Potential 202 - Australia & New Zealand (Issue 1 - Jul to Dec 2018)

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

JUL – DEC 2018

Kumon helps Aidan’s lessons hit home Self-learning: how Kumon teaches students to teach themselves Continually pursuing potential: 60 years of Kumon

Editor’s note

ON THE COVER JUL - DEC AIDAN LUONG

Building student self-confidence and getting parents involved with their children’s learning are essential components of a successful education. They are also two outcomes of the Kumon Programme.

Contents

MY KUMON JOURNEY

In this issue of Potential, we would like to share with you two articles that demonstrate how Kumon achieves these outcomes in students.

Kumon helps Aidan’s lessons hit home

The first article is about Aidan and how Kumon helped Aidan’s mother, Monica, to be actively involved with her son’s education. This parental engagement means Aidan’s learning always hits home and has helped him develop his maths and English abilities far beyond school grade level.

On the court and off: Coleman is a shooting star

The second article shares the story of Coleman, a student who was once struggling at school and lost his confidence in his academic abilities. But, with Kumon’s help, Coleman is now an advanced student and has become accountable for his own learning.

Finally, our feature article analyses much anticipated education reforms in Australia and what they may mean for students and parents.

We hope you enjoy this issue of Potential as much as we enjoyed writing it. We look forward to learning even more with you throughout the second half of the year.

KUMON FEATURES Self-learning: How Kumon teaches students to teach themselves Instructors’ quotes Continually pursuing potential: 60 years of Kumon Old ideas, new vision: Education’s evolution in Australia and New Zealand

Sincerely The Kumon Public Relations Team

Tel: +61 2 9467 2200 Fax: +61 2 9467 2211 E-mail: publicrelations@kumon.com.au Website: au.kumonglobal.com nz.kumonglobal.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. © 2018 Kumon Asia & Oceania Pte Ltd. All rights reserved.

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My Kumon journey

Kumon helps

Aidan’s

Aidan, 8 Subjects: Maths, Level F English, Level C

lessons hit

home

Starting Level: Maths, Level 4A English, Level 7A

F

or Monica, mother of advanced student Aidan, Kumon brings education home, literally.

Aidan, 8 years old, is currently on Level F in Kumon Maths – equivalent to Year 6 work at school – and Level C in Kumon English, which is the equivalent to Year 3 work. He has been a student at Kumon Carina in Brisbane since July 2015.

Aidan says that Kumon has helped him in many ways.

“Kumon has helped me do well in maths and English at school”, Aidan says. “It has helped me understand numbers, fractions, and other problems. I can also calculate how much money I have in my savings. My mum and dad used to help me with reading books but now I can finish the book all by myself.”

“Kumon also gives me the selfconfidence in understanding things much quicker”, he continues. “I am confident and can learn anything when I have a good foundation.”

Monica believes that the home-based nature of Kumon has helped Aidan greatly because it meant she, and Aidan’s father, became actively involved in his education and could monitor his progress at home, while the Instructor would monitor Aidan’s progress at the centre.

“Even though nowadays he doesn’t need a lot of my help, I still sit with him

“Kumon will give me a good foundation for what I want to do in my life”, he says sometimes to see how he’s doing, how he’s solving a particular problem, and to keep an eye on his progress as well”, Monica says. “I think it’s very important.”

Monica’s observations of his study progress complement those Aidan’s Instructor makes. This helps inform his individualised learning plan and helps the Instructor how he is coping with his work and whether or not he is studying at the ‘just-right’ level.

“I think Kumon is providing him with a good foundation for higher study”, Monica says. “When he’s good at something he feels confident and motivated, and it’s really important for kids to have those things.”

Aidan aspires to become a doctor when he grows up.

“Kumon will give me a good foundation for what I want to do in my life”, he says.

“In Kumon, there isn’t just one person in the class teaching everybody the same thing – every child is working at their own pace”, Monica says. “When they master a level they can move onto the higher levels.”

Last year, among all 33,300 Kumon Maths students in Australia and New Zealand, Aidan topped his age group. He is also three years ahead of his school year in Kumon English.

“I tell my friends and my teacher about being number one in Kumon Maths and they are happy for me, which makes me happy”, Aidan says.

Monica says these achievements benefit Aidan because they indicate good foundation in Maths and English, and boost his motivation and confidence.

I am confident and can learn anything when I have a good foundation.

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My Kumon journey

f:

f o d n a t r the cou

n a m Cole g

On

n i t o o h s is a

star

Coleman, 12 Subjects: Maths, Level G English, Level GI II Starting Level: Maths, Level 2A English, Level 2A

F

or around six months of each year Coleman plays basketball at the representative level. When he started Kumon in March 2016, Coleman was playing in the under 12 team for Brisbane’s Central Districts and the Ipswich Force. He played for the Ipswich Force in the Queensland state classics, which were held on the Gold Coast, and has been selected for their under 14 premier team. He also played in the Queensland Samoa Basketball Academy’s under 13 team during a tournament in Coffs Harbour.

I am now a more confident learner and I look forward to continuing my learning journey in high school. I will be starting high school confident and ready for what lies ahead.

But while Coleman has always been a shooting star in basketball, he hasn’t always been one at school. As his mother Hazel explains, Coleman started Year 5 lagging behind in class.

“Back then, he was demotivated and lacked confidence in his learning”, Hazel says.

“Too many weeks passed before I noticed he was struggling with maths work which I believed a Year 5 student should have been capable of completing. Initially, I thought Coleman was being lazy but later I realised that he simply couldn’t do it.”

Therefore, Coleman’s parents decided that his learning situation couldn’t continue. They got in touch with Kumon Springfield Lakes to help Coleman out.

They chose Kumon because it provided a structured and nurturing learning environment that would not only help Coleman catch-up in school, but also, as Hazel says, “enable him to continually develop as he set and met his goals”.

“I was very impressed on the ownership placed on each individual to be accountable for their own learning”, she continues.

Coleman studied both Kumon Maths and English programmes, which he began on Year 3 student level material. By September 2016 he caught up to his school grade level in the Maths programme. In March 2017 he was ahead of his grade by one year. By November he was two years ahead.

In English, Coleman reached his school grade in December 2016 and exceeded it by one year the next month. By September 2017 he was two years ahead.

And during his Kumon journey Coleman kept up with his basketball. This meant that his schedule was very, very busy.

“Kumon was never always easy for me because I was already so busy with sport and school work”, Coleman says. “Adding more homework didn’t make much sense to me at first.”

“Thanks to my Instructor, Vijaya, and the rest of the team at Kumon Springfield Lakes I am now a more confident learner and I look forward to continuing my learning journey in high school. I will be starting high school confident and ready for what lies ahead.”

Coleman finished primary school ranked, academically, in the top three of his Year 6 class and participated in his school’s Year 6 extension maths and English programmes.

Hazel says enrolling Coleman into Kