Customising 'Singapore maths' for use in schools abroad, Education News & Top Stories - The Straits Times

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/customising-spore-maths-for-use-in-schools-abroad?xtor=EREC-16-1[ST_Newsletter_AM]-20170613-[Customising+%27Singapore+maths%27+for+use+in+schools+abroad]&xts=538291

Customising 'Singapore maths' for use in schools abroad

The Singapore approach to teaching maths has become so popular that "Singapore maths" has become a familiar phrase with teachers and students in at least 14 countries, even as far as South Africa and Chile.

It has produced results too.

Studies in Britain, India and the United States have shown that the test scores of their pupils at the primary school level improve when they are taught mathematics the Singapore way.

But some overseas teachers may face issues in trying to incorporate content from Singapore maths into their own national curriculum. For instance, not all British secondary schools that incorporate Singapore maths adopt customised teaching materials.

So the National Institute of Education (NIE) is embarking on a pilot project to learn how Singapore- style teaching techniques for maths can be better incorporated into a foreign curriculum.

Last September, a team of five academics from NIE's Mathematics and Mathematics Education Academic Group was formed to design teaching materials for Australia. They will be used to teach mathematics the Singapore way to students in Grades 5 to 7 in Australian schools. That is roughly equivalent to Primary 5 to Secondary 1 levels here.

• Benefits and issues

• Benefits of the Singapore approach to teaching maths:

  •Operates according to a "spiral" design, meaning that textbooks are sequential in nature and build on concepts and skills that students have learnt previously.

  •A 2015 study found that the pictorial approach was effective when teaching South African learners who have special needs and a language barrier.

  •Students are engaged in the process of learning concepts and problem-solving skills, instead of blindly memorising formulas and rules.

  Issues when incorporating the Singapore method overseas:

  •The fit between the national curriculum and the Singapore approach needs to be considered. In Britain, the pressure on schools to cover a large number of maths topics in the national curriculum each year creates tension with the Singapore maths approach, which emphasises building solid foundations before moving on.

  •Some teachers in New Jersey in the US reported that it was difficult to make the transition to Singapore maths, as Singapore's approach is more teacher-driven, slower-paced and goes into greater depth.

  •Teachers need professional development and school management teams need to be brought on board to ensure a smooth transition.

  •The methods, such as the model approach, can be used only to solve certain topics and problems, and should not be seen as a one-size-fits-all solution to all maths problems.

The move is part of a project managed by the Australian Academy of Science (AAS) called the reSolve: Mathematics by Inquiry programme to help students learn mathematics in an innovative and engaging way.

After the pilot, which will involve schools in the states of Victoria and South Australia, the NIE academics will gather feedback, fine- tune the programme and make it available to teachers across Australia's more than 9,000 schools. NIE hopes to complete this in February next year.

The reSolve programme will also train 240 teachers to champion the programme in their schools, and more than 400 schools have expressed their interest.

Another round of trials will be conducted later this year, with more schools in other states.

These resources will cover three units in Australia's national curriculum, and use visual means such as objects, pictures and diagrams to teach concepts. These include the model method, which refers to the use of bar drawings that visually represent quantities.

Associate Professor Lee Ngan Hoe, who is leading the Singapore team of researchers, said overseas teachers "may not know the philosophy and principles behind some methods, so there may be a mismatch in terms of how the (teaching) methods are used".

Emeritus Professor Kaye Stacey, the director of special topics for Australia's reSolve programme, said that while Singapore was chosen as a partner because its approach is "particularly well developed", the Australian team must ascertain the degree to which the resources developed are appropriate for Australian schools and accepted by teachers.

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Singapore, China to work together on Belt and Road projects, East Asia News & Top Stories - The Straits Times

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Singapore, China to work together on Belt and Road projects

Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said Singapore-China relations are in "good working order" and that both countries have agreed to work together on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

"(Ties are) very strong, based on a very solid foundation that goes back four decades," he said in Beijing yesterday. And there is also great potential to do more together, he added.

