Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said learning Chinese within schools without applying it has failed.

SINGAPORE started 'completely wrong' in the teaching of the Chinese language, said Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew yesterday.

Speaking at the official opening of the Singapore Centre for Chinese Language, he admitted that teaching the language by enforcing rote learning was a mistake.

Mr Lee said: 'A language is first listened to, heard and then spoken. It's not read or written - that follows later. (But) we started the wrong way. We insisted on spelling and dictation (in Chinese).'

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And the way to correct this was to get children interested in the language, regardless of their linguistic ability, he said, because, with interest in the language, they will have it for life.

He said that forcing students to just memorise without applying the language and to take examinations on the Chinese language, is wrong.

This is because the students would then just aim to pass Chinese in their exams and then forget about the language after that, Mr Lee said.

Asia One Education November 2009