Potential 2019 (Issue 1) - Kumon Malaysia

Australia • Brunei • Cambodia • India • Indonesia • Malaysia • Myanmar • New Zealand • Philippines • Singapore • Sri Lanka • Thailand • Vietnam

JAN – JUN 2019

KUMON FEATURE MY LIFE, MY DREAM Intan Ayu Irina Hasrulnizam Divyhana Dharshini Thiruselvam Kishern Arinash Thiruselvam

“Just-right” Level: How Kumon finds the right level for every student

PARENTING TIPS 3 ways to improve mental calculation

Editor’s Note ON THE COVER JAN - JUN DIVYHANA DHARSHINI THIRUSELVAM AND KISHERN ARINASH THIRUSELVAM Welcome to the year of 2019!

Thank you for all the support in the year of 2018. It’s time for the new beginning. Let us forget the past and give 100% focus on the present to be the best in building up the brighter future. We hope all parents and students are ready with the new challenges in this new remarkable year.

For this issue, we look forward to sharing more exciting stories from our successful students. The first story talks about Intan Ayu Irina, an optimistic girl who loves Japanese language and believes in the effectiveness of self-learning. Meanwhile, the second story shows how two delightful siblings, Kishern and Divyhana, always practised Kumon as their lifestyles.

Other than that, in this issue, we have one article about parenting tip on 3 simple maths games to improve your children’s mental calculation. Last but not least, our local news highlights Kumon Education Malaysia winning the Readers’ Choice Awards by BabyTalk and MamaPapa magazine.

We hope you will be inspired by reading this issue and we look forward to sharing many more interesting stories and tips in the next issue of Potential newsletter.

Love, Kumon Education Malaysia

Contents MY LIFE, MY DREAM

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Believing in perseverance and self-learn Intan Ayu Irina Hasrulnizam

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Implementing Kumon as a lifestyle Kishern Arinash Thiruselvam and Divyhana Dharshini Thiruselvam

FEATURES

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Regional article “Just-right” Level: How Kumon finds the right level for every student

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Instructors’ quotes

REGULARS

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Local news The readers’choice award winning

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Parenting tips 3 ways to improve mental calculation

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Tel: 1800 88 1010 E-mail: information@kumon.com.my Website: www.kumonmalaysia.com 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. © 2019 Kumon Asia & Oceania Pte Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Kumon Malaysia

My life, my dream

BELIEVING IN PERSEVERANCE AND SELF-LEARN

T

he beginning of every journey is never an easy route. It will be full of challenges and hard time in order to catch the pace and be the best. However, the beginning will always be the most memorable time and nothing can replace the experience. Same goes for Intan Ayu Irina, 13 year-old girl who is now learning 3 years advanced in Kumon than her school grade.

Starting Kumon at the age of 5, following her two eldest brothers, was her foremost moment in life.

Looking at her two brothers doing Kumon worksheets since young has attracted her towards Kumon and now she is grateful for what Kumon has affected her life.

After 7 years with Kumon, Intan has grown to be an optimistic girl who loves to learn new knowledge.

She is really attracted towards the Japanese language till she can self-learn the language through the internet. From watching anime movies, now she is able to converse in Japanese. Her interest towards language and self-learning skill that she learnt in Kumon has made her proud of herself and she is ambitious to be Japanese voice actress in the future. Even she is busy with the preparation of UPSR (Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah), she knows well how

to manage her time between Kumon, school and her interest. Especially with the High Order Thinking Skills(HOTs) questions which will be asked in UPSR, she is totally ready for it because Kumon has totally prepared her mentally and physically.

Other than Intan, the parents also have another 2 children who are experiencing the Kumon Method.

With 3 children in Kumon, the parents have come to a point where all of their children are different and

special in their own ways. The eldest son and the youngest daughter are brighter academically compared with the second son. The parents were very concerned with the second son until they enrolled him in Kumon. The changes that they can see, especially academically and his personality, really impressed them. Kumon is not just learning centre which solely teaching Maths and English subjects, it also teaches the student to be independent and not to give up when facing difficulties.

Especially for the second son, the mother admitted it is really remarkable to know that Kumon has changed his son’s life. He has now become steadier in learning at his own pace. In Kumon, the focus is not on how fast you get there, but how much effort you put into it.

In Kumon, self-learning and perseverance are two important skills which every student will develop slowly as they continue their journey with Kumon.

Other than academic studies, Kumon also prepare students for the future by nurturing their independence, good study habits and not procrastinating. In Kumon we believe, each child has their own ability and it is our responsibility to polish them out.

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My life, my dream

IMPLEMENTING KUMON AS A LIFESTYLE

K

ishern Arinash Thiruselvam and Divyhana Dharshini Thiruselvam, 14 years old and 11 years old respectively, are two siblings who practise the Kumon Method of learning as one of the ways they live. Being born in a very supportive family has made these two siblings flourish in all aspects of their lives. From the beginning, they received full support from their parents. The children have started Kumon at really young age and it has been their good foundation which further developed their ability to the maximum.