"(The BRI) is a wonderful idea, and we have always been an early supporter of the initiative," he said at a joint press briefing with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

Launched in 2013, the BRI is an ambitious Chinese project to link Asia, Africa and Europe through building roads, railways, ports and industrial parks along two ancient trading routes overland and via sea.

Yesterday, Mr Wang proposed to build three platforms for cooperation between both countries as part of the BRI.

The first is a trade network that spans and interconnects China, Central Asia, Europe and South- east Asia.

The second has to do with financial cooperation, which will see China leverage Singapore's strength as a regional financial centre to raise funds for the various BRI projects.

BIGGEST HIGHLIGHT

Building the Belt and Road together will be the biggest highlight of our bilateral relations.

CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTER WANG YI

POTENTIAL FOR STRONGER TIES

China-Singapore relations are in good working order. They are strong, with the potential to grow even stronger.

SINGAPORE'S MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS VIVIAN BALAKRISHNAN

The third is in training and the transfer of technology. The two countries will work together to open up third markets in South- east Asia, South Asia and beyond, tapping the respective strengths of both countries.

Mr Wang told reporters that China welcomes Singapore's support of and participation in the BRI. He noted that Singapore is well positioned to play an important role, given its unique strategic position.

"Building the Belt and Road together will be the biggest highlight of our bilateral relations," he said.

Being partners in the BRI will add more substance to bilateral ties and bring about peace and stability in the region, he added.

It was Dr Balakrishnan's fourth meeting with Mr Wang in six months and his second visit to Beijing this year.

He was there in February for the 13th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation meeting. The council is a high-level platform for discussing ways to deepen and broaden Sino- Singapore cooperation. He was part of the delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean.

Dr Balakrishnan also called on Chinese Vice-President Li Yuanchao and State Councillor Yang Jiechi yesterday.

National Development Minister Lawrence Wong attended the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing last month, and Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu will be there later this week to discuss cultural cooperation.

Next week, both sides will hold the third round of talks for upgrading the China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement.

The flurry of activities indicates that ties are improving after going through a difficult patch last year.

Last September, the nationalistic Global Times criticised Singapore diplomats for raising the South China Sea issue at a Non-Aligned Movement summit in Venezuela. This led to an exchange of letters between Singapore's Ambassador to China Stanley Loh and Mr Hu Xijin, editor of the Chinese Communist Party-linked paper. Mr Loh said the actions and words that were attributed to Singapore in the report were "false and unfounded".

In November last year, the Hong Kong Customs authorities detained nine Singapore Armed Forces armoured vehicles on board a container ship that docked there. The vehicles were eventually returned to Singapore in February this year.

Despite the improving ties, a Global Times editorial yesterday said Singapore "may not abandon its flip-flop diplomacy" as it faces "the difficulty of balancing between China and the US alongside Beijing's rise".

"China needs to take a normal attitude towards Singapore swinging between the US and China," the newspaper suggested.

Dr Balakrishnan has left for Manila, where he will meet Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano today.

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Record $635.1 million in CPF arrears recovered by CPF Board in 2016, Singapore News & Top Stories - The Straits Times

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Record $635.1 million in CPF arrears recovered by CPF Board in 2016

SINGAPORE - More than $600 million in arrears was recovered from employers by the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board last year, it said on Monday (June 5).

About $635.1 million was recovered from employers who had underpaid, not paid or made late payments for CPF contributions, benefiting over 380,000 employees, the board said.

The amount tops the record $516 million recovered in 2015.

In 2016, $19.7 million was recovered from cases of underpayment or non-payment from 1,608 employers, benefiting 16,202 employees.

Among these cases, 32 employers voluntarily came forward upon realising they were not compliant with the CPF Act.

The highest amount recovered through voluntary action by the company was from an employer in the financial sector who informed the board in March last year that they had wrongly classified their employees' incentives payments as Ordinary Wages (OW) instead of Additional Wages (AW).

This resulted in underpayment of CPF contributions as the company had applied the monthly OW ceiling when computing CPF contributions for their employees instead of the annual AW ceiling.

