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JULDEC 2020
My Kumon Journey Effort, strategy and attitude: a toolkit for navigating uncertainty
Despite the pandemic, Nick continues his learning with Kumon
Kumon Features Resilience: bouncing back and emerging stronger The future is always
uncertain, but students can keep on learning
Editor’s Note Dear readers, We hope you have stayed safe and healthy throughout the past few months. It has been a time of great uncertainty. We have had to make significant adjustments to our daily lives. But through all this, students have kept on learning. We have dedicated this edition of Potential to offer some insight as to how students can continue to learn through uncertain times. It begins with the story of Nick, who despite a major disruption to his future plans, has persevered to keep on learning with Kumon. Our cover story features Sandhya, a former Kumon student and future Oxford student, who is well prepared to navigate uncertainty due to the skillset and mindset which she has developed. The following articles offer an insight into resilience in young children, while showing families how learning can continue to occur through periods of disruption. We hope you will enjoy this issue of Potential.
Sincerely,
ON THE COVER Jul - Dec 2020 Sandhya
Contents
The Kumon Public Relations Team
My Kumon Journey
03 Nick
Despite the pandemic, Nick continues his learning with Kumon
04 Sandhya
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Effort, strategy and attitude: a toolkit for navigating uncertainty
Kumon Features
06 Resilience: bouncing back and emerging stronger
08 Instructors’ Quotes 10
The future is always uncertain, but students can keep on learning
My Kumon journey
Despite the pandemic, Nick continues his learning with Kumon In December 2019, Nick, a Year 4 student from Melbourne, Australia, departed on a family holiday to China. Nick’s family trip was originally for two months. But as the COVID-19 pandemic escalated, Nick and his family found themselves unable to return to Australia. These obstacles have not stopped Nick from keeping up with his daily study of Kumon Mathematics and English worksheets. Nick continues to make progress while in China. “Kumon has helped me a lot, such as doing fractions in mathematics and learning English words and sentences,” Nick says. “For me, it is important to keep learning and to maintain my study habit.” Originally, Nick and his family arranged with his Kumon Instructor to bring two months of worksheets with them to China. After completing all these worksheets, Nick asked his auntie in Melbourne to get additional worksheets from Nick’s Kumon Instructor, and send them to him. “Nick is independent, strong and self-disciplined,” says Nick’s dad. “He is strict with himself, keen to progress and does not like to fall behind.” “This is all due to the good study habit built up in his previous study.” Nick’s dad also says that a supportive learning environment at home is conducive for his son’s progress. “Nick has a quiet study environment at home; we are always there for him,” explains Nick’s dad. “We communicate with his Kumon Instructor proactively and prepare all resources for Nick. Whenever Nick encounters difficulties we are there to help.” Throughout his time in China, Nick has participated in regular video sessions with his Kumon Instructor, Gloria. “My assistants and I always make ourselves available via Zoom and WhatsApp to support Nick and his family,” says Gloria, Nick’s Kumon Instructor. “This has supported Nick to keep learning and to continue to make progress.” At the time of writing, Nick is three years ahead of his school grade level in Kumon Mathematics and two years ahead in Kumon English.
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My Kumon journey
Effort, strategy and attitude: a toolkit for navigating uncertainty
“The only thing we know for certain about the future is that it will be different from the present.” COVID-19 has made this adage from Peter Drucker , an American businessman, author and educator, more relevant than ever. Sandhya, a future student at the University of Oxford and former Kumon student, says her Kumon Mathematics studies helped to ready her for the uncertainty she will face in her future.
Sandhya has been accepted into Oxford to study an undergraduate degree in philosophy, politics and economics. Despite the obvious uncertainty regarding her near future plans, Sandhya remains cautiously optimistic. She believes she can
adapt to a rapidly changing situation. Sandhya says her Kumon Mathematics studies played a key role in building her readiness to navigate uncertainty.
Sandhya says Kumon showed her the value of always putting in her best effort. This was key for her successful admission into Oxford, she says, and will continue to serve her well throughout her university studies, as well as afterwards.
“The little bit of study required each day by Kumon helped me to develop discipline, independence, confidence and resilience,” Sandhya says. “I was also encouraged in Kumon to continually set goals and to push my limits.” “Kumon showed me the value of persistence and repetition from a young age.” Self-learning, the set of skills and capabilities that allow one to pursue learning independently and to acquire new knowledge without having to rely on a teacher, will be invaluable for Sandhya’s future. Self-learning provides Sandhya the capability and strategies for on acquiring and applying new knowledge.
“The worksheets allow you to gradually build up enough knowledge before you move onto the set of problems,” Sandhya says. “The examples in the worksheets also give you enough information to self-learn; they give you the tools to work out the problems on your own.”
“Kumon students are used to being able to tackle, new and unfamiliar problems.” By applying enough effort to progress through Kumon and to build her self-learning ability, Sandhya began to study advanced
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Kumon Mathematics worksheets ahead of her school grade level. As Sandhya independently solved the advanced problems in the worksheets, her confidence in her own abilities grew.
