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JULDEC 2020
KUMON feature
RESILIENCE::
BOUNCING BACK AND EMERGING STRONGER
parenting tips Get tougher, Go further Tips to develop a resilient child
my life, my dream
From struggle, to appreciation and progressing onwards Bryan Lee Yi Haji Muhammad Khaleed Thaqeeff Haji Md Shamsul Riza
Editor’s Note 2020 marks 5 years since Kumon Brunei opened its first learning Centre in 2015. Today, there are five Kumon Centres established around the country, enabling many more children to learn and grow with the Kumon Method. Through these years, we have been awed by so many inspiring children who flourished with Kumon’s philosophy and belief that every child has unlimited potential. We have been moved by the confidence, intelligence and creativity cultivated in our students. We are certain that our unique learning method will continue to shape future generations of children in Brunei. We would like to thank all Kumon parents for working together with us in developing our children, with the similar assurance and trust that more than 4 million Kumon families all over the world are experiencing. The past few months have not been easy, especially with the restrictions to our daily lives caused by the COVID-19 virus outbreak around the region and the world. Despite that, Kumon students have shown to be beacons of positivity, displaying resilience and good initiatives while learning from home. We received positive sharing from parents on their children’s learning experiences at home and appreciation of Instructors keeping in constant contact with each child. In this issue of Potential, we hear from ten-year-old Haji Muhammad Khaleed Thaqeeff and eight-year-old Bryan Lee Yi. Khaleed goes to Kumon with his siblings and dreams of becoming a professional basketball player while Bryan is an aspiring Mathematician. Han
ON THE COVER Jul - Dec 2020 Haji Muhammad Khaleed Thaqeeff Haji Md Shamsul Riza
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Contents
PR & Marketing, Kumon Brunei
My Life, My Dream From struggle, to appreciation and progressing onwards
03
Bryan Lee Yi
04
Haji Muhammad Khaleed Thaqeeff Haji Md Shamsul Riza
Features
06 Regional Article
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Resilience: Bouncing back & emerging stronger
08 Instructors’ Quotes
Regulars 10
Local News
11
Parenting Tips
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Kumon Brunei 5th Anniversary Get tougher, go further – Tips to develop a resilient child
My life, my dream
From struggle, to appreciation and progressing onwards
B
ryan is an active boy who tends to get distracted easily, like any young child. Bryan’s mother, Niki, always has to ask him several times before he would settle down to do his homework. She was not worried about his school
grades as he was doing quite well. What she wanted to develop in Bryan was good study habits; to prepare his learning materials when it was time for homework, and complete the homework by himself. Niki came across Kumon advertisements twice; once on Facebook and another near where the Kumon Centre was located. She decided then that Kumon could develop the skill sets she sought for Bryan. The initial weeks saw Bryan not used to doing the Maths worksheets. He would comment that the questions were difficult, that there was a lot to do and was reluctant to go to class. Niki encouraged Bryan by guiding him at home when he worked on his Kumon homework. She also made it a point to wait for him at the Centre during class days. Going classes twice a week and receiving
encouragement from his Kumon Instructor gradually made Bryan enjoy doing Kumon especially when he is able to complete his worksheets within the timeframe. “I felt scared at first but nowadays, I like going to Kumon because I can learn a lot of things. I love doing worksheets and feel excited whenever I am advancing to a new level,” said Bryan. Ten months into his learning journey with Kumon, Niki is already seeing the positive strides Bryan has taken. “He is able to understand new concepts faster than his classmates, has the ability to analyse and solve Maths problems faster, and accurately. Bryan has become a confident and self-motivated learner with the independence to progress and take on new challenges. He is focused and is able to complete his work at his own time with less supervision,” shared Niki. Bryan added, “Maths is not difficult but challenging instead. I really love doing Maths, especially fractions, which is like magic as the denominators and numerators keeps changing. I have more confidence in answering school work and exam questions.”
Home-based learning experience During the stay-home period caused by the COVID-19
Next Goals
Bryan wants to keep learning and advancing to the
virus, Niki shared that it was tough at first, with the
highest level in the Maths programme, eventually
various online learning programmes she needed to
becoming a mathematician.
get acquainted with. Her work flexibility allowed her to fully support Bryan’s home-based learning. “During times like these, time management plays an
His parents do not set any goals and want Bryan to enjoy the whole learning process without any pressure but instead, with the full support from the both of them.
important role in managing daily study and tasks,” Niki elaborated. Bryan missed going to classes and looked forward to meeting his Kumon Instructor via the weekly online sessions where she observed his progress and provided guidance. He found time to play Lego with his younger brother, Eamon, did handicraft and read books such as Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Avengers.
