Kumon Malaysia - Potential 2022 Issue 2 by Kumon Asia & Oceania

ahead! Love & Respect, Public Relations Team Kumon Malaysia editor’s Note Contents My Life, My Dream FeaturesRegulars 03 10 06 08 04 11 Born to be an Achiever! Hannah Leong Local News Virtual Advanced Student Forum 2022 Regional Article Making positive changes in our children by nurturing skills for a lifetime Instructors’ SpectacularQuotesGrowth with Kumon! Ashlee Chin Min Yi Parenting Tips 5 things you can do to build confidence in your children Ashlee Chin ON THE COVER Jul-Dec 2022 Have something to say? Feel free to send us your thoughts on the newsletter! Tel: 1 800 88 1010 E-mail: information@kumon.com.my Website: my.kumonglobal.com Kumon Malaysia INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY NOTICE The logos, graphics, pictures, design, and layout (“Contents”) of this entire newsletter are the exclusive property of Kumon Asia & Oceania Pte Ltd. The Contents contained in this newsletter shall not be reproduced or copied without the express written consent of Kumon Asia & Oceania Pte Ltd. © 2021 Kumon Asia & Oceania Pte Ltd. All rights reserved.

These impactful outcome is something that we have regularly and consistently witnessed from our Kumon students, who have developed a real love for “life-long learning.” One of our success stories is from our nine-year-old student, Hannah Yeoh, who is the youngest English programme completer to receive an award at the recent Advanced Student Forum 2022. Another success story is Ashlee Chin Min Yi, a 12-yearold girl who has developed a great personality and gained critical life skills through the Kumon programme. These success stories are a real celebration of Kumon and the positive impact we are making in Malaysia. Check out some of our star achievers in our Virtual Advanced Student Forum 2022 feature story on page 10! We hope that this issue will bring you as much joy and inspiration as it has for all of us at Kumon Malaysia. Together, let us strive for a tenacious and confidence-filled second half of the year! Take care and stay safe! to a great 2022

For over 60 years, the Kumon Method has helped children from all over the world. Through Kumon, a child experiences learning as an alternation between “trying and understanding” and “practicing until I do it well”. Both of these constitute positive learning experiences that will help the child build on their self-confidence by perfecting the basis for continued learning. The accumulation of these positive experiences lead to a mindset of “I can do it if I practise enough”. Gradually, the child develops into a person with an inquisitive mind, who likes to learn and seeks new challenges.

Here’s

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Looking back at the first day when Hannah’s mother, Mrs. June enrolled her daughter in Kumon, she was confident that Kumon would give Hannah a head start in maths and English, and prepare her to gain the foundations required to excel in Mostschool.importantly,

“Kumon has also helped me think maturely when deciding between right or wrong in my daily life,” she said. The Kumon Method has helped her gain problem-solving and decision-making skills, while developing her ability to self-learn, be resilient and have the confidence to take on challenges.

Mrs. June believes that it is important for parents of Kumon children to continually extend their full support and encouragement especially if their child feels like giving up, as the fruit of their labour can only be reaped towards the end of the programme. “Guide your children in their Kumon work and be part of your child’s learning experience. Learn and participate together with your child. You will definitely bring joy, love and happiness into their lives when you sit down, learn, explore and participate together with your child in their learning journey,” she shared.

Mrs. June is happy that Hannah’s Kumon journey has helped her develop problem-solving skills which she applies not only to her school work but also other aspects of life. She believes that the Kumon Method adds tremendous value to young children as it is individually tailored to help children progress through their own efforts and abilities. Mrs. June, impressed with the advanced learning that her daughter has achieved, noted that her daughter has shown great improvements in areas such as obedience, discipline, and being independent. At home, Mrs. June helps Hannah prepare a timetable that covers Kumon’s daily worksheets and schoolwork. After a hard day’s work, Hannah would be given half an hour to spend on her hobbies, which include reading storybooks, drawing, colouring, watching her favourite shows or playing games. Mrs. June shared that Hannah does encounter challenges when attempting some of her Kumon worksheets, but she believes that Hannah can overcome them with continued learning, and the guidance and support by her Kumon instructor, her parents and also her aunt. She also appreciates how Hannah’s instructor has supported Hannah throughout her Kumon journey. Apart from Kumon, Hannah is actively learning swimming and piano. Her ambition is to be a lawyer one day, following in her father’s footsteps. Hannah has also participated in various competitions including science and maths, arts, storytelling and sports.

