The Kumon English programme guides students through different learning stages. The starting point is determined by your child’s abilities to ensure their comfort.
This means your child won’t necessarily begin at their current grade level in school if they’re already school-age. They can go a few lessons back or jump straight to modules ahead of their peers.
The beauty of this approach is that children don’t feel overwhelmed. Lessons are also personalised to fit a child’s needs.
Here’s a quick guide to the Kumon English programme to help you set expectations.
- Building strong foundations. Students are shown images to help them become familiar with single words and letters. Instructors read words aloud to teach students sounds, word associations, and proper pronunciation. Students then repeat these words until they get the hang of it and gradually move to simple sentences.
- Reading words and sentences. It doesn’t stop with students recognising letters and words. They move on to reading simple words, sentences, and then progress to stories. Instructors also guide them so they can learn to write independently. These practices are repeated and improved as needed before children climb to the next level in the programme.
- Visualising stories. As students become more comfortable with writing and reading, the next level is all about making everything come together. Students are taught about sentence structure, word order, and verb forms, among many others. They’re also guided to visualise or better understand what they’re reading. Now it goes beyond repeating words or sentences they hear. Students start to make sense of what they hear, say, and read. This is also the time when reading is highlighted as a leisurely activity that will help them learn more along the way.
- Reading text across genres. Children are not limited to a single genre during reading activities. Instructors allow them to explore various materials – from science, biographies, fiction, adventure and the list goes on. This helps students become more confident and enthusiastic readers, which paves the way for better writing skills.
- Constructing ideas. Children become a lot more than students that recognise letters and words. They start to comprehend what they read and even share details about it or summarise it when needed. This exercise trains students to compose their own ideas and even craft a little story of their own. By this time, you probably will see if your child may be a budding wordsmith or storyteller.
- Expressing views. You’ll be surprised how at this stage, your child can already share their views about stories or materials they read. They now form opinions and they may even invite you to analyse or talk about a book they’ve just finished. This marks the end of the programme, but never the conclusion of your child’s passion for learning and reading.
The knowledge is out there waiting to be explored. Kumon instructors introduce students to a wide range of reading materials and make reading an enjoyable exercise, rather than a chore. It breaks down English literacy into small, achievable steps. The Kumon English programme prepares children as they launch themselves into the real world.
