Meet the Team behind Tio Boh?

Hi everyone, I'm Gareth, and I design the curriculum and learning resources for the app. Although I'm Teochew on both sides of my family, I learnt Hokkien from my parents, especially my mother. That experience sparked my interest in preserving Chinese dialects, and it also reflects the wider cultural and linguistic influence Hokkien has had on many Singaporeans, regardless of dialect background, which is why I joined this project.

In 2021, together with a group of close friends, I founded the student-led interest group Raffles Dialects. What started as a small circle for sharing and discussing new words we had learnt gradually grew into something more meaningful. We began teaching our peers and advocating for dialect learning both within the school community and beyond. To support this, I put together a basic Hokkien curriculum focused on what I felt were the most important things a beginner would need. However, these materials were limited to the classrooms we taught in and couldn't reach a wider audience.

That's why being introduced to the Tio Boh? development team was such a meaningful step forward for me. Through the app, I can refine these resources and make them accessible to more people, wherever they are and whenever they want to learn. I'm really grateful to the team for supporting this vision and helping bring it to a much wider audience. It's honestly something I wouldn't have been able to do on my own, especially since I'm basically useless when it comes to the digital or coding side of things.

Beyond my interest in Chinese dialects, I also enjoy photography and filmmaking, and I occasionally write calligraphy when I have the time. As a proud Teochew, I've been gradually learning more about Teochew traditions and customs, and I have even joined a Teochew clan association. I promise that eventually, Tio Boh? will launch a Teochew curriculum too!

Description redacted for now.