Hannah started Kumon at the age of four and, when asked about her experience at Kumon, she shared that she felt quite nervous at first, but she hoped to gain knowledge and skills that would be beneficial for her, academically. Having enrolled in both Maths and English classes at Kumon, she revealed that her interests leaned towards English because of the interesting stories in the worksheets which helped improve her vocabulary. Hannah highlighted that Kumon has made her school life easier as she learns ahead of her grade’s syllabus, allowing her to think faster and get ahead of her peers while also saving a lot of time and energy on difficult schoolwork.

Born to be an Achiever!

Hannah’s drawing

My life, my dream Meet Hannah, one of our Kumon students who has shown tremendous improvement since joining Kumon. Hannah is a nine-year-old girl from Subang Jaya, Selangor, who is the youngest English Programme completer award recipient at the recent Advanced Student Forum 2022. She is a testimony to the effectiveness of the Kumon Method as a learning method, which goes beyond academic success and focuses on the importance of acquiring life skills.

Spectacular 4 Potential Malaysia

At times, Ashlee faces difficulties in completing her Kumon worksheets, but she believes she would be able to solve them if she keeps trying. “I feel extremely happy to be an advanced student because I have acquired maths skills that I can use to help my friends at school,” she said. Participating in Kumon class also paved the way for her to better interact with friends and teachers as her confidence had Whenimproved.asked

My life, my dream Ashlee Chin Min Yi, a lovely 12-year-old girl, followed in her siblings’ footsteps and joined the Kumon programme at the tender age of five. The youngest sister among her siblings revealed that she truly enjoys mathematics as it is both challenging yet fulfilling when she manages to complete the questions correctly.

Mr. Chin, Ashlee’s father, was introduced to the Kumon programme by his friend. Ashlee’s parents understand the need for a strong foundation in mathematics, and they believe that the programme would help their children excel in it. Mr. Chin believes that regardless of what his children might pursue in the future, excelling in mathematics will help them have an analytical mind, while also instilling love in the subject from a young age. As a supportive parent, he always encourages Ashlee to overcome any challenges that come her way. He knows that even if she stumbles along the way, she will gain with Kumon!

about her daily routine and her hobbies, Ashlee said, “I always begin my day with Kumon Mathematics, followed by breakfast. I enjoy activities like yoga, which I learned by watching YouTube videos during the pandemic. I also play basketball during my free time. Recently, I even joined mathematics and English public speaking competitions.”

Growth

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confidence in her ability to discover the solutions in the end. When Ashlee enrolled in the Kumon programme, he did not set any expectationshe only wanted to instill a sense of routine and discipline in her, and ensures she practices mental calculation exercises. After some time, he realises that Kumon offers a very systematic learning approach, providing kids with an excellent, structured learning experience.

“I am thrilled to see Ashlee persevere and forge ahead regardless of the ups and downs she experiences throughout her Kumon learning. She is more confident and at ease when approaching her teacher for assistance whenever she faces a problem at school. She had also acquired analytical thinking skills through Kumon,” shared Mr. Chin. Ashlee is a school head prefect and always represents the school in public speaking. Kumon’s structured approach undoubtedly helped shape her personality and build a positive character from an early age. Mr. Chin also offers a word of advice to other parents, “While Kumon has made her disciplined, essentially, I still want her to enjoy life as a child. Mathematics can be enjoyable but it can also be challenging. Looking at my daughter, I realised that it is more fun if you treat it like a game. Don’t push your child too hard and if there is a hurdle, we must work together with them to overcome it.”

When children need help, they are not immediately given the answer or taught how to answer the questions. Instead, Instructors guide the students with appropriate hints and questions to nudge them in the right direction, but students will have to solve the problems on their own. Through answering the questions on their own, our children gain confidence and motivation to progress further.

Being able to concentrate for a period of time is a vital skill that our children need to succeed in school. But in this digital era, smartphones, social media and the internet present ample distractions to take our children’s mind off their task at hand. Kumon aims for our children to finished their assigned worksheets in 1 sitting. After finishing a page, our children are taught to flip to the reverse side right away, and continue with the worksheet. As time go by, our children gradually develop the focus and concentration to benefit them in their studies, even outside of Kumon. As you might probably know, Kumon Instructors do not teach. Instead, Kumon nurtures our children into self-learners, by encouraging children to answer the questions without asking for the answer.

