Teachers from NTUC First Campus’s My First Skool (MFS) received five awards at the 2023 Preschool Chinese Language Storytelling Aids Competition organised by the Committee to Promote Chinese Language Learning on July 8. 

From 220 entries, prizes for the top three entries and seven commendations were awarded. Of these ten winners, five were from MFS.

This is a list of winners from MFS:

1. First Prize – ‘City of Happiness’ – Xie Yingying, My First Skool at 2 Punggol Drive

2. Second Prize – ‘The Snail and the Whale’ – Ma Yanping, Hong Yan and Huang Xiaozhi, My First Skool at Blk 487 Segar Road

3. Commendation Award – ‘The Time Travel of Bookworm Hero’ – Xia Yuejing, Song Yoke Fong and Cheng Sisi, My First Skool at Blk 507A Wellington Circle

4. Commendation Award – ‘All the best, Little Rabbit!’ – Zhang Ge, My First Skool at Braddell Heights Community Hub

5. Commendation Award – ‘Rainbow-coloured Flower’ – Kong Mei, Peh Peng Peng and Tian Lili, My First Skool at 51 Fernvale Link

Xie Yingying from My First Skool at 2 Punggol Drive was awarded first prize for her storytelling aid titled ‘City of Happiness’. She is a two-time champion of the Pre-school Chinese Language Storytelling Aids Competition.

The project ‘City of Happiness’ by Xie Yingying from MFS at 2 Punggol Drive was awarded first prize. As she was once a graphic designer, Yingying incorporates art into teaching by creating children’s original picture books and designing innovative teaching aids with local elements. Inspired by her daily interactions with children, she designs original Chinese language storybooks as teaching materials. Using her original picture book ‘Red Strawberries, Green Strawberries’ as the theme, she crafted a four-layer “story stage” depicting the ‘City of Happiness’ using eco-friendly materials. The three-dimensional props she designed, such as flowers, trees, animals, insects, and local landmarks, are full of childlike and fantastical colours, with a fusion of Peranakan style. She also composed nursery rhymes to accompany the teaching aid, allowing young children to play and sing along while acquiring Chinese vocabulary. 

“I hope to encourage children to care for one another, be grateful for their current happy lives, and strive to create a better home through stories,” Yingying said. She also won first prize in this competition in 2021. 

 Ma Yanping, Hong Yan, and Huang Xiaozhi from My First Skool at Blk 487 Segar Road were awarded the second prize for their storytelling aid based on the book ‘The Snail and the Big Whale’.

The team behind the second prize – Ma Yanping, Hong Yan, and Huang Xiaozhi from MFS at Blk 487 Segar Road – created a storytelling aid based on the book ‘The Snail and the Whale’. Children can arrange various marine creatures made of clay according to the plot in the book, and they can also listen to the correct pronunciation of vocabulary through a recording device and practise their pronunciation repeatedly. 

News coverage

1. (9 July 2023) Lianhe Zaobao Print 

2. (9 July 2023) Lianhe Zaobao Online

3. (8 July 2023) Channel 8 News

4. (8 July 2023) Capital 958FM