Getting Each Child the Right Book

On the wall of the Bishan campus is the Bilingual 双语教育 sign, with a line beside it: Lexile Reading Programme, ages 5 to 16. In the photo, Anne of Cedar International Edutech holds a copy of A Wrinkle in Time, beside Esther Jiang Shu, who leads Bilingual Education. What we talked about that day was how a bilingual education centre can put an AI agent to work in teaching and learning.

Bilingual Education has been in Singapore for thirteen years. Its core is a structured English reading pathway: eight levels from Pre-Lexile to Lexile 7, a ten-year route, nearly two hundred classic texts; alongside it, MOE-aligned academic courses from primary school to junior college in English, mathematics, science and Chinese, plus IB. Two campuses, Beauty World and Bishan.

Founder Jiang Shu often says: great results start with reading classics. It sounds like a slogan, but operationally it is concrete: who is reading which book, at which level, which words keep tripping them up, how much the Lexile measure has moved in three months — someone has to record it, look at it, and choose the next book from it.

The problem is that recording takes the most time. A few hundred students means a few hundred reading trails: how many books this week, whether the response makes sense, whether last week's parent question was answered. Teachers teach by day, mark by night, and answer WhatsApp in between — the time to think about what this child should read next is what gets squeezed out.

This is where an AI agent fits, without overturning the teaching. It does not teach; it records, assembles and reminds. A reading assessment before enrolment gives a starting level and book list from the Lexile measure and answers, for a teacher to confirm; weekly reading logs, vocabulary and quizzes are gathered into one progress report parents can read; discussion questions, background notes and writing prompts are drafted by level for the teacher to pick, edit or delete; common questions on WhatsApp about schedules and levels are answered first by the assistant, with anything uncertain passed to a person.

Then there are the reminders. Which child has not changed books in three weeks, which class has stalled, which parent has not replied twice — signals once buried in spreadsheets and chat logs that can now surface on their own. For a centre that lives on word of mouth and renewals, that is worth more than ten more phone calls.

But the boundaries need drawing. AI cannot read for the child: the rhythm of a book, its humour, why a character chooses what he does — that comes from reading together and arguing about it. Nor can it decide whether this book suits this child now; a Lexile measure is a difficulty guide, not maturity. AI can take a first pass at grammar and structure in a response, but the grade and the comment still need a teacher's signature. Students' names, results and parents' contact details fall under Singapore's PDPA and must not be handed to an unknown model.

One line from Jiang Shu's programme stayed with me: reading has to go the distance. Technology takes over the repetitive record-keeping and the back-and-forth, so that teachers have time for the thing only a person can do — sit with a child to the end of a book, then ask: why do you think he did that?

To arrange a reading assessment or a trial lesson, call +65 9069 2050 (WhatsApp and WeChat), or email course@bilingual.com.sg. Bishan campus: 1 Bishan Street 12, Level 3M; Beauty World campus: Beauty World Centre #01-32, 144 Upper Bukit Timah Road.