Bryan Lee Yi, 8 Student Sch Grade Level Year 3
Subjects Enrolled in Mathematics (E70 – Addition of Fractions 6)
Starting Level 3A 71 – Numbers up to 120
Jul - Dec 2020
3
My life, my dream
From struggle, to appreciation and progressing onwards
Mr Haji Shamsul and his wife were looking for an enrichment class for their son, Khaleed, when they came across a Facebook
advertisement for Kumon. Mr Haji Shamsul revealed that Khaleed has always been a cheerful kid, only getting stressed when he struggled to comprehend and solve certain problems presented to him. Mathematics was one of the problems Khaleed encountered daily.
Mr Haji Shamsul and his wife did their research and were convinced that Kumon provided the right opportunity in helping Khaleed with Mathematics and in turn, his problem-solving skills. Right from the start, Khaleed himself was excited about going to Kumon classes with his siblings, as they enrolled together into the Mathematics Programme.
“The initial challenge during the first few months in Kumon was doing the homework consistently, on a daily basis, recording the start and end time. It was a struggle that we had to endure as parents as well since Khaleed was not used to regimented daily homework,” shared Mr Haji Shamsul.
Once Khaleed began understanding the topics from the worksheets, it got easier for him and his struggles with Maths ebbed away with each passing day.
“It felt easy but whenever I came across difficult questions, my Instructor was always there to help me,” said Khaleed. Now, he looks forward to learning new materials each class day and is up to the challenge of facing new problems.
Khaleed also established a disciplined daily routine, finishing his Kumon homework before his other tasks. In school, he is able to complete his work earlier and help his friends with theirs.
“Kumon has helped tremendously in Khaleed’s Mathematics school results. We noticed that Khaleed can mentally calculate
quicker as compared to before. Khaleed always competes with his older siblings when asked to calculate the change
we should receive after paying for an item. Daily applications such as that make our children realise the importance of Mathematics,” revealed Mr Haji Shamsul.
4 Potential Brunei
He recalled an instance when Khaleed came up to him and his wife, and told them that he was answering all questions from his teacher during a class quiz. As a result, his teacher had to request for Khaleed not to raise his hand to answer so as to give the opportunities to his friends.
He further elaborated, “Alhamdullilah (Praise be to God), he progressed well beyond his school grade. Grasping Mathematics mathematical concepts early with Kumon has helped Khaleed in understanding the concepts taught in school. With one less subject to worry about, he can concentrate on excelling in other subjects.”
Mr Haji Shamsul credited Khaleed’s progress to the support and hard work from his Kumon teachers, which enabled his son to reap the rewards of a strong understanding of Mathematics.
Home-based learning experience During the stay-home period caused by the COVID-19 virus, like many other families, it was a very challenging period for everyone in Khaleed’s household. They all had to learn how to use different online learning tools within a very short timeframe. Khaleed’s parents instructed their children to treat home-based learning like a regular school day. They still woke up early, prepared for classes and finished assigned tasks from their teachers. That routine did not change during Ramadhan as well; Khaleed and his siblings started their Kumon homework right after Suhoor (meal consumed before dawn prior to fasting) and Fajr (dawn) prayer. “Instilling this routine helped them manage their time better since virtual learning took up the whole day and required undivided attention and concentration,” shared Mr Haji Shamsul. Khaleed’s thoughts on learning from home? The avid Star Wars and basketball fan revealed his weekend routine, “I would normally do my Fajr (dawn) prayer followed by Kumon, watch Stars Wars, The Mandalorian and The Clone Wars on television, and play games.”
Haji Muhammad Khaleed Thaqeeff Haji Md Shamsul Riza, 10 Student Sch Grade Level Year 4
Subjects Enrolled in Mathematics (G 160 – Equations 1)
Starting Level 2A 1 – Review up to 3A
Next Goals Mr Haji Shamsul reckoned that his son would continue his studies in Paduka Seri Begawan Sultan Science College, joining his siblings. Khaleed dreams of becoming at least six feet tall to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA) in future, and also to design a car with his brother.
Jul - Dec 2020
5
Regional Article
Resilience:
Bouncing Back and Emerging Stronger
Life is full of ebbs and flows. It is inevitable that you will encounter some form of difficulties at some point of time. When such difficult situations occur, there are generally two options. One, is to let the disappointment, frustration or anger that you are feeling stop you in your tracks. The other; which it not easy, is to let the difficult situation that you have encountered, motivate you and serve as a chance for self-improvement. The ability to bounce back stronger from hard times, rather than letting failures or disappointments keep you down, is known as resilience.
