Petaling Jaya – The Tamil Language Standardisation Council of Malaysia (TLSCM), also known as Tamil Kappagam, a council recognised by the Ministry of Education, and Murasu Systems Sdn Bhd, the creators of Murasu Anjal and Sellinam software, will be jointly organizing a national level symposium on “early childhood Tamil language education in a multi-lingual environment” to be held on the 3rd of April 2020 at Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur.
The symposium, with an overall theme on early language education and multilingualism, will explore various aspects of Tamil language education for pre-school and lower-primary children. Presentations, discussions, forums and demonstration will be delivered by speakers from the UK, Singapore and Malaysia. The deputy minister of education, Teo Nie Ching, will officiate the symposium.
Dr. Sonali Nag, Associate Professor of Education and Child Development at the University of Oxford, UK, will deliver the keynote address. Dr. Nag, whose research area concerns literacy and language development, will speak on the importance and benefits of multilingualism among children.
Two educators from the home turf will deliver their researched presentations. Mr. Sadasseevan Letchumanan, Former Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at Institut Pendidikan Guru Ilmu Khas in KL, will talk about formal approaches to language education in kindergartens and primary schools. Mr. R Sathupathy, Senior Lecturer and Head of Tamil language Studies at Temenggong Ibrahim Teacher Training institute in Johor will in-turn present informal approaches to language education, particularly in environments outside of the classroom. Both the speakers have several decades of experience in pedagogy and in training teachers to teach languages in this country.
The symposium will include practical demonstrations on two approaches to early childhood language education: Storytelling, presented by Rani Kanna from AKT Creations, Singapore and Poems and Rhymes by Malaysia’s well-known child poet Dr. Murasu Nedumaran and his team.
At a joint-press conference held on Monday (Feb 3) K. Narayanasamy deputy chairman of TLSCM and Muthu Nedumaran founder and CEO of Murasu Systems Sdn Bhd provided furhter details about the symposium.
K. Narayanasamy, who emphasised the need for language education at a young age, said “Human language is a remarkable communication tool. Research says that a child can learn a language in just 3 years. Giving children the power of language is one of the greatest gifts we can present them with at a young age. The Tamil Language Standardisation Council is extremely happy to organise this as its first event since it was formally incorporated at the end of last year”. He further said that the council is grateful to the Ministry of Education and Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka for their support.
Muthu Nedumaran, founder and CEO of Murasu Systems Sdn Bhd said “Malaysia provides an excellent opportunity for us to learn and master multiple languages. Looking for ways to make language learning exciting and fun for children is an important goal for us”. Nedumaran further said, “We are eagerly looking forward to work with the teaching community to research and explore ways to make language education enjoyable for children”.
Murasu Systems will be providing free software tools for children to learn to read stories and play language based games in Tamil. The symposium is expected to draw about 600 participants from the country comprising teachers and parents. Individuals can register to attend at
http://bit.ly/2RPH1Kz
