages

2) Instilling the joy of learning and passion for Mother Tongue language and culture in our students

A collage of masked students in blue uniforms doing classroom activities, outdoor learning, and group presentations.

Key Programmes

Through these programmes, our students have the opportunities to build up their competencies in the respective languages and enhance their understanding of their own languages and cultures.

1) MTL Fortnight
2) MTL Cultural Camp
3) Whole School Reading Programme
4) Enrichment Programme for Upper Primary levels
5) Cultural Performance Exposure Scheme (for CL)

MTL Fortnight and Cultural Camp

School children in masks doing art, traditional costumes, drumming, hopscotch, and group activities in classrooms and halls.

Whole School Reading Programme

Seven photos of masked school children reading books, using tablets, browsing shelves, and sitting in a school library.

Cultural Performance Exposure Scheme (for CL)

Three classroom scenes showing young students in blue uniforms and face masks sitting at desks and raising hands.

Festive Celebrations

Together as a school, celebrating the 3 major festivals – Chinese New Year, Hari Raya and Deepavali, allows our students to appreciate the multi-cultures that Singapore has and promote harmony and understanding between the different races.

Students celebrating Chinese New Year with lion dance costumes, martial arts, traditional dances, and festive crafts.

Collage of North Spring Primary School Hari Raya Puasa 2022 celebrations with students and teachers wearing masks.

Parents – Our Partners

Our teachers engage our parents with workshops annually. Each year, we will organize workshop for parents so as to provide them with better understanding of the Mother Tongue Languages curriculum and assessment. In recent years, due to the pandemic, we have moved the workshops to online, where parents get to access the workshop videos at their own free time.

https://sites.google.com/nsps.edu.sg/mtl-workshops-for-parents/2022-workshops

Screenshot of MTL parent workshop webpages in Tamil, Malay, and Chinese with video thumbnails and text.

Literacy Support Programmes

To ensure that all students receive the literacy support they need, various literacy support programmes are being implemented to support students at the lower primary, middle primary and upper primary levels, which include both MOE support programmes and school initiated support programmes.

Yellow table showing reading support programmes for Primary 2 through 6, including RSP, MTSP, and Remediation Programme descriptions.