KLC international Institute, our adult education arm, has been expanding its Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses for preschool teachers and educarers.

In February, it launched an 8-hour CPD workshop endorsed by ECDA to help Malay language preschool teachers use folklore to help their children more effectively with their language and emotional development.

Folklore has been used throughout history to engage and teach young children language, culture and values. Participants in this synchronous e-learning session learned how to identify appropriate folklore for children, adopt and use techniques and strategies for storytelling that will enhance the emotional and character development of preschoolers. They also learned how to plan appropriate activities through the ‘feeling vocabularies’ to enhance the knowledge and application of the Malay language.

Training in session for MTL Malay Preschool teachers

Folklores and stories are useful means to impart social and cultural values and contribute to the development of children’s listening and communication skills, social-emotional quotient and self-confidence. Overall, the workshops helped the teachers to have more ideas and resources available to them for instilling greater interest and the joy of listening to stories, as well as reading, in children.

The course was conducted by Ms Masliah Bte Abdul Rahman, who has a Bachelor in Early Childhood and a Master of Education (Monash University), as well as an Advance Certificate in Training and Assessment from the Singapore Workforce Development Agency.