Kumon worksheets are designed to facilitate self-learning. Explanations and examples are included in the introductory exercises with new learning foci. Our children work through the worksheets in small, incremental steps from easy to more challenging questions, under the watchful eye of our Kumon Instructors.

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In general, our children visit our Kumon Centres twice a week and Instructors assign worksheets as homework for the other five days. Children have to be disciplined enough to arrange to do their Kumon homework, besides having to deal with school’s homework and other extra or co-curricular activities.

Regional Article

As parents and working adults, we would realise how these skills are still essential and much sought after in our professional environment. Indeed, these skills transcends the boundaries of Kumon, and will benefit our children in their studies as well as their working life in future. Be it in school or at work in future, our children need the discipline and time management skills to sit down and get started with tasks or homework that needs to be completed, instead of giving in to distractions and procrastinating.

Making positive changes in our children by nurturing skills for a lifetime

CONCENTRATIONSELF-LEARNINGDISCIPLINE

As parents and their children walk through the doors of the Kumon Centres for the Parents’ Orientation and diagnostics assessments, they would have expected to receive some help in academic performance. What some parents didn’t expect, is the life skills that Kumon study develops. Not only does Kumon develop mathematical, reading and writing skills, Kumon also nurtures essential work and study skills that will help the students beyond the figurative confines of Kumon. These are some of the life skills that Kumon cultivates in our students – concentration, discipline, time management, confidence and independent learning.

When students are learning materials that are too easy, they feel bored, but when the learning materials gets too difficult, they lose the motivation to carry on. Kumon’s concept of “just-right” level is a sweet spot at which the worksheets is neither too easy, nor too difficult, but rather at a level that is able to challenge out children sufficiently to keep them motivated. As our children overcomes these little challenges, their confidence grow. Instructors will also praise our children appropriately, in recognition of their little achievements, to motivate them. Some of these achievements could be, completing a set number of worksheets in one sitting for the first time, achieving a good score for a new learning focus, or completing a set of worksheets within the prescribed Standard Completion Time etc. This helps to feel motivated to progress further.

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The Kumon Instructor assigns worksheets that are “just-right” for our children, which are essentially levels at which our children can experience a sense of accomplishment and progress without being taught explicitly. When our children are able to learn by themselves without being taught, they become more confident of their abilities.

Getting a perfect score from the get-go, then having a solid understanding of the current concept before moving to a new concept at their “just-right” level and earning praises from our Instructors to celebrating little achievements help our children’s confidence soar.

TIMECONFIDENCEMANAGEMENT

Confident students will be enthusiastic learners, and pave the way to academic success. When our children start with Kumon, our Instructors will assign a level that children can attain a perfect score with ease, based on the diagnostic assessments. There might be occasions when Instructors get our children to repeat certain worksheets. The repetitions are meant to build a firm understanding of the current learning focus or concept, before moving on to a new one. Having a good foundation helps our children to feel confident when approaching a new learning focus.

Besides having the discipline, children will also need to manage their time in order to grapple with the other commitments from school and other extra or co-curricular activities. With time, they will learn to manage their time – a skill that will serve them well in workplace setting.

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As children walk through the doors of our Kumon Centres around the region, there have been some positive impact on them. Let’s read on and ﬁnd out how our Instructors have helped them, and what are some of the positive changes they’ve seen.

Kumon Feature “ “

QuotesInstructors’

Nurul Dini binti Omar Kumon Malaysia Students shall master the fundamentals of a subject in order to study beyond their grade level. Students with positive attitude always have a brighter chance to learn more. They are always curious as to what’s coming next once they’re done with one level. Kumon daily worksheet helps to develop positive attitude such as self-discipline which will help them to learn about responsibility at a very young age. Self-discipline is a long term value that will feed one’s focus. Focus breeds punctuality, dependability and productiveness. Students often feel motivated when they can finally do the learning focus that they can’t do before. It increases their confidence and develop their interest in studying.

