So I have a boy, now 6. From the time he started speaking, he went to a playschool located in Orchard. It was close by for convenience of drop-off and I liked the fact that it had a good make up. There was a good mix of expatriates and locals. Hence, the young one was surrounded with friends who are Africans, Americans, Europeans, Koreans, Japanese, Taiwanese, Chinese, Spanish etc., as well as, Singaporean Chinese, Indians, Eurasians...
Although I cannot validate the correlation, I had also noticed that the command of English in the centre was also less localized. When I was playschool-hunting, I walked in to a centre in a more neighbourhood environment (mind you, it was also a very reputable nursery). It so happened that the centre was closed for some administrative updates and only the principal was around at that point of time. Nevertheless, she very kindly attended to me and orientated me to the facility.
During the short 20 minute orientation, I could not help but be disturbed by the fact that her English was peppered with lots of 'lahs' and 'lors'. Disregarding that, I bolted (well, at least mentally) when she started making grammatical errors in her sentence structure while having a conversation with me.
Don't be mistaken, I am no teacher and I certainly am not claiming high levels of English proficiency but God forbid an educator in early childhood be exposing our young offsprings to a lack of language foundation when they are picking it up.
Anyway, my son entered the school in Orchard. It was all good until they had to close down the centre because their lease ran out.
Out of sheer frustration at their lack of notice, I refused to be transferred to another branch, choosing instead to source for another school.
We settled on a kindergarten along Bukit Timah. This is again another reputable pre-school that typically has an endless waiting list. I was just so lucky to be able to get a spot at short notice.
It's been almost 3 months since my boy attended this school and of late, horrified little me has been noticing his improvement in Singlish.
Just moments ago, I overheard him saying to our helper, "But you are in my room mah." (Faint... actually, double faint!)
All those years of proper English exposure in school and at home has been dinged by a mere 3 months in school!!!
I have since resorted to the 'fine' Singaporean way of corrective method. He is to be fined $0.10 for every lah, lor, mah, meh or the likes that he uses in his conversations. I can't help it, I am also Singaporean mah... (ooops!)
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