Green lessons from a teacher work attachment

The Teacher Work Attachment Plus (TWA+) programme took this teacher from Xinmin Primary School on a journey of discovery, from the classroom to the garden. Now, she’s bringing her urban farming experience back to school to inspire her students.

 

When Ms Geraldine Tng embarked on a work attachment programme in 2024, little did she know it would deepen her passion for environmental education and her career as a teacher.

For 10 weeks, the Head of Department of Science at Xinmin Primary School went behind the scenes at Gardens by the Bay and local urban farm City Sprouts to learn how these local companies integrate environmental sustainability into their operations.

Under the Teacher Work Attachment Plus (TWA+) programme, Xinmin Primary partnered these companies to offer work attachment opportunities for its teachers.

Ms Tng, who also serves as advisor for the Applied Learning Programme (ALP) for Environmental Education at Xinmin Primary, shares, “The school’s vision is to prepare the students for the future, but to do that, we teachers need to have a better understanding of the world. I’ve been teaching for 31 years. It’s a good time for me to explore new ways to get students excited about learning.”

Stepping outside the classroom

The hands-on attachment was a breath of fresh air. “It made me look at my work as a teacher in a new light,” says Ms Tng. “The experience gave me space to step back and reflect on my role as a teacher – what I’m doing now and how it aligns with preparing students for life beyond school.”

At Gardens by the Bay, Ms Tng was attached to the team involved in trialling a new digital worksheet system, which helps students be more engaged during learning journeys. This allowed her to see how technology could play a role in shaping educational experiences.

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Ms Tng (centre, in white) with Gardens by the Bay staff and volunteers.

Over at City Sprouts, a social enterprise that turns underutilised spaces into community farms, Ms Tng learnt how educational learning tours were designed and run. She also gained valuable knowledge about urban farming techniques.

Additionally, Ms Tng secured a two-week work attachment on her own at a local mushroom farm. The exposure across multiple companies gave Ms Tng a more comprehensive understanding of environmental sustainability and urban farming practices, which she later incorporated into the school’s environmental education curriculum.

A refreshed approach to environmental education

Following her TWA+, Ms Tng returned to Xinmin Primary armed with fresh ideas. Drawing insights from her work attachments, she set out to make environmental education more relevant, exciting and engaging for her students.

She expanded the school’s urban farming programme, introducing the Primary 3 to 6 students to a larger variety of sustainable farming techniques such as hydroponics (growing plants in nutrient-rich water), aeroponics (growing plants in an air or mist environment), aquaponics (a system that combines aquaculture and hydroponics) and composting.

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Primary 6 students carefully working on seedling insertion for their aquaponics system.

“We began exploring urban farming activities for our students in 2023, but we weren’t very sure how to maintain the crops. After my attachment at City Sprouts, I gained more confidence in the various farming techniques,” Ms Tng explains.

As the advisor of the school’s ALP on Environmental Education, Ms Tng also refined an interdisciplinary project for Primary 3 students and led Key Personnel and teachers in designing such curriculum. Urban farming activities were integrated into various subjects including English Language, Maths, Science and Mother Tongue Language.

For example, when cultivating microgreens, students measured the height of the seedlings and plotted graphs to track their growth, reinforcing their Maths skills. During English Language lessons, they practised writing sequential instructions on how to prepare a salad dish using produce they had grown.

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Primary 3 students harvesting microgreens.

Images of gardening and farming activities were also used as prompts for Mother Tongue Language oral practices for students to work on their vocabulary and conversational skills. There are plans to expand the interdisciplinary project to Primary 4 students this year.

For Ms Tng, the most fulfilling part has been seeing genuine enthusiasm from students and teachers. She noticed that the urban farming activities have sparked an air of excitement and joy throughout the school community.

“The children are very involved in the cultivation process. During recess, they will sacrifice their playtime and voluntarily go to the garden, water the plants and check to see if they are growing well. The teachers are equally excited and enthusiastic – many of them will help with the harvest and even bring home excess crops to cook,” she shares.

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Primary 4 students harvesting xiao bai cai from their aeroponics system.

Mutual learning for companies and educators

For local companies, the benefits of the TWA+ programme go both ways. For example, teachers can gain hands-on experience in how educational journeys and workshops are run, and bring valuable insights back to the classroom, says Ms Simone Lim, co-founder of City Sprouts.

“When the teachers come for attachments, they get to see some of the workshops that we run for kids. This could spark inspiration for them to think that ‘Maybe I could try this with my students too’,” Ms Lim says.

At the same time, Ms Lim’s team benefits from the partnership. Working alongside Ms Tng, they learnt how to better align their programmes with the Ministry of Education’s syllabus and make lessons on sustainability more relevant for students.

“We learn from each other,” Ms Lim says. “Ms Tng has years of experience engaging students, and she could offer advice to my facilitators on how to better deliver lessons on sustainability. For example, certain sustainability terminology we use like ‘GHG’ (Greenhouse Gases) might not be familiar to younger students.”

Another learning point her team gained from Ms Tng: improving communication with teachers. When asked how they could improve their outreach efforts to schools, Ms Tng pointed out that their emails could be more concise.

“She told us that teachers often don’t have time to read through long emails and catalogues,” Ms Lim explained. “Then, she shared how we could streamline our emails and tailor it for busy teachers. It was simple feedback but it helped us understand teachers’ needs better, improve our communication and even the way we present our programmes.”

Looking ahead, Ms Lim sees potential for more partnerships with schools and encourages corporate partners to participate in programmes like the TWA+ programme.

“My advice for other companies is to be open to these opportunities because we never know how much we can learn from each other. It’s also a way of giving back by engaging with the schools, which are shaping the next generation,” she said.

Having experienced the value of the TWA+ programme firsthand, Ms Tng encourages educators to take up work attachment programmes when the opportunity arises.

“It’s always good to step outside the school and see what’s happening in the industry, so that we can continue to keep our teaching relevant. Teachers can bring their learning back to the school and in turn, enrich the learning of students,” she says.