Consistent practice the key to mastery of language

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen

Boys and Girls

1. A very good morning to all of you!

2. First of all, I want to say I am so proud of all of you who took part in the competition, for giving your best. The competition standard has increased as you can see from the video. I hear the words are getting more difficult, but all of you took part enthusiastically and gave it your best shot. So let's give a round of applause to all the participants. Well done!

3. And I want to say congratulations to all those who have entered the finals and best wishes to the next round.

4. Spelling is a skill that, like many other things in life, can be learnt and can be mastered. All of us started out struggling with spelling. I remembered struggling with spelling when I was young. My mother had to teach me. Luckily for me, she was a school teacher. So she would drill me every night, give me new words to spell. And at that time, there is no spelling competition. So we didn't do it for spelling competitions, but she felt that it was important to have the right foundations. And I think I benefitted from her discipline and her teaching.

5. You saw in the video earlier that the students had a minute of silence for Mr Lee's passing. Some of you may know that Mr Lee himself had mild dyslexia. And that meant it was more difficult for him to read and spell than most other people. But you would have never imagined reading his speeches, hearing him speak, that he was someone with mild dyslexia. And he was a master communicator! He could speak not just in English, but he could speak Mandarin, Hokkien, and Malay fluently. And he did it with sheer grit and hard work. Learning languages and continuing with his Mandarin lessons all the way to the very end.

6. So that's the spirit behind this competition. It is really about encouraging all of our young people at a young age to start to work hard, put in the effort to practise and develop the love for the language and do it for your whole life. Don't just cram for this competition. So work hard but please don't just cram for competitions. Cramming may be necessary because of the competitions but I assure you cramming does not work. In fact, a lot of research shows that the more you cram, the more you forget. I am sure the students here who crammed the most will tend to forget all the words that you crammed a week later.

7. What is the opposite of cramming? The opposite of cramming is consistent practice and repetition. It is like learning how to play a sport, or learning how to play an instrument. You must keep doing it every day. Then you will develop muscle memory and our brain is like a muscle, and you will develop brain memory. And then it sticks with you through your life.

8. So I hope parents and students will go beyond competitions. Do it for the love of the language. Work hard consistently at it every day and this is the kind of attitude and discipline that would put you in good stead in future. Many of our young people here already have the kind of spirit. I read about this young boy Keith Tan. Keith has cerebral palsy and so it makes it difficult for him to move around. However, he worked hard and took part in the competition last year, and he came back again this year to compete!

9. This is the kind of spirit we want to see in our young people. And I hope parents will encourage the children to have this kind of attitude. Keep improving year after year. Don't do it just for competition alone but do it as a practice, as a discipline. Work hard every day, every month. Then I am sure all of you will do well in life, you will fulfil your potential and all of us will have every reason to be confident in Singapore's future as well. So congratulations to all of you and all the best in the finals.

10. Thank you.