“Kaki Cheh (Our Kind of Book)”: Representation and Reading for Pleasure in Singaporean Children
PanelJo-Ann Shek, Maha Sripathy, Shameer Bismilla | Moderator: Kimberley Chiu
While Singaporean children consistently outperform their peers in English literacy, their rates of reading for pleasure have fallen to the “lowest in a decade” according to the Ministry of Education. At the same time, many Singaporean children express the belief that reading is not for “people like them”. How can we reconcile a “literary life” with a Singaporean life for our children? What role can Singaporean literature, including literature in Singlish, play in doing so? And how can educators, librarians, and parents help to make a love of story and of reading a part of children’s everyday lives?
languagereading
Jo-Ann Shek
Jo-Ann Netto-Shek works as a teacher educator of primary school English beginning teachers at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She is a children’s literature enthusiast and advocate for the place of literature in the development of reader, community and global identities in children. Jo-Ann is the recipient of the Fulbright Visiting Scholar and most recently, the NTU Edex Grant. She can be reached at email: joann.shek@nie.edu.sg.
Maha Sripathy (Singapore)
Maha Sripathy works in the area of literacy and language education across the grades. Facilitating teacher understanding of students' language and literacy learning processes and applying pedagogic approaches to meet the different needs and abilities have been the focus of her passionate involvement in promoting critical literacy. She has provided language and communication consultancy services to multi-national corporations and curriculum development services, for schools and non-profit organizations in Singapore and the region.
Shameer Bismilla (Singapore)
Shameer Bismilla is an early childhood and primary educator at the German European School Singapore, with over 24 years of experience and a Master’s in Education from NTU. A literacy coach and Associate Lecturer at NIEC, he mentors teachers and champions the readers’ and writers’ workshop model. Shameer believes every child is a reader—they just need the right book. He co-authored The Boy and the Box and The Girl and the Box, and volunteers in Singapore and Uganda to foster joyful literacy.
Moderator Kimberley Chiu (Singapore)
Kimberley Chiu is a librarian with Singapore’s National Library Board. She works in collection development, selecting and purchasing books for children and teens. She is deeply interested in role that pleasure and delight play in developing childhood literacy, and in how Singaporean culture affects readers' and librarians' relationships with books and with the library. In her spare time, Kimberley enjoys cooking, petting cats, and playing Stardew Valley. She writes songs, is working on a novel, and tries to read a little every day.
Programme dates and times are subject to change.