After the CPF Board verified with the employer's records, the employer paid up CPF arrears amounting to more than $400,000 for the period between 2004 and 2016. This benefited about 180 employees.

The board also actively follows up on feedback from members of the public to help workers recover their due CPF contributions.

One such case was when the board received an anonymous feedback in March 2015 that a restaurant was not paying CPF for its part-time employees.

The board acted on the feedback and conducted a field visit to the restaurant. The employer admitted that he did not pay CPF for part-time employees and claimed he was not aware that part-time employers were also eligible for CPF contributions.

The board then worked out an instalment plan to help the employer fully pay up the CPF arrears amounting to about $50,000 for 118 employees for the period between January 2013 and March 2015.

The remaining $615.4 million recovered were late CPF contributions from an average of about 5,440 employers each month in 2016.

Most of the late payments were recovered within a month. The board helped more than 363,000 workers get their due CPF contributions.

CPFB group director of Employer Collections and Enforcement, Ms Belinda Teoh said: "This year, we are particularly encouraged by the 32 employers who came forward to self-rectify in 2016 which resulted in the recovery of about $1 million in arrears for about 800 employees."

There were 22 convictions for non-payment and underpayment of CPF and 350 convictions for late payment last year. All convicted employers were fined and ordered to pay the CPF arrears by the State Court.

The board reminded employers of their CPF obligations to their local employees. Workers should also check their CPF accounts via the CPF website regularly to ensure that their employers have made the correct CPF contributions, it said.

To report non-payment or underpayment of CPF contributions, or non-compliance with the Employment Act, members of the public can call 1800-221-9922 or e-mail workright@mom.gov.sg.

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Reading gives brain a workout, Health News & Top Stories - The Straits Times

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Reading gives brain a workout

Fancy a workout that improves empathy, prepares you for new situations and boosts your brain function?

A quick and easy way to start is by picking up a book. Associate Professor Leher Singh from the National University of Singapore's psychology department said: "Reading is an excellent way to build an understanding of the world and how it works and to form expectations of people, places and things."

In psychology, this is called a schema - a way of organising the world inside your head, according to the patterns you have learnt in your everyday life.

Reading could actually transport you into an unfamiliar experience.

Associate Professor Annabel Chen, deputy director of Nanyang Technological University's Centre for Research and Development in Learning, pointed to recent neuroscience discoveries about how the brain responds to reading.

Researchers have found that reading novels brought up activity not only in the parts of the brain previously associated with story comprehension and language recep- tivity, but in the somatosensory cortex and motor regions as well.

"It is likely that the novel transported the reader into the body of the protagonist, thus tricking the mind into thinking it is doing something it is not, a phenomenon also known as embodied cognition," said Prof Chen, who is a clinical neuropsychologist by training.

• 69%

• Respondents who had read  at least one book in the past  12 months, according to the National Library Board's 2016 National Reading Habits Study on Adults.

"A good example of embodied cognition is visualisation in sports, like thinking about playing tennis can activate neurons associated with the physical act of serving or hitting the ball. Thus, the increased connectivity in these regions suggests the ability to put ourselves in someone else's shoes."

Dr Tan Wah Pheow, manager of Temasek Polytechnic's Centre for Applied Psychology, said the act of reading is "akin to exercising your whole brain".

Prof Chen explained the idea of the whole-brain workout: "Reading requires many higher-order cognitive functions, such as visual imagery, working memory and concentration to keep track of the plot and imagination of the scenarios described."

SERIOUS OR LIGHT TOPICS?

But even those with a reading habit may wonder: Does it matter how often you read or whether you are curled up with Harry Potter or War And Peace?

Prof Chen said: "The type of material one reads really depends on the goal of reading the material and the person's level of suggestibility."

She added: "Fiction can help activate different brain regions involved with imagery. It allows a short escape from daily hassles for psychological well-being."

Dr Tan said: "Maybe the question should be how engaged people should be when they are reading. Highly engaged people are said to be engaging in deep processing, where they read for meaning and context, and critique what they have read."

