International education
with an Asian touch

What is the best age to learn Chinese? Judging from this lesson with SISB head Chinese teacher Wang Bailing, the younger the children, the better.

Western systems predominate on the Thai international school scene, but alternatives like the Singapore International School of Bangkok (SISB) also exist

For other parents, however, this all seems a bit too radical, a bit too the from Thai way of doing things. While they might value many of the things an international curriculum offers, they would prefer something a little more familiar and traditional – something a little more Asian.

Actually, within Thailand’s incredibly diverse international school system, there are schools that offer just that. A prime example is the Singapore International School of Bangkok (SISB). This small primary school, located in the Ekamai area of Sukhumvit, offers the rigorous Singapore national curriculum, adapted slightly to meet local requirements. (The school doesn’t stream students after primary four, for example.)

One of the main appeals of the Singaporean system to some local parents is its no-nonsense, results-oriented approach to learning. Singapore, after all, came in first in maths and second in science out of 38 participating countries in the most recent (1999) International Mathematics and Science Study tests.

Another strength, particularly in the early years, is its focus on language. Like their peers in Singapore, SISB students spend the bulk of their time in the early years mastering two languages – three, if you count the hour a day they have of with Thai. English and Chinese Mandarin receive almost equal attention although English predominates overall because it is the medium of instruction in other subjects as well.

Still, there is nothing terribly exotic about the Singapore system. “You could say it’s the British national curriculum with an Asian touch,” observes Primary one homeroom teacher Holz Baelz.

“It is a lot more guided, a lot more structured with not so much stress on individual students’ work. Teacher input is a lot stronger,” he adds.

SISB Principal George Geoh

To school principal, George Geoh, however, attempting to categorise the Singaporean system risks missing its real strength. “I wouldn’t like to say this is a western approach or an eastern approach,” he says. “It’s a good approach. We pick up whatever is good.”

He should know. An educator in Singapore from 1965 until his recent retirement, he held numerous key administrative positions including that of primary school principal, an inspector for the Ministry of Education and, finally, a school superintendent in charge of 14 schools.

Geoh’s first love is heading a single school and he was quickly attracted to an offer to become principal at SISB. Arriving only three months ago, he is eager to incorporate what he feels are the best practices of Singaporean education. He has an ambitious agenda and SISB promises to be a very different place by the time he leaves.

The success of the Singaporean academic system seems more pragmatic than magical. For one thing, the school year is longer – a full month longer than public and international schools here in Thailand, for example.

According to Principal Geoh, the highly structured centrally-controlled curriculum is also an advantage. The textbooks, too, are second to none, he says.

“We’ve come up with very good textbooks. The quality of our textbooks is such that now they are purchased by many other countries of the world – even the US is purchasing our mathematics textbooks,” Geoh points out.

The most important success factor, Geoh feels, is the systematic and ongoing in-service training Singapore teachers receive.

“In Singapore we place very much emphasis on ongoing teacher development,” he relates. “We make provision for a teacher to have a minimum of 100 hours of retraining per year. I feel that that has played a great part in improving the teaching skills.”

“I have been in the education scene since 1965 and comparing teachers in those days to the teachers we have today, I think the teachers now are much more creative, much more equipped to get children to think at a higher level.”

Geoh is quite confident that SISB can meet or exceed the standards of Singapore schools. The biggest advantage, he feels, is the school’s small size — only 85 students and a highly manageable staff of 20, including teaching assistants. ..

“In Singapore I dealt with a staff of around 80 to 100 per school. Here, I can even go to the extent of one to one coaching,” he says.

Teacher development will be one of his top priorities. “My plans are to have short work shops in the school on Saturdays and in the afternoon on school days. I am planning a staff seminar and retreat in September. My teachers are really looking forward to that.

“However, day to day contact with the teachers on a one to one basis is more important – going into the classrooms and working with the teachers and sometimes demonstrating to the teachers.”

Science, a long-time interest from his days in Singapore, is a priority.

“Science is not just a body of knowledge,” Geoh observes. “Science has another important component called the learning of science process skills – interpretation of information, symbolic representation, experimentation, forming hypotheses and so on.

“These are very important skills that we want to develop among the children and they are skills where the majority of the teachers worldwide are still not very well trained.”

There is much more to primary school than the core academic subjects, Geoh adds. Students must be allowed to develop socially and physically as well.