Wahid Kumon Australia and New Zealand Kumon Thailand Kumon India & Sri Lanka

As the ability to learn independently is an essential habit for school and life, the Kumon Mathematics and English programmes develop self-learning skills and confidence in students. Kumon students use the examples in the worksheets to self-learn their way through difficult problems. Their Kumon Instructors provide individualised study plans and guidance for the students to make smooth progress at a comfortable pace. I believe it is the core of the Kumon Method that allows students to continuously experience the joy of self-learning in real life and to be proactive and confident in everything they do. As a Kumon Instructor, I always feel grateful and proud to see students grow into well-rounded individuals who excel academically and in life. I believe every child has potential. From the past 17 years as Kumon instructor, I’ve emphasized on developing students’ thinking, dexterity, and mind through individualized instruction. When they are ready in all three aspects, they will then fully gain benefits from Kumon and study Kumon with happiness. Furthermore, their parents should acknowledge and take pride in their children’s abilities along with me. During these trying times, we must encourage our children to realise the importance of taking small steps and doing little things in great ways; for they are the future- who would fill the world with sunshine and I believe will turn things around for a better tomorrow!

The best gift we can inculcate in them is responsibility and independence & as our founder quotes, “There is a limit to how much one can teach, but there is no limit to how much one can advance through self-learning

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Danielle Young Satrirat JinwanFemidah

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At the ASF 2022, Kumon Malaysia presented various recognition awards to 454 students who successfully advanced five years ahead of their school grade, as well as 202 students who completed the Kumon Mathematics or English programme. Nine-year-old Hannah Yeoh from the Kumon English programme received the Youngest Programme Completer award.

Kumon Malaysia recently hosted the annual Advanced Student Forum (ASF) 2022, virtually for the second time. Held on 16 April 2022, the ASF was attended by 723 people comprising students, parents, Instructors and associates. This year’s ASF theme was adapted from the famous online game, Roblox.

Local News

During the event, a special quiz was conducted for students in which 10 winners won special Kumon merchandises!

Kumon will continue to nurture and guide all students on their learning journey, with the hope and aspiration that more students will be able to attend the ASF next year! Malaysia

Four special Instagram filters with the Roblox theme is posted on Kumon Malaysia’s Instagram page (www.instagram.com/kumonmalaysia) for students and parents to share their pictures along with their ASF 2022 experience.

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Although the event was held virtually, many parents shared that the ASF 2022 was truly engaging for the students. They also expressed deep appreciation for recognising their child’s efforts and achievements, which will motivate them to continue achieving their goals. “The success of our students is due to the unending hard work, persistence and perseverance of both parents and instructors. They are instrumental in ensuring an enjoyable and purposeful learning journey for the students. On behalf of Kumon Malaysia, I’d like to express our deepest gratitude for the continued support of Kumon – and together, let’s unleash the potentials in our children,” said Mr. Atsushi Hasegawa, General Manager of Kumon Malaysia.

When learning new skills, they don’t always succeed. Let them know that it is okay to not succeed immediately; even Michael Jordan had failed in basketball (he still holds the infamous record of being the worst performer in the NBA three-point contest, having scored five three-pointers out of 30 attempts).

Getting your children to help out with age-appropriate household chores can help them feel empowered and being part of the family. Such chores can be as simple as throwing their own diapers, or helping with a pet or younger sibling. Assigning chores

Teaching new skills

Learning new skills could be a motivating confidence booster when the children finds out they can do things that they weren’t able to do before. It could be dribbling a ball, watering plants, or simple crafts.

Like chores, making decisions help children feel empowered and gives them a sense of belonging. Start by letting them make age-appropriate choices like what to eat, where to go on an outing, what to wear etc. Let them make decisions things you can do to build confidence in your children

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Use the word “yet” to encourage your children. Instead of “I cannot ride a bicycle”, tell them that “he/she just can’t ride a bicycle yet”. Using the word “yet” turns negativity into potential. Positive talk daily

Draw a tree (or use a decal) on a flat wall, then use sticky notes to write a compliment and stick on the tree when someone has done something well (use a different colour for each family member). This helps your children to feel that their good behaviour or good deeds have been acknowledged and spur them on to earn more compliments. If a tree is not feasible, use a compliment jar as an alternative. Create a family compliment tree

Parenting tips

The Origins of the Kumon Method Handmade materials created by Toru Kumon for his son (Takeshi) in 1954. Toru Kumon (Founder 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 Kumondreams.offers learning opportunities in more than 50 different countries and regions around the world.