Workplace manners, professional conduct, and cultural orientation for working in a Singapore household.
A Singapore home is a small, multi-generational, often multi-cultural workplace. How a helper greets, listens, asks, and respects boundaries shapes the next two years more than any single skill on her résumé. We rehearse the moments that matter: the first hello, the kitchen at dinner time, the WhatsApp message at 10pm, the prayer mat in the corner of the room.
Each module is paired with scripted role-play sessions in English, so by the time she arrives in Singapore the response is already in her body, not just in her head.
How to greet a Madam, Sir, Ah Ma, or Ah Gong on arrival. Forms of address across Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Eurasian households. Posture, eye contact, voice level, and how to receive and present things politely with two hands. The first 72 hours set the tone for everything that follows.
Singapore homes are layered: grandparents who speak Hokkien or Tamil, parents in English, children in Singlish, and a helper in the middle of all of it. We teach the family dynamics, the unspoken hierarchies, and the small courtesies (taking off shoes, accepting offered drinks, sitting position) that signal respect across cultures.
Plain English first, with Singlish recognition (lah, lor, can, paiseh) layered on top. The hardest skill is not what to say but when: when to ask for clarification, when to repeat back instructions, when to wait, and when to escalate something to Sir or Madam. We rehearse phone calls, deliveries, school pick-ups, and doctor visits.
Muslim Ramadan and halal kitchens. Hindu pujas and the offerings near the altar. Buddhist ancestor shrines and incense days. Christian Sunday rhythms. What is touched, what is not. What is cooked separately, what is shared. How to be helpful without being intrusive, and how to ask, not assume.
When the phone is on and when it is away. Photos that are okay to take and photos that are not. Day-off etiquette: how to plan, how to inform, how to return. Calling family in Myanmar without disrupting the household. The respectful no, and how to flag something uncomfortable without conflict.
By the time she lands in Changi, she has rehearsed the first hello, the first meal, the first day off, and the first awkward question. Etiquette is invisible when it works, and that is exactly the goal.
