School time machine: Targeting 300 tribute messages to thank Chinese language educators – Honouring those who guided us through Chinese

06 Apr 2025

Seventeen-year-old SP student Ma Pei Zhen once lacked confidence in her writing and did not believe in the poems she created. However, with encouragement from her secondary school Chinese teacher, she worked hard to improve her writing skills. Later, she teamed up with her classmate Chen Yan An to take part in the “Xin Kong Xia” Xinyao singing and songwriting competition—and they went on to win the championship in the lyrics-writing category last year. For Pei Zhen and NJC student Chen, their journey in learning the Chinese language was deeply nurtured by the dedicated guidance of their teachers. As part of SPH Media’s SG60 series of teacher appreciation initiatives, this year’s “Xin Kong Xia” lyrics-writing category will carry the theme of “gratitude”, and the two girls plan to participate again—to pay tribute to their mentors through creative expression. To encourage more people to celebrate Singapore’s 60th anniversary by honouring Chinese language teachers—as well as those who taught other subjects like mathematics, science, and history in Chinese—SPH Media is launching a message collection campaign starting today.  Messages can be written in Chinese, English, or a mix of both. In addition to providing personal information, message writers must also include the teacher’s name and the institution where they met.

[Lianhe Zaobao]