This confidence created a positive loop whereby Sandhya was motivated to continue her efforts. This led Sandhya to further progress through Kumon and to further develop her self-learning ability.
“Through the process of advancing through Kumon, children … accumulate the experience and know-how for self-learning,” explained Toru Kumon, Kumon’s late founder in a series of lectures delivered in the 1990s.
“[This] will help children develop the ability solve problems by themselves and is essential for opening a child’s future.” According to Professor Andrew Martin, an educational psychologist from the University of New South Wales, learning methods that draw students’ attention to the impact of their own individual efforts, strategies and attitude on their own performance are the most helpful in preparing pupils to navigate uncertainty.
“[Due to current events], it is likely that many students will feel little or no control over their learning,” Professor Martin wrote in a briefing paper from the Media Centre for Education Research Australia. “Research has found that when students feel little or no control, they are at risk of disengagement. [They ask themselves], ‘Why bother trying when you have no control over events?’”
“It is thus important to draw students’ attention to three big things they can control: effort, how hard they try; strategy, the way they try to go about their learning; and attitude, what they think of themselves, the task, their situation,” Professor Martin continued.
“The more students focus on these three things, the more empowered they will feel and behave through this time of major uncertainty.”
For Sandhya, the right level of practice and repetition that she experienced through Kumon showed her the power of effort in realising her goals. The development of self-learning gave her lifelong strategies for acquiring and applying new knowledge. Being
an advanced Kumon student who studied boosted Sandhya’s confidence to a level that contributed to her attitude – an attitude conducive for navigating uncertainty.
1
Peter F. Drucker, Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, New York: Harper & Row, 1973 2
Media Centre for Educational Research. (2020) Briefing Paper #01: Education and Covid-19
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Kumon Feature
Resilience:
bouncing back and emerging stronger
Resilience is the capacity to bounce back quickly from difficulties or setbacks. Kumon believes resilience to be an essential attribute for children to develop and possess. With resilience, students can emerge from challenging experiences with a positive perception of themselves and their future. Resilience was important prior to the emergence of COVID-19. According to a report by the World Economic Forum, 65% of students who entered primary school in 2016 will be in new jobs that have not been invented . Students who grow into resilient adults are better able to acquire the new knowledge and skills necessary for them to succeed in the newly invented jobs. COVID-19 has reinforced the importance of resilience in students. Measures to suppress or eliminate the COVID-19 have brought about disruptions to daily life in Australia and New Zealand, as well as potentially lasting societal change. In Australia and New Zealand, students experienced the temporary closure of schools for onsite learning. Kumon centres were also temporarily closed for in-centre study of worksheets. For several months, learning in school and Kumon was all conducted at home. Students – as well as their parents, teachers and Kumon Instructors – showed resilience by adapting to the challenges of learning from home. This included learning to use new technologies, adopting new routines and time-management techniques, and adjusting to a home-based learning environment.
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Kumon supports students to build resilience through self-learning and daily study. Kumon students have to overcome a small challenge each day in order to progress in their learning. This continual exposure to challenge builds student’s selfconfidence and their belief in their own abilities. They also develop the discipline and skills necessary to adapt. Through Kumon, students grow in resilience as they understand that no setback is permanent, they need only to adapt to overcome the challenge they face. “We hope they develop an academic ability that is solid enough to enable them to understand new content without having to be taught”, explained Toru Kumon in an article for Kumon Instructors. “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 … even after university and as they venture out into the world.” Resilience will help students to continue to learn throughout the pandemic. Resilience will also be of benefit to students after the pandemic as well. It is inevitable that students will encounter some form of difficulties. Developing resilience will allow a student to bounce back from a setback and learn from the challenge. Students then proceed to apply their learning in new ways, allowing them to adapt new solutions to solve the problems they face.
1
Chapter 1: The Future of Jobs and Skills. (2020). Retrieved 10 June 2020, from
https://reports.weforum.org/future-of-jobs-2016/chapter-1-the-future-of-jobs-and-skills/#view/fn-1
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Kumon Feature
Instructors’ Quotes “The Kumon worksheets were designed to
“I understand that squeezing Kumon in
progress in difficulty through small steps
with school, all within the confines of home,
which keep students learning one level at a
may be challenging for children and their
time. Eventually, the process helps students
parents. But children are using their time
to improve their skills. They can maximise
well to keep learning. In fact, many of my
their potential while learning through
students are actually asking for more
the examples provided. Many young
worksheets as they have completed their
children are studying advanced material
homework ahead of schedule. They are
in Kumon. This not only develops their
also responding well to pre-arranged video
academic ability, but also helps students
call sessions. I see this is as my students
to make strong progress in terms of their
showing a great deal of resilience through
independence, resilience, and enthusiasm
the pandemic. This shows to me that it is
for learning. All are key attributes that will
always possible to bring out the best in
help Kumon students to thrive in the future.”
every child, in any situation.”