Kishern Arinash Thiruselvam, 14 Subject: Maths, Level J180 Starting Level: 7A51 Advanced Level: 3 years ahead

For the parents, they will always allocate certain time during school holiday for their children. For the past 2 years, the father has this brilliant idea to have a road trip for his family.

The father planned to have the road trip from Penang, Malaysia to Krabi, Thailand. He wanted the family to be together and experience new things. For this time around, he chose an adventurous road trip as he knew it will be a memorable experience for the whole family. They took 22 days to complete the road trip, covering more than 1000 km.

During the road trip, they experienced one incident which impacted Kishern’s and Divyhana’s lives as they learnt how to face unexpected occurrences in life. Other than that, Kishern, who is very adventurous, has found happiness in challenging himself to ride an all-terrain vehicle (ATV), a four-wheeled bike which is designed to travel on rough and uneven ground, during the road trip. Even though he fell while riding it, he never gave up. He still continued riding the ATV and become the youngest to ride during that time. Now, his interest towards go-kart has developed slowly after the ATV riding and every weekend, he will play go-kart as his hobby.

Divyhana Dharshini Thiruselvam, 11 Subject: Maths, Level H70 Starting Level: 7A1 Advanced Level: 3 years ahead

The father really likes the holiday concept because they got the opportunity to gather as a whole family and most importantly to gain new knowledge including life skills. The children also will get the opportunity to see the differences in different cultures. Especially when an unexpected incident happened, the children saw how the father prepared himself to deal with a stranger or local in order to fix the problem. Instead of the value that the parents wanted the children to experience, the father also prioritises their learning especially in doing Kumon homework. They will bring Kumon homework everywhere they go and never missed it. When they went on the road trip, they will do the homework in the car. In fact, they brought a hardcover book from home as the small table for them to do the homework in the moving car.

Even though the condition was not as comfortable as a sturdy table at home, the children are willing to do the homework and they know that it is their responsibility to finish up everything. “Sometimes the children also will do revision in the car. I believe time management is really

important especially during the holiday,” their mother said.

From the parent’s point of view, the Kumon Method of learning is special and different from other enrichment centres. It will be good if parents can send their children at an early age, before they start their formal school as young children will adapt to new habits easily. They will also get a good foundation from Kumon and eventually this will help them in school. With Kumon, the children will be ahead of their peers and this will build up their confidence especially when they are able to help their friends in school. In addition, the parents also believe Kumon has taught their children to manage their time well. The discipline that they learnt indirectly from Kumon also helps them to be successful. As the proof, Kishern is now excellent at school as he got the opportunity to skip one grade which enables him to finish his O-level at the age of 15. Divyhana also currently learning Kumon Mathematics Programme 3 years advanced of her school grade.

The father said that he was impressed with one aspects of the Kumon Method which is the repetition. For him, repetition is good as it can be the good exercise in improving the skills. The father admitted that his children also sometimes feel bored because of too many repetitions. However, he knows he needs to keep supporting them and give advices that it is good to have repetition as it can train them to enhance the skills that they already have. As the parents are really happy and amazed with the end-result with Kumon, they have recommended Kumon to some of their friends. They believe Kumon is suitable for all types of children and really helps in maximising the potential of each child.

Confidently, Divyhana revealed that Kumon really helps her to be excellent in her exam. Kishern then added, “To succeed in life, we cannot give up. No matter how many times we failed, we need to learn from the mistakes; when we fall down, we must always get up’’.

Regional Article

“Just-right” Level: How Kumon finds the right level for every student

W

hat is the most important feature of Kumon?

According to Toru Kumon, the most important aspect of Kumon is the “just-right” level of

study.

“I have made a revision to The Strengths of the Kumon Method last autumn. I decided that the “just-right” level of study is the most important element of education, because every child should be given the learning that matches his or her ability. When they are given what is “just-right” for them, they enjoy learning that will help them advance beyond their school grade level.

Up to this point, ‘Advancing beyond school grade level’ has been ranked as the Number One Strength of the Kumon Method. But to emphasise even strongly what is most important, I think the “just-right” level of study is the Number One,” Toru Kumon wrote (Yamabiko, 1995).

What does this Kumon jargon really means? In this article, we look to demystify the concept of “just-right” level.

