Kumon Singapore - Potential 2022 Issue 2

Elroy CheE

Francis Fan

Dear Readers, We hope all of you are enjoying your learning journey with Kumon, and a very warm welcome to all new Kumon families.

Children have amazing potential, and we love sharing inspirational stories about their change and growth. In the issue, you will learn how Kumon has directly benefited generations of students and is making positive changes for Francis Fan and Elroy Chee.

Through their stories, we hope all parents would be inspired to know that all children, including yours, can be achievers regardless of their initial ability.

Always keep open and regular communication with your child’s Instructor. In addition, do follow us on Facebook [facebook.com/KumonSingaporeOfficial] and Instagram [Instagram. com/Kumon.sg] to participate in our #HomeLearningWithKumon activities.

My life, my dream

Elroy was in primary one when his mother, Ms Alyssa, received feedback from his school teacher that he was way behind his classmates. Eloy tried home tutoring and ended each session in a complete meltdown. His former tuition teacher insisted that Elroy studied according to his school curriculum despite being aware of his learning gap.

Ms Alyssa felt that her son was not getting anywhere and started searching for programmes that may help Elroy better. She chanced upon Kumon and recalled her experience as a former student in her secondary school days. Kumon helped rebuild her lost confidence when she fell behind and struggled to cope in school. Ms Alyssa reminisced the joys of doing the Kumon worksheets, and she wanted Elroy to have them too.

At seven years old, Elroy had a limited attention span and minimal discipline. Developing his motivation to learn was vital, so settling him into the learning environment was the first goal.

After enrolling him in the English Programme, Elroy’s mother was impressed by the positive changes. He began to show a greater interest in reading more widely. At the same time, he seemed more eager to attend the classes. This further reassured her that the decision to enrol him in Kumon was right. She went on to enrol Elroy in the Maths Programme.

With the daily support and commitment of his family, and guidance from his Instructor, Elroy quickly adapted to the daily routine and has become more independent in doing not only his Kumon worksheets but also his schoolwork.

As Elroy progressed, he found joy in completing the worksheets without any corrections, making him happy and wanting to do more. He has made tremendous progress in his vocabulary and can now communicate with others effectively. His mother shared, “With his current English ability, his Instructor can gather his thoughts and involve him in planning his own study progression. This will help to maximise his learning potential.”

Asked what he usually does during his pastime, Elroy replied, “I like playing with my toys and watching YouTube. But lately, I enjoy reading to my little sister more. Particularly “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” and Peppa Pig storybooks.”

This young boy is now a role model for reading at home. He aspires to play an essential role in safeguarding our nation.

“Every child is unique,” Ms Alyssa advised other Kumon parents to partner closely with their child’s Instructor to find the best-tailored learning journey for their child.

More often than not, younger brothers and sisters of Kumon students would ask their parents if they could do Kumon homework. In addition, it is common for parents to want their little siblings to reap the same benefits from Kumon. Seven-year-old Francis is not only a role model for his twin siblings but also an inspiration to his mother.

Francis was enrolled in Kumon Maths and English Programmes by his mother, Ms Jasmine, after learning about the uniqueness of the Kumon Method. She was particularly impressed with the structured learning catered to individual learning abilities shared at the Parent Orientation session.

As Francis progressed with the small-step worksheets, Ms Jasmine was convinced by his academic advancement and admirable discipline-learning attitude. She then embarked on the Kumon Chinese Programme herself and thereafter enrolled Francis’s younger twin siblings in the same programmes as him.

Ms Jasmine recalled that getting Francis to do daily homework during the initial stage was quite challenging.

However, his positive learning attitude improved in just a few weeks after receiving constant encouragement and appropriate guidance from Francis’s dad, herself and his Instructor.

Kumon has significantly improved Francis’s pace and confidence in Maths.

Ms Jasmine shared that Francis has no qualms about answering questions in school. While outside, Francis always tries to help by applying his mental skills in everyday life.

Ms Jasmine shared, “He will offer to verify whether we are getting the correct amount of change from the cab driver or the supermarket cashier.”

In terms of English, Francis has not just improved his reading ability; he has also developed a passion for reading. “I really enjoyed reading all the interesting stories in Kumon English and improving my reading speed each time,” revealed Francis.

Apart from having an academic edge over his peers, Ms

Jasmine noted that Francis is becoming more independent and taking more ownership in completing his work. Francis used to rely on his parents’ help in solving problems. These days, he will take the initiative to overcome any problem independently. “Whenever I run into a problem in my Kumon worksheets, I will reread the concept repeatedly and try solving the problem on my own before I reach out for help. Because I know when I try to solve it myself, I will learn more and continuously improve with each repetition,” said Francis.

Francis’s interest in learning has also strengthened as he started learning ahead of his school grade. He revealed that his teacher often asks him to lead in helping others with their homework because he can accomplish his classwork efficiently.

Being a Kumon student and a Kumon parent, Ms Jasmine, discovered that every individual can truly excel and advance their capabilities and potential through the Kumon Method.

“I felt proud of myself each time I progressed to the next worksheet level,” exclaimed Ms Jasmine. She added that Kumon’s learning journey is more than just a means to improve one’s academic achievement or build a strong foundation in young children.

“As our children become more advanced, it can sometimes be overwhelming and challenging. Keep encouraging them and always remind them not to give up. Only with patience and perseverance our children will reap the reward in the end and can continue unlocking and pursuing their potential,” Ms Jasmine revealed.

Francis’s passion lies in coding and building Lego, doing science exploration and discovery. This young and jovial boy aspires to turn one of his hobbies into his dream career.

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

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.

CONCENTRATION

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 one 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.

DISCIPLINE

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.

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.

SELF-LEARNING

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.

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. 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.

CONFIDENCE

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.

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.

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.

TIME MANAGEMENT

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.

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.

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.

Instructors’ Quotes

“

Liz Yeung Kumon Singapore

“So easy!” This is one of the most satisfying phrases I hear as a Kumon Instructor, especially coming from a student who was once struggling. Every child has a different ability and learning pace. The Kumon Method has allowed the students to build their confidence through small learning steps and progress at their own pace. The repetition and revision of worksheets have allowed students to gain confidence because they have done it before. As Kumon is an individualised programme, students react positively to new learning because they are not afraid of lacking behind.

We try to provide an encouraging environment (be it for face-toface or remote sessions) by giving our students precise, regular feedback and celebrating small wins. Even on challenging days, we acknowledge their effort and motivate them to do their best. This helps them realise the study attitude we value and know that their effort to be better do not go unnoticed.

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.

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.

Danielle Young

Cindy Koh Kumon Australia and New Zealand

Nurul Dini binti Omar Kumon Malaysia

Kumon Brunei

Advanced Student Honour Roll (ASHR)

things you can do to build confidence in your children 5 5

Assigning chores

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.

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.

Positive talk daily

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).

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.

Create a family compliment tree

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.

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