Early childhood specialists from Singapore recently spent two days on campus sharing insights about program development in early childhood education.

Members of the campus community had the opportunity to participate in a variety of learning activities with specialists from Singapore's Chiltern House.

Chiltern House has developed programs that use music, drama, movement and other arts as vehicles to expand and enrich young children's language and communication learning. Chiltern House offers daily programs for children ages 6 months to 6 years, special programs for children with speech and language needs, and professional development for educators. The program's instructional strategies and curriculum are drawn from international sources.

The Chiltern team presented workshops to various groups including Montclair State students, faculty, and children in the Child Care Center and Psychoeducational Center. In their demonstrations, the team used drama techniques to support children's communication skills.

"This was a timely opportunity for the campus community, given our current work with the Arts Initiative in Newark and our related focus on the arts in the early childhood and elementary education curriculum," said Nancy Lauter of Human Ecology.

The event was sponsored by the Center of Pedagogy's Agenda for Education in a Democracy and was partially funded by the Institute of Educational Inquiry and the Getty Education Foundation.