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Ms. Nurul Syamimi Pauzi
Ms. Krishna Sharma
Kumon Malaysia
Kumon Australia and New Zealand
Kumon Instructors throughout the AsiaOceania region have been supporting their students to develop resilience. We invite you to read their quotes to gain an insight into their experiences in working with students throughout the recent months.
“Some days, Kumon will feel super easy
“The Kumon Method provides students
for your child. Other days, students feel
a learning journey with lots of ups and
that Kumon is too challenging and even
downs. One of the skill sets taught in Kumon
impossible, but they learn strategies for
Method is resilience, having the ability
overcoming these difficulties. Through
to overcome challenges encountered
the Kumon journey, our students develop
from the worksheet and to keep on going.
resilience. We are committed to supporting
Life provides lots of opportunities and
your child to embrace the challenges in
challenges and it is natural that we will face
the worksheets they find difficult, and to
failures. Most importantly we should not be
never to give up when it gets tough. When
discouraged and should persevere on and
Kumon students make mistakes, we figure
overcome them. We will never know unless
out why they made the mistake, correct our
we try!”
mistakes and learn from them.”
Ms Caley Lim
Ms. Caroline
Kumon Brunei
Kumon Singapore
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Kumon Feature
The future is
always uncertain, but students can keep on learning
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced sweeping change to how learning is delivered to students, with the overwhelming majority of students in Australia and New Zealand being required to learn at home throughout first half of 2020. This disruption has prompted the widely asked question, “What is the impact of COVID-19 on children’s learning?” It is a question that not only parents might be asking in relation to their own children, but also teachers and principals; university-based education professors and experts; and education department officials and government ministers. It prompts many hypotheses and theories. It seems there is not yet a clear answer that everyone can agree on. This does not mean we can’t work to minimise disruption to children’s learning. With the right toolkit, both current and future generations can be equipped to be ready to keep learning through uncertainty. In our previous article about Sandhya, we quoted Professor Andrew Martin, an educational psychologist from the University of New South Wales. Professor Martin stated that students will feel empowered to keep learning through uncertainty if educators are able to draw learners’ attention to what is in their control: the effort students apply to their studies, their strategies, and their individual attitudes towards learning. As we also highlighted in the previous article, Kumon draws students’ attention to the impact of their efforts through assigning the right level of practice and repetition. Kumon helps students to develop self-learning strategies for acquiring and applying new knowledge. Advanced study through Kumon boosts confidence, an attribute that is conducive for navigating uncertainty by encouraging students to ‘have a go.’ These are components of a toolkit that Kumon can support students to develop in order to keep learning through uncertainty. And they are not the only tools students can use. Dr Katrina Barker, an education expert from Western Sydney University, says individualised approaches to learning are helpful for supporting students during times of uncertainty. Dr Barker says individualised learning not only allows students to learn at their own pace, it requires students to develop and apply self-regulation, self-discipline and the ability to learn independently. Being an independent learner will help students to keep learning through uncertainty, as they can place trust in their own abilities. Kumon is an individualised method of learning that supports students to become independent learners through their daily study.
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All Kumon students require support at various different times depending on their level of independence. For those not yet able to learn independently, they require support, from both parents and educators, to ensure they can continue to learn through uncertain times. “It helps [for parents] to set a week day routine, and build in time for school [and extracurricular learning], work, exercise, and free time,” explains Associate Professor Penny Van Bergen, an educational psychologist from Macquarie University. “This provides a sense of normalcy, and communicates to children when you will and won’t be available.” Kumon Instructors support students by creating an individualised study plan for each student, and sending home the worksheets they are ready to learn next on their own. When students are studying at the Kumon centre, Kumon Instructors provide instruction and guidance. Students on entirely home-based Kumon programmes also receive instruction and guidance, but remotely through electronic means. “All children intrinsically want to develop their abilities and they all have the potential to do so. Responding to these desires, thus helping them to grow without limits, not only makes the children and their parents happy, but is essential for society,” wrote Toru Kumon, Kumon’s late founder, in Yamabiko, a publication for Kumon Instructors. Kumon is a learning method that provides support for students to become independent self-learners who can keep learning through uncertainty, as the opening article in this magazine featuring Nick showed our readers. Support is provided by Kumon Instructors directly to the students who may need it, while capable students are allowed to keep progressing independently. Parents are supported and encouraged by their Kumon Instructors to help their children to make progress through their learning. The future, by its very definition, is always uncertain. COVID-19 has heightened uncertainty by adding new layers of complexity and unpredictability to everyday life. But with the right tools, students can continue to make strong progress in their learning in spite of uncertain times.
3 4 5 6
The hidden impacts of COVID-19 on children. (2020). Retrieved 12 May 2020, from https://www.unicef.org.au/blog/unicef-in-action/may-2020/coronavirus-hidden-impacts Media Centre for Educational Research. (2020) Briefing Paper #01: Education and Covid-19 Ibid. Ibid
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