Why Building Resilience in Children is important? Resilience is an important trait for all of us, and an essential one for our children to develop. It helps to create happier, less stressed children wherever they are – whether in school, at home or attending their enrichment classes. Children are able to emerge from challenging experiences with a positive sense of themselves and their future. According to a report by the World Economic Forum1, 65% of the children who entered primary school in 2016 will be in new jobs that have not been invented. Resilient children will find themselves better placed than their less resilient peers to gain the new knowledge and skills necessary for them to succeed in these newly invented jobs. Now with the COVID-19 pandemic that shook the world, building resilience in children is more important than ever. Early this year, stringent measures and movement restriction orders were put in place around the world. As a result, schools and enrichment centres were closed and children had to adapt to a new way of learning – home-based learning.
6 Potential Brunei
Home-based learning, being a different paradigm, poses different challenges to many children. Instead of the face-to-face learning in a physical classroom that they are used to, they are required to learn using a plethora of video conferencing and digital classroom applications. Besides learning and adapting to these new technologies, children have also had to adapt to a learning routine in their homes – a place where they traditionally leave from to go to school and learn. As schools and Kumon Centres are closed for classroom-based learning and in-Centre study respectively, students now have to complete all their assigned work at home instead of the usual routine that they were used to. When they encounter a problem while doing homework, guidance may not be as readily available. Teachers and Kumon Instructors are not in the same room and parents could be in the next room busy with their own work. That is when a Kumon student digs deep with the resources available to himself/herself to overcome challenges. The Kumon Method is designed as a home-based learning programme. When students begin learning with Kumon, they are assigned worksheets according to their “just-right” level, to complete daily. Kumon worksheets are designed to take students through difficult concepts in very small-steps by studying the examples and hints contained within. Students then attempt to solve the problems and complete the worksheets on their own. This continual exposure through active problem-solving, independently, develops the resilience, discipline, self-learning and creative thinking skills, which are integral to effective home-based learning. Beyond the pandemic, the self-learning ability will help Kumon students in various pursuits outside the confines of the Kumon Centre. Mr. Toru Kumon, founder of Kumon, expressed this point when he wrote to the Kumon Instructors in a longstanding publication, Yamabiko, in 1986, “We hope they develop an academic ability that is solid enough to enable them to understand new content without having to be taught. Children who have developed the habit of self-learning will surely grow to become people who can continue solving problems in life on their own. They will be able to do this by continuing to read and learn through books, even after university and as they venture out into the world. This is why I want as many children as possible to learn with Kumon.”
1
World Economic Forum, Chapter 1: The Future Of Jobs and Skills, retrieved from
https://reports.weforum.org/future-of-jobs-2016/chapter-1-the-future-of-jobs-and-skills/#view/fn-1
Jul - Dec 2020
7
Feature
Instructors’ Quotes “Some days, your child’s Kumon worksheets
“I understand that squeezing Kumon in
feel super easy and homework is finished
with school; all within the confines of home,
in 5 mins; other days, they feel challenging
may be challenging for children and their
and even impossible (cue: tears and
parents, but children are using their time
tantrums). Through the Kumon journey,
well to keep learning. In fact, many of my
our students gain an important life skill -
students are actually asking for more
resilience. We are committed to nurturing
worksheets as they have completed their
your child to embrace the difficult or the
homework ahead of schedule. They are
unknown in his/her worksheets and never to
also responding well to pre-arranged video
give up when it gets tough. When a page is
call sessions.
full of errors, we figure out why, correct our
I see this is as my students showing a great
mistakes and learn from them. Resilience
deal of resilience through the pandemic.
gets us through Kumon which, just like life,
This shows to me that it is always possible
is full of ups and downs but ultimately an
to bring out the best in every child, in any
enriching experience for all!”
situation.”
Ms Caley Lim
Kumon Brunei
8 Potential Brunei
Ms. Krishna Sharma Kumon Australia and New Zealand
We have read that resilience is especially important during the Covid-19 pandemic. How important is resilience in our children’s Kumon journey and how does Kumon nurtures this essential trait in our children? Let us read on to see what some of our Kumon Instructors from around the region has to say.
“There is never good enough. There is
“The Kumon Method provides students
always something better” - Mr Toru Kumon
a learning journey with lots of ups and
The Kumon worksheets were designed with
downs. One of the skill set taught in Kumon
incremental difficulty in small steps which
Method is resilience, having the ability
help students to be resilient and keep
to overcome challenges encountered
on learning level by level. Eventually, the
from the worksheet and to keep on going.
process helps to improve their skills and
Whenever students approach me feeling
they can maximise their potential while
discouraged and unable to move on, I will
learning through the examples provided.
always encourage and motivate them
Many young children are doing advanced
with the following analogy, “Can a baby
study, that not only develop their academic
learn to walk without falling?” Life provides
ability, but also produces strong progress in
lots of opportunities and challenges and
terms of their independence, enthusiasm,
it is natural that we will face failures. Most
decision making ability which might help
importantly we should not be discouraged
them in the future – thanks to the Kumon
and should persevere on and overcome
Method!”
them. We will never know unless we try!”