He added: "More engaged reading leads to better understanding and learning. It also results in a higher level of brain activation."

While fiction promotes empathy on the part of the reader, Dr Tan said that educators recommend children to read non-fiction.

This is because non-fiction promotes learning across different subjects and teaches children different ways to approach a text - such as through inquiry-based thinking.

Psychologist Frances Yeo from Thomson Paediatric Centre said that reading across different genres exposes learners to a variety of writing styles.

"The student should receive direct instruction on how to analyse written text and learn how to write for different audiences," she said. "I feel that many students lack this."

But there is still a long way to go if Singaporeans are to reap the full brain benefits of reading.

The National Library Board's 2016 National Reading Habits Study on Adults found that about 69 per cent of respondents had read at least one book in the past 12 months. The National Arts Council's 2015 National Literary Reading and Writing Survey saw fewer than half of the respondents reading at least one "literary book" between March 2014 and March 2015.

Ms Sujatha Nair, assistant director of the Ministry of Education- aided Dyslexia Association of Singapore Literacy Programme, said: "Whether you have the reading ability of a pre-emergent or an expert, you should always aim to read as much as possible. This is especially important for struggling readers who tend to be reluctant readers."

She recommended starting with a daily target of half an hour and building it up to one to two hours a day dedicated to reading.

Temasek Polytechnic's Dr Tan said: "I advocate the reading of works that are engaging and which invoke deep processing, regardless of whether they are fictional or not."

---

When and how to start kids on reading

Given the social and cognitive benefits of reading, how should parents and caregivers train their children for literacy?

Have realistic expectations and support children from young with reading sessions and a text-rich environment, say experts.

OTHER PERSPECTIVES

Reading together with your child gives you  an opportunity to  talk with him about emotions and taking the perspective  of other people.

MS FRANCES YEO, a psychologist at Thomson Paediatric Centre.

Associate Professor Leher Singh from the National University of Singapore, who specialises in infant language development, said: "When a child is not ready, early reading can backfire by inducing reading anxiety". The child, under pressure to read, starts to dread the activity and associates it with negative emotions.

But by age six or seven, a child should be able to read independently. Prof Singh said children should be given a supportive reading environment from an early age.

This includes encouraging them to read what interests them. "Some like to read about world wars and others about dinosaurs," she said.

Ms Frances Yeo, a psychologist at Thomson Paediatric Centre, suggests starting children off on "sight words", which are high-frequency words that language learners must be able to recognise as a whole, without having to break them down into letters or sounds.

"Once a child is able to read some sight words, parents can teach them phonological skills to decode or break down unfamiliar words."

But Ms Sujatha Nair of the Dyslexia Association of Singapore said: "Some children may naturally incorporate concepts like the alphabetic principle through early exposure, but it should not be expected of all children. Those with learning disabilities will require direct and explicit instructions in reading."

Ms Gabrielle Lai, a lecturer in Temasek Polytechnic's psychology studies programme, said caregivers should expose children from young and show that reading is a pleasurable activity.

She said: "Reading fluency is more than just skill and drill. In fact, adopting such an approach would be detrimental to the child's interest in reading, which will then affect the development of reading and literacy proficiencies."

And children will read regularly, Ms Yeo pointed out, "only if they see their parents reading at home".

Reading for pleasure can build skills beyond basic literacy.

Ms Yeo said: "Reading together with your child gives you an opportunity to talk with him about emotions and taking the perspective of other people." For example, children can identify with characters in books and learn how to deal with situations, such as confronting school bullies or visiting the doctor.

Ms Khoo Sim Eng, head of the film studies minor at the Singapore University of Social Sciences, said: "Regular reading improves vocabulary and grammar. This isn't just about being able to show off big words. Having a wider vocabulary allows us to express ourselves more clearly and precisely."

Ms Elaine Lee, a lecturer in early childhood education at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, said that one way to make reading appealing is to create stories together or "make games out of everyday activities".

A trip to the supermarket can also be a literacy exercise - parents can point out grocery labels and help their children decode the printed material, she added.