“Above all, I want children to enjoy school life. Very often you hear people say that education is preparing children to be citizens of tomorrow. I think that’s wrong. They’re citizens today. They’re young citizens today. They should live life to the fullest today. We want them to excel in academics, but we also want to see that they are enjoying school life. And that they are socially gracious, something that is very important in Thailand.”

Geoh relates how he first took an interest in the children’s physical fitness many years ago in Singapore. “I was shocked when I was appointed principal for the first time. On the first day I watched a physical education lesson and I noticed that even children at primary six were unable to bounce a ball. This is a simple psycho-motor skill!

“So we’re putting in table tennis tables, badminton nets, basketball goals, hula hoops, skipping ropes and children are free to use them throughout the year,” Geoh says.

Interestingly, apart from the principal, none of the academic staff are from Singapore. The four Chinese teachers are all native speakers from China. As the learning post has observed elsewhere, the Chinese staff seem to have a natural affinity for language teaching, particularly with the youngest children. Classes are animated and the little ones seem to pick up the language quickly and effortlessly.

Like China, Singapore uses the simplified Chinese characters. SISB students also learn a romanised system to help them with the pronunciation of the words. Manderin as a foreign language (MFL) is also available for children with little background in Chinese.

On the English side of the curriculum, the teachers are drawn from a wide geographical area. All are either native speakers or are native speaker equivalents. None of them seem to have had much difficulty adjusting to the Singapore curriculm.

Actually, it doesn’t require a big adjustment, P1 teacher Baelz explains. Young children have the same needs the world over, he says. Take maths, for example.

“You need things that they can see, things that they can manipulate. And there’s the play element. The good thing is that the Singapore curriculum does allow for the playful teaching. It’s not all dry and academic number crunching stuff.

“We measured our classroom with popsicle sticks. You can imagine that it’s lots of fun with everyone just rolling around on the floor. So it’s not really all that different. You could do the same thing in an American school,” Baelz says.

One clear feature of the Singapore system to Kindergarten 1 teacher Raluka Soicher is its quick pace. “I can’t compare with other international schools, but I can with Thai schools because I’ve been there. It’s much faster here,” she says.

At times, she feels that it may be a bit too fast. “Sometimes I find the system a little bit strict. I think it’s a little bit too much for them to learn in kindergarten.. It tends to be a little more serious than western systems.

Parental expectations play a role here, she says. “The parents push them a lot sometimes. We try to talk to the parents to tell them actually they’re kids. They have to be playful sometimes. They have to go out and use their energy.”

Textbooks set the standard, even in K1 she says. “I follow the textbook. Today, for example, we did counting in threes.”

Unlike many Thai schools, children are not ranked and, at this level, formal testing is not used, she says. “Our assessment is continual assessment. We’re observing them from the beginning of the year.”

While the demands may be high, the children seem to be coping very well, Soicher admits. “They’re used to this system, so they move quite fast. They’re good. Some of them can read or write. They are four-and-a-half years old and they can read already.”

The newest member of the staff, primary three teacher Steven Bailey has clearly enjoyed his brief introduction to the Singaporean way of doing education. A degree-qualified engineer, he is delighted to be in a system where maths and science are so highly valued.

“It’s a great school, great kids. It’s a great system as well. Personally, I prefer science and maths and if you look at the English system, they’re going away from that. They’re doing more arts and more drama,” he observes.

Coursework, he says, is tightly structured. “We follow textbooks very closely. Quality-wise, they are the best I’ve ever seen.”

Actually, Bailey says that teachers are given a range of resources. Apart from the basic text, there are enrichment resources for the faster learners and also materials for those who move less quickly. Courses also come with CD-ROMS.

At the P3 level, testing plays an important role, Bailey says. “Students are tested a lot here. The students get the test at the end of every term. They get a midterm test and then they get the end of year test.”

Special tutoring is available in the afternoon on a regular basis for those who fall behind, he says.

SISB currently has a single, relatively small, academic building, formally the Embassy of Brunei Darussalam. The grounds are spacious, however, and plans are being finalised to add a second building, something Geoh would like very much to see through.

Beyond, the future is uncertain, he says. “I’m already 60. I miss my family back home. I’m going to have two grandchildren this year – my first two grandchildren. So I can’t say how long I will stay, but I certainly would like to take the school to another level. I’m also going to train somebody to take over.”

That’s not going to be any time too soon, however. Geoh clearly intends to make the Singapore option a viable one for Bangkok parents seeking an Asian approach to education.