Ms. Nurul Syamimi Pauzi Kumon Malaysia
Ms. Caroline
Kumon Singapore
Jul - Dec 2020
9
Local News
Kumon Brunei
We would like to thank everyone for your support and participation in our 5th Anniversary Contest which took place on Facebook between 25 May 2020 and 10 June 2020. Kumon students shared pictures and videos of their favourite #KumonMoment with the accompanied caption of “With Kumon, I’m certain___________”. The top five entries with the most likes/reactions and comments won an Amazon gift card with a stored value of $50. We hope this initiative had been a fun and engaging activity for Kumon families. Once again, we would like to express our thanks to all Kumon parents for working together with us in developing our children. We are certain that our unique learning method will continue to shape future generations of children in Brunei.
1st Completer of 2020
Dalilah Bazilah Md Zul-Izzi is the first English Completer in 2020. The grade eight student completed Level L, Critical Writing, in March 2020 after four years in Kumon. Dalilah revealed that Kumon taught her to manage her time better. She was inspired to complete the English programme as she felt that It would enhance her potential to perform in school. Her word of advice to Kumon students was to remember to complete their daily worksheets.
Home learning with Kumon
Kumon is designed as a home-based learning programme where students build good study habits through completing assigned worksheets on a daily basis. As we collectively embarked on home-based learning during the Covid-19 outbreak, we received many inspiring videos of Kumon students learning with Kumon. We saw how Kumon students could sit down and got completely engaged working on their worksheets without being distracted. We are thankful to all parents who shared those precious moments with us on Facebook. At the same time, it is heartening to know that many parents have gained a deeper appreciation of their children’s learning experience through this. 10
10 Potential Brunei
Parenting tips
Get tougher, go further – Tips to develop a resilient child “Oh, you want that toy? Okay, I’ll get it for you alright?”. It is easy fall into the temptation of giving in to the requests, or sometimes demands, of our little ones. Better to spend the money than having a
01
Read
A good read engages your children, but did you know that reading can teach your resilience too? For example, as
you read Sally’s journey to look for her missing son, explain
how she doesn’t give up despite the many attempts to find Spot, who incidentally, was hiding in a basket. If your child
is older, read about famous personalities who have had to experience failure before eventually turning out to be the
person we all know – Michael Jordan, Cristiano Ronaldo, JK Rowling, are some examples.
02
Play sports
Play sports with your children. Besides being a good
physical activiy, it helps to bond with your children and builds resilience in them. They will appreciate that they don’t always win – yes, resist the temptation to keep
meltdown right?
losing on purpose to make them happy; it’s about building
But much as we want our children to have that
ball around at home (be sure to keep breakable items first)
carefree childhood, it is also true that they will, at some point in their childhood, face disappointment and frustration. So rather than helping them ascend the metaphorical ivory tower, it might be better to help them become more resilient to setbacks in life earlier rather than later. Here are some activities to help our little ones develop the mental strength to overcome challenges and bounce back stronger.
resilience right? If playing outdoors is not an option, kick the or just pass and roll the ball around.
03
Board, card or video games
Yet another activity to teach your child that they don’t
always win and another opportuity for some bonding time. Encourage them when they lose and motivate them to try
again. While it’s true that they might turn cranky when they lose, it’s easier to teach them to accept losses in a game
of Snakes and Ladders or Monopoly than having to do it in more serious real-life scenarios.
04
Adventure Games
It gets you and your children moving while playing a
game. A simple hide and seek, or even a mini scavenger
hunt if you are feeling up to it. Apart from family bonding
time and resilience, such games teach children problemsolving skills as they work out where to hide or find their
target. They may potentially learn the concept of volume as they realise that larger objects cannot fit into smaller spaces.
Any physical activity involves risks and a seemingly save game like hide and seek is no different. It is important to mark out the play zone or safe areas.
Jul - Dec 2020
11
The Origins of the Kumon Method
After more than half a century, his philosophy still continues to help many children develop the ability to reach for their goals and dreams. Kumon offers learning opportunities in more than 50 different countries and regions around the world. Handmade materials created by Toru Kumon for his son (Takeshi) in 1954.
Toru Kumon (Founder of the Kumon Method)