Annabeth Leow

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Parent sues school for refusing to return confiscated phone for three months, Education News & Top Stories - The Straits Times

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Parent sues school for refusing to return confiscated phone for three months

SINGAPORE - Should a school hang on to a confiscated phone for three months?

This issue has reached the courts here after a parent felt that the penalty was too harsh. The parent is suing a secondary school principal for damages but has not succeeded in getting the school to return the phone.

The parent's request to have the phone returned immediately was turned down by District Judge Clement Julien Tan. The judge ruled that the principal was justified in holding on to the phone, as the school rules had made it clear that any student caught using a phone during school hours will have it confiscated for at least three months.

The boy met the principal on March 21 and admitted that he had used an Apple iPhone 7 during school hours on March 8. The phone was confiscated and the SIM card returned along with a receipt stating that it could be retrieved in three months' time.

Later in the evening of March 21, the parent wrote to the principal to say that the phone was his and he wanted it back.

He added that "a three-month confiscation is disproportionate to the offence" and that his son had assured him that he would not break the rule on phone use again.

Failing to get a reply, he took the principal of the well-known secondary school to court.

The father, represented by lawyer Andrew Hanam, is claiming that retaining the phone amounts to the tort of conversion - which involves denying a person's rights to his property. He asked the court to get the school to return the phone while the case is being decided.

The principal's lawyer Alfonso Ang said that the claim is "frivolous and vexatious" and pointed out that the principal is responsible for overseeing student discipline based on regulations.

He also highlighted that the parent and son had both been told that the use of phones was banned.

District Judge Tan, who heard the application on April 28, said the principal was simply following the rules. He also rejected the parent's contention that he, personally, is not bound by the school rules as there is no contract between him and the principal.

"Such a position is, in my view, untenable," said District Judge Tan, in dismissing the application. The parent, he pointed out in judgment grounds obtained by The Straits Times on Tuesday (June 6), knew about the rules on phone use and if he had an issue with it, "could have enrolled his son in another school".

The judge added that the father had not "established any special circumstances in the present case" to enable the interim injunction to succeed. He also pointed out having the phone returned early defeats the school's rule against phone use.

"I accept that there may be a risk that until the matter is fully and finally disposed of, the school may be faced with demands from parents or guardians for the return of confiscated phones. This may also send a wrong signal to the students that they can use their mobile phones during school hours with impunity, thus rendering the Phone Rule otiose, however temporarily this might be so."

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Jewel Changi Airport: 6 things you shouldn't miss, from indoor waterfall to canopy mazes, Singapore News & Top Stories - The Straits Times

https://youtu.be/uy2sWIU2M_A

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Jewel Changi Airport: 6 things you shouldn't miss, from indoor waterfall to canopy mazes

SINGAPORE - Jewel Changi Airport, a 10-storey development in front of Terminal 1, will go beyond just being another commercial development with retail and food and beverage outlets.

A key feature will be a 14,000 sq m Canopy Park - about the size of 11 Olympic-sized swimming pools - sitting on the top floor of the dome-shaped structure.

On Wednesday (June 7), Jewel Changi Airport (Jewel), a joint venture between Changi Airport Group and CapitaLand Mall Asia, gave a glimpse of what travellers and visitors can expect when it is ready in early 2019.

Designed by world renowned architect Moshe Safdie, Jewel will feature a distinctive dome-shaped facade made of glass and steel.

Here are some of the highlights:

1. Sky nets

A 250m bouncing net, which at its highest point will be suspended 8m or three storeys above ground, will offer visitors a unique experience.

A separate walking net, 50m-long and 25m-high, will offer a different kind of thrill, allowing visitors to peek through the voids.

Sky nets at Jewel Changi Airport. PHOTO: JEWEL CHANGI AIRPORT

2. Canopy mazes

Designed by Adrian Fisher, founder and chairman of Adrian FisherDesign, who has created over 600 mazes - the largest number of mazes globally.

One of the mazes at Jewel will be Singapore's largest hedge maze with hedge walls standing at 1.8m high.

