John Howard: Director of London College of Music Examinations

Chok See Liang: CEO of Town4kids Pte Ltd

ELT Review: Can you give a brief overview of London College of Music (LCM)?

John Howard: The London College of Music is the largest specialist music and performing arts institutions in the UK. The college was founded in 1887 as an establishment devoted to music education. In 1991 it became part of the University of West London, one of the largest universities in the UK.

ELT Review: What do LCM Examinations aim to do?

John Howard: London College of Music Examinations is the only external music examinations board affiliated to a university in the UK. Today external examinations are held in learning centers, institutions and music schools all over the world in Europe, Asia, Middle East and America. The range of syllabuses and examination formats are exceptionally wide covering performing arts, music and drama from pre-grade to diploma levels.

ELT Review: What are the best advantages of Midisaurus English? What’s LCM Examinations’ role in Midisaurus English?

John Howard: Midisaurus English is a program for children of 4 to 6 years old. The program comprises a series of progressive readers, activity books and multimedia resources. Children acquire English skills through shared reading, fun activities, role playing, music and movement, rhymes and songs. I think the collaboration of the three organizations makes the program very strong. McGraw-Hill is a well-known publisher, and Town4kids is an experienced company to design educational software. Our role is principally to do with qualification design and assessments. We try very hard not to intimidate young children. We hope to encourage them instead of discouraging them.

Chok See Liang: That’s true. We really want to make a child feel comfortable when they are at examinations. That’s very important. When we do a face-to-face examination, we usually allow a teacher or a parent to come into the room, so that the child won’t feel so nervous. Now the children in Ambow Education are learning English through our software and they are very interested in it. We’ll visit the school, listen to an English class and talk with the teachers. And we are considering designing a teacher training program to help them.

ELT Review: What does music have to do with language learning?

John Howard: First, for very young children, if they like, they are learning all the time. Young children need integrated approaches to learn, and music is a great way of integrating. Second, learning languages is very much a question of memory. Music is actually one of the most useful methods to help young children remember things. It’s a medium for learning a language and for putting ideas together. When children learn a foreign language, it’s become even more useful.

Chok See Liang: I also think music is very useful in learning a language. It helps the children remove the fear of learning.

ELT Review: What are the qualities a teacher should have?

John Howard: The most important skills should be good planning skill, good organization skill and good communication skill. Teachers also need to be sensitive, knowing what students are thinking. Besides, every teacher should make learning fun, especially for young children.