Finding the “just-right” level simply refers to identifying the sweet spot that motivates every child to do his or her best. In sports, sportsmen have specific abilities best suited to the level required by the role or position they operate at. For example, football fans would remember Thierry Henry as a flop at Italian club Juventus. He was assigned to play as a left winger and in addition to organising the attack, was also expected to defend. He could not perform and career was in the trench. Most of all, he was not happy. “I wasn’t enjoying myself at all, I felt like I’d lost the desire to play football,” Henry later

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admitted. He was allowed to seek employment at Arsenal after just one season in Italy. In Arsenal, he was deployed to play as a reserve striker but it was where he truly flourished. Henry later became the first-choice striker and eventually became the all-time top scorer for both Arsenal and the France national team.

Through this example, it is clear that Henry was not played correctly in Juventus. It was only at Arsenal where the coach found the sweet spot that matched his ability, or in Kumon, we call it the “just-right” level. It was also then when he started to enjoy playing football. “When I scored, in that moment, I rediscovered some emotions, some feelings that I had not felt in a long time,” he said.

Similarly to the role performed by coaches in football, one of the most important roles of a Kumon Instructor is to find the “just-right” level of each child. Since different children have different level of abilities, their “just-right” level has to be different too. But matching the materials to the children’s ability is important, because when they study at their “just-right” level, they will begin to enjoy

studying and self-learn the materials. Eventually these children will enjoy learning and be able to progress beyond their level in school – just like Thierry Henry who began to enjoy football and played well at Arsenal.

How do Kumon Instructors ensure that every student is studying at their own “just-right” level? To illustrate this, let’s look at how Toru Kumon ensured that his method and worksheets are suitable for his son, Takeshi, using worksheets on addition of fractions as an example.

When Takeshi was doing the addition of fractions, he did not understand the concept of lowest common multiple at first; he simply multiplied all the denominators together to get a common denominator. He also did not know how to reduce his answers. Toru Kumon did not simply ask Takeshi to redo the entire worksheet again and again until he gets it on his own, contrary to popular belief.

He provided examples, based on Takeshi’s errors in the previous worksheets to draw his attention to the correct way to reduce the fractions. Then he made Takeshi redo one side of the worksheets, but this time with all the denominators written as hints. His purpose of this repetition was to help Takeshi solve the problems without having to deal with the denominators.

In the next worksheet, Takeshi was able to solve the problems without additional help from Toru Kumon. However, he still just multiplied the

denominators together and this time, after marking the worksheet, Toru wrote, “For all of these problems, it is not necessary to multiply all the denominators”.

The next day, while doing corrections, Takeshi read his father’s note and realised that he should have just used the lowest common multiple instead of simply multiplying the denominators together. In the next worksheet, Takeshi could use the lowest common multiple and solved the problems, getting most answers correct.

To this day, the Kumon Method continues to use worksheets suitable to each student’s ability and let them work out their own solutions using hints, examples and, if necessary, guidance from the Instructors.

Atsushi Yamada, president of Kumon Asia & Oceania, believes that finding the “just-right” level begins with the Diagnostic Test.

“Before a child comes to the Centre, you should share fully with your assistants the image that you have formed of the child when doing the Diagnostic Test or the likely learning situation on the next class day, so as to provide the appropriate instruction. Such efforts will translate into children gaining motivation and confidence, as they are given the “just-right” level of study upon enrolment,” Yamada wrote to Instructors in May (President’s Message to Instructors, 2018).

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Feature

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Instructors’ quotes The concept of “just-right” level is the most important aspect of the Kumon Method.

Through the regional article “Just-right” Level: How Kumon finds the right level for every student, we have seen how Toru Kumon, founder of the Kumon Method, found the “just-right” level for his son, Takeshi. In this edition of the Instructors’ Quotes, let us find out what our Instructors think about the “just-right” level and how they go on finding the “just-right” level for their students.

To Do or Not To Do? Similar to Shakespeare’s Hamlet, setting the ‘just-right’ level is not an easy feat. It is almost always a dilemma whether the level would be too easy that students will be bored, or too difficult that they get demoralised and lose interest. Nevertheless, it is a challenge that I look forward to, as a Kumon Instructor, all for that magical ‘AHA moment’ when a student’s troubled frown changes into a triumphant smile – a smile that says he has understood the concept, while doing his worksheets.

Ms Nora Ahmad Kumon Malaysia

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Ms Salina Thaweewatthanakijborworn

Determining the ‘just-right’ level of starting point will not discourage students to study Kumon continuously and feel motivated to study beyond school grade level consequently. Therefore, it’s essential for Instructors to determine the ‘just-right’ level to be able to make effective study plan and to provide proper instruction for students from the beginning so that they can progress smoothly and not give up easily when facing with challenging contents. Instructor should put the importance in finding the ‘just-right’ level for each student in order to have a good start and progress continuously.

Kumon Thailand

The ‘just-right’ level is the sweet spot where students’ are challenged in their studies without feeling overburdened. I believe this benchmark categorically defines the Kumon Method. It represents a Kumon Instructor’s desire to help each child excel, unrestricted by age, school year, or because of their own or others’ preconceptions. I would argue finding a student’s ‘just-right’ level could be life-changing because they prove to themselves they can overcome challenges. Therefore, I spend much of my time mulling over each of my students’ ‘just-right’ level so they can show themselves they can achieve through their Kumon study.