Canopy mazes at Jewel Changi Airport. PHOTO: JEWEL CHANGI AIRPORT

Another highlight is the first mirror maze designed for an outdoor park environment. The mirrors will create illusions to challenge and confuse visitors.

Both mazes cover an area of over 500 sq m and there will be a lookout tower for visitors to have a bird's eye view.

3. Discovery slides

Discovery slides at Jewel Changi Airport. PHOTO: JEWEL CHANGI AIRPORT

Designed by Carve in the Netherlands and built by Playpoint (Singapore), the slides are an art sculpture as a play piece.

It will be the first large-scale sculptural art piece in Singapore made up of four integrated slides - two tube slides and two sliding surfaces - of varying heights to provide children and the young-at-heart with hours of sliding fun.

4. Forest Valley and Rain Vortex

Rain Vortex at Jewel Changi Airport. PHOTO: JEWEL CHANGI AIRPORT

The Forest Valley, a five-storey garden, will house one of the largest indoor collections of plants in Singapore.

Jewel will also feature a 40m-high Rain Vortex, that is expected to be the world's tallest indoor waterfall.

It will be located at the core of the complex and will transform into a light and sound show with special lighting effects at night.

5. Foggy bowls

Foggy bowls at Jewel Changi Airport. PHOTO: JEWEL CHANGI AIRPORT

Designed by The Exploratorium, in San Francisco, the key feature of this attraction is four gentle concave bowls with depths of between 30cm and 65cm, for young children to jump in while mist is released to create an illusion of playing among clouds.

6. Canopy bridge

The Canopy bridge at Jewel Changi Airport. PHOTO: JEWEL CHANGI AIRPORT

The bridge, suspended 23m above ground and at 50m long, will have glass flooring in the centre section. Visitors can walk along the bridge surrounded by mist.

It will offer the best vantage point to view the Rain Vortex display.

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ISIS claims responsibility for London Bridge attack, which killed 7 and injured dozens, Europe News & Top Stories - The Straits Times

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ISIS claims responsibility for London Bridge attack, which killed 7 and injured dozens

LONDON - ISIS claimed responsibility on Sunday (June 4) for an attack by knife-wielding men who mowed down and stabbed revellers in London, killing seven people before being shot dead in a barrage of police gunfire, AFP reported. 

Saturday night's rampage at a popular nightlife hub around London Bridge by three men wearing fake suicide vests was the third deadly terror attack in Britain in less than three months and came only days before a general election.

"A detachment of fighters from ISIS carried out London attacks yesterday," said the Amaq news agency, which is affiliated with the extremist group.

Police on Monday conducted fresh raids in the boroughs of Newham and Barking in east London, the Sky news agency reported, saying "a number of people" had been detained. 

British Prime Minister Theresa May blamed "evil" extremist ideology and vowed to crack down on extremist content online worldwide, as police detained 11 people following two raids in east London.

National campaigning for Thursday's vote was suspended for the day out of respect for the victims, who included 48 people treated in hospital for injuries.

Of those, 21 are still in a critical condition.

One Canadian national and one Frenchman were among the fatalities and seven French citizens were among the injured.

No details have been released about the perpetrators, who were shot dead within minutes by police.

POLICE 'WARNED ABOUT ATTACKER' 

Britain's security services were in focus after media reports said some of the suspects may have slipped through the intelligence network. 

The Daily Mail reported that one of the attackers was a 27-year-old Muslim extremist who was previously seen in a TV documentary last year about British extremists. He had appeared alongside two notorious preachers who were known to police and intelligence officials. The paper also said that the man had been involved in an altercation with police over an ISIS flag that was unfurled in a park. 

According to the paper, a friend of the attacker had also reported him to an anti-terror hotline after he became radicalised through watching extremist YouTube videos. Police had also been warned after the suspect reportedly attempted to radicalise children in a local park, The Daily Mail and The Guardian reported. 

Eight officers fired an "unprecedented" 50 rounds at the three attackers, according to Mark Rowley, head of national counter-terrorism policing, who said that a member of the public also suffered a gunshot wound.

Detectives were still investigating whether the assailants acted alone, and Rowley said their identities would be released "as soon as operationally possible".

Police launched raids in the ethnically diverse London suburb of Barking in the hours after the rampage, arresting seven women and five men aged between 19 and 60 at two properties. 

A 55-year-old man was later released.

Copycat attacks

Theresa May said the attack was driven by the same "evil ideology" of extremism behind last week's Manchester suicide bombing that left 22 people dead, and the Westminster attack in March, which killed five.

"The recent attacks are not connected but we believe we are experiencing a new trend in the threat we face," she said after chairing an emergency ministerial meeting.

She warned that perpetrators are inspired to attack "by copying one another".

The assailants ran people over on London Bridge before lunging seemingly at random at the crowds gathered around Borough Market, which is full of restaurants and bars.

Gerard Vowls, 47, said he saw a woman repeatedly stabbed, and threw chairs, glasses and bottles at the attackers in a bid to stop them.

"They kept coming to try to stab me... they were stabbing everyone. Evil, evil people," he told The Guardian newspaper.

Another witness called Eric told the BBC he had seen three men get out of the van and thought they were going to help tend those who had been run over.

Instead they "started kicking them, punching them and took out knives. It was a rampage really," he said, adding that he heard a shout of: "This is for Allah".

An Australian was among those hospitalised, while a Spaniard escaped with light injuries.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is due to visit Britain on Monday to speak to the injured French nationals, after President Emmanuel Macron said France was "more than ever at Britain's side".

Among those stabbed was a London Transport Police officer, who was one of the first responders on the scene and received injuries to his face.

A vigil for the victims will take place at nearby Tower Bridge on Monday evening.

Praying for London

Britain was already on high alert following the recent attack on a concert by US pop star Ariana Grande in Manchester, northwest England, in which seven children were among the dead.

Grande, who headlined a benefit concert in Manchester on Sunday, alongside stars including Pharrell Williams and Justin Bieber, tweeted that she was "Praying for London".

Praying for London ♡

— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) 8:40 AM - 4 Jun 2017

"A lot of people suffered and I had some second thoughts coming, especially with what happened last night in London," ticket holder Abdullah Mala, 34, told AFP. "But we got to move on".

The national threat level was raised to maximum after the Manchester attack and troops were deployed at key public sites, but reduced to its second highest level last weekend.

Prime Minister Theresa May, who served as interior minister for six years before taking office after the Brexit vote last summer, said Britain's response to the terror threat must change.

"We cannot and must not pretend that things can continue as they are," she said, adding there was "far too much tolerance of extremism in our country." The ruling Conservatives and the main opposition Labour party suspended national campaign events for the day, but May insisted the election would go ahead as planned on Thursday.

Saturday's rampage is the latest in a string of attacks to hit Europe, including in Paris, Berlin and Saint Petersburg, and the French, German and Russian leaders sent messages of support.

United States President Donald Trump on Sunday called the London attacks an "evil slaughter" and said the US would do everything it could in its power to assist Britain to bring those responsible to justice, Reuters reported. "This bloodshed must end. This bloodshed will end," Trump said in brief remarks after a gala event at Ford's Theatre in Washington. 

Whatever the United States can do to help out in London and the U. K., we will be there - WE ARE WITH YOU. GOD BLESS!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 7:24 AM - 4 Jun 2017

We must stop being politically correct and get down to the business of security for our people. If we don't get smart it will only get worse

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 7:19 PM - 4 Jun 2017

Trump came under criticism earlier on Sunday after he lashed out at London's mayor Sadiq Khan, accusing him of downplaying the threat of terrorism after the latter said there was "no reason to be alarmed" over the greater security presence in the city following the attack.  

"At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is 'no reason to be alarmed!'" he tweeted. 

Khan, in an interview with the BBC shortly after the attack, had asked Londoners and visitors to be calm and vigilant. "You will see an increased police presence today, including armed officers and uniformed officers. There is no reason to be alarmed by this," he had said.

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