2009/10: Impress. Inspire. Intoxicate.
Speak Good English Movement Marks its 10th Year with Online Initiative to Emphasise Importance of Being More Than Just Understood
The Speak Good English Movement 2009 was officially launched today, marking its tenth year in encouraging Singaporeans to speak Standard English.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Mr Teo Chee Hean, was the Guest-of-Honour at the launch held at the Lasalle College of the Arts this afternoon.
Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean urged Singaporeans to keep our country’s competitive edge in business and trade by continuing to speak well and communicate efficiently. In his speech, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean also shared how important it is to “say what we mean, and mean what we say”.
He pointed out the need to build a solid foundation on the simple rules of good grammar, know our vocabulary and express ourselves in plain language as important factors contributing to our ability to communicate effectively.
“Impress. Inspire. Intoxicate.”, the tagline for this year, also emphasises the importance of going one step further in using the language to express ourselves better in various situations such as encouraging a colleague with an inspiring story, impressing an interviewer with clear and confident responses, or making everyday conversations more exciting with words that intoxicate.
Emphasis on Youth
Today, the media consumption habits and preferences of youth are changing as they are moving away from traditional media to spend more time engaging in a vast variety of online activities, especially those on social media platforms.
Recognising this trend, the Movement is using new media in the form of an online serial to tell a story and reach out to its target audience of youth aged between 18 to 29. Played out on familiar platforms such as blogs, Twitter and Facebook, the story will have English tips and anecdotes woven in to showcase English as a fun and interesting language to learn and use.
In his second year as Chairman of the Speak Good English Movement, Mr Goh Eck Kheng said, “Young people know from their engagements on the web that people all over the world communicate in one common language – English. We hope that youth will use and practice their English to impress, inspire and intoxicate on the Internet and in the real world. By doing so they will give themselves an advantage in our globalised world.”
Online Story Series
Titled Six Lives, the story will follow six very different friends as they plan for a wedding. Over the span of 12 episodes, the six characters – an investment banker, a business graduate who runs her own bakery, an English graduate on a job hunt, a successful restaurant chain owner, an IT sales manager and an exercise-obsessed photographer – interact through their blog entries and comments on sixlives.sg. In the process, they will uncover secrets about each other that will change their lives forever.
Six Lives will show the importance of communicating well and demonstrate how one can use language to impress, inspire and intoxicate through the familiar and sometimes humourous situations the six friends get themselves into.
Partners and Programmes
Together with our partners, the Movement has several programmes for the year that will complement the message and tagline for 2009, as well as provide opportunities for Singaporeans to improve their English.
Tune in to 938LIVE and learn “How to Inspire and Motivate your Team”. Starting in January, this programme will feature valuable tips and topics targeted at PMEBs (professionals, managers, executives, businessmen) such as “Asking the Right Way” and “Connecting with People”.
In support of the Speak Good English Movement, STOMP runs the popular online column, “English As It Is Broken” where readers can submit queries about the English language as well as photographs of signs in broken English spotted in Singapore.
This year, STOMP will hold a contest encouraging readers not just to send in these photographs, but also to include the location details of the sign and suggestions on how the broken English can be corrected. The top 3 winners will be selected by public voting.
The British Council has also partnered the Movement on a series of workshops for parents and teachers. The workshops will cover different themes including “Learning English through Reading” and “Learning English Online”.
Lending its continued support to the Movement, the National Library Board will introduce a Pathfinder titled “Improve Your English to Express Yourself Better”. This handy mini-booklet will help readers with its list of English language resources specially selected by librarians.
For media queries, please contact:
Ms Jeanine Tan
Manager, Speak Good English Movement
DID: (65) 6342 4073
Email: Jeanine_TAN@nlb.gov.sg
Mr Benedict Jacob- Thambiah
BANG Public Relations Pte Ltd
DID: (65) 6372 3567
Email: benedict@bang.com.sg
Ms Joan Chew
BANG Public Relations Pte Ltd
DID: (65) 6372 3564
Email: joan@bang.com.sg
Related posts:
- The Speak Good English Movement 2009 Introduces a New Tagline to Highlight the Importance of Being More Than Just Understood
- Singaporeans Want to Speak Good English to be Better Understood
- Speak Good English Movement Appoints New Chairman
- Speak Good English Movement 2008 Targets Service and Retail Sectors
- Speak Good English Movement (SGEM) 2004 Targets Working Adults in Service Industry