TIRUCHI, TAMIL NADU, INDIA: A group of 20 secondary-level school students of Tamil origin from Singapore is in Tiruchi as part of their “Immersion Program” to gain a first-hand understanding of the way Tamil is spoken in Tamil Nadu, and have an exposure to literary and cultural contexts.
Being third or fourth generation residents of Singapore, most of the students could visualise about Tamil Nadu only through books and cinemas.
Fifteen of the 20 students belong to the Umar Pulavar Tamil Language Centre (UPTLC) attached to the National Tamil Language Resource Centre of the Ministry of Education, Singapore, and the rest are from Bowen Secondary School.
Tapping educational resources in Tamil Nadu and exploring how the teaching and learning practices for Tamil language in Tamil Nadu could be adapted to engage the students in their country opting for study of Tamil, one of the official languages there, to learn it effectively encompass their main objectives. The school students would return to Singapore on June 19.