I AGREE with Mrs Karen Chay's Forum Online letter on Wednesday, 'Get children to like reading and good English will follow'. Cultivating the habit of reading books and introducing library visits are where parents can take the lead and inspire their children to take up reading too.

Whether children or adults, the newspaper is also a good way to improve both reading and written English, especially the Forum page where a variety of topics are addressed.

Television programmes can help develop good spoken English and there are already a couple of good ones like the just-turned-40 evergreen Sesame Street and Okto channel which features enriching educational and animation programmes.

Local programmes such as Phua Chu Kang should be discouraged. Also, commercials featuring the popular Phua Chu Kang character depict very poor English. While they may be amusing, they may encourage young children to pick up Singlish.

Kumar Pillay Thangavalu

This article was first published in The Straits Times.