Ms Melissa Zheng

Ms Saree Lawler Kumon Australia & New Zealand

I believe that students should love learning and that it can be interesting and fun. To be able to achieve that, students must be on the ‘just-right’ level. The ‘just-right’ level is where students are able to grasp challenging material with the knowledge of previously learnt concepts and have a good attitude towards studying. Observing students in class and communicating with both students and parents would help give them a clear goal to work towards to and keep the students in the ‘just-right’ level, so that students can continuously be motivated with the learning process.

Kumon Singapore

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Local News

e c i o h C ’ s r e d a e R The AWARD WINNING Established since 1958, Kumon is an enrichment programme well-known for consistently pursue children’s potential. With two basic programmes which are Maths and English, Kumon has always been parents’ choice especially for the parents who wanted to try a Japanese learning method for their children. From the love between a father for his son, the Kumon Method has grown and become an effective learning method for kids. For 60 years, the Kumon Method believes in self-learning and independent approaches which can help young children in facing difficulties in their lives.

In Malaysia, there are more than 200 Kumon Centres with more than 30,000 students. We are really honoured to be recognised by most of the parents and will always look forward to furnishing their children with the ability to advance to high school level material through self-learning as early as possible. For the year of 2018, Kumon Education Malaysia has been selected as candidates for Readers’ Choice Awards by the famous parenting magazines, BabyTalk and MamaPapa. Every year, these magazines organise Readers’ Choice awards, and 2018 marked their eighth year organising this event. The organisers will invite their readers to nominate their favourite brands in several categories that they provided.

Last year, Kumon Education Malaysia has won several

categories from the awards which were Best Enrichment Centre (Mathematics), Best Mathematics Programme and Best Reading Programme. Winning these awards definitely has increased our credibility among parents. It is our pleasure to serve more to all children and eventually to the society.

We also would like to express our heart-felt gratitude to all of our supporters especially our dedicated Instructors and parents. Our Instructors are really devoted to discover what individual students are capable of and bringing out their potential to the maximum. They always pay their careful attention to each student’s academic ability and personality.

Our parents also play an important role in supporting their children as in Kumon, we believe in daily practices that should be applied not only in the Centre but also at the home. Undoubtedly, the commitment given by all parties have helped us in winning these awards.

Kumon Education Malaysia will continue to further develop each student’s ability and strive for something better by continuing to develop our worksheets and instruction method. As today, this learning method continues to go beyond the borders of countries, race, culture and traditions, to reach more and more countries and regions throughout the world.

Which stories you love the most?

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Parenting Tips

ways

A strong foundation in calculation can go a long way into helping your child progress more easily to higher level maths.

To Improve Mental Calculation

In addition to helping your children’s calculation abilities, playing simple maths games is also a way to get your children off their mobile devices and engage in some family fun.

Here are 3 maths games to improve and challenge their mental calculation skills.

1

10s

1s

2 3 4 5 6 Total

101 AND OUT

To play, you’ll need a sheet of paper, a pencil and one dice.

The objective of the game is to score as close to 100 without going over. Players take turns rolling the dice. As you roll, you can either take the number as a one or a ten. For example, if you roll a 1, it can be used as 1 or 10. Players keep a running record of their total as they play. While the numbers are written on the paper, encourage your children to use mental calculation. This game is a great way to build mental math strategies as children often think critically in regards to what number they need to roll next.

MATHS JEOPARDY

Give your child a piece of paper and then say a number. Give them one minute to find as many ways as they can to make the number using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

1+4

10 ÷ 2

3+2

20 ÷ 4 1x5

MULTIPLICATION WAR

Deal the number cards equally to every number facing down.

Assign the cards with the number zero to represent the number ten. Each player turns two cards face up, reads the number sentence and supplies the answer. For example, if your child draws a 7 and an 8, he says 7×8=56. If you draw a 6 and a 4, you say 6×4=24.

Because his product is larger, he wins the four cards and puts them at the bottom of his pile.

If each of you has a number sentence with the same product, each player puts four cards face down and turn up two of them.

The player with the largest product wins the eight cards.

Continue the game until one player runs out of cards and the player with the most cards win.

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FI01.MY.01.1118

Kumon is looking for franchise Instructors who are driven and passionate about education, children and helping them build a brighter future.

Having seen your child improve and grow with Kumon, you know the benefits of Kumon better than anyone else. So why not, join us as a franchise Instructor and take the first step in making a profound and lasting impact on the lives of children in your community.

Register your interest at https://www.kumonmalaysia.com/become-our-franchisee today!

For more information, contact Centre Setup Division at 1 800 88 1010.