A team of Goducate musicians from the Philippines, and a team of children from Indonesia trained in Goducate’s Sing Your English (SYE) program were in Singapore to perform at MHC Asia Group Pte Ltd’s 25th anniversary dinner on Oct 7.
The trip to Singapore was an opportunity that the children might otherwise never have to travel out of their country. Through the generosity of Dr Low Lee Yong, founder and CEO of MHC, the children also had a few days enjoying Singapore’s attractions.
The music program in Laguna, Philippines, began as a means of attracting out-of-school youth back into education by offering lessons on playing the recorder. It has grown into successful program, with children learning how to play a whole range of instruments. Not only has the team been invited to play at various events, but many individuals have obtained university scholarships based on their musical ability, and two are now university students majoring in music.
The SYE program is a popular program in Indonesia for giving children the confidence to speak English. Although students learn English in school, most do not use the language out of class, but learning the language through song somehow gets them singing English sentences wherever they happen to be.
For its 25th anniversary, MHC also donated a total of Sing$1 million to several organizations. Goducate, which received Sing$300,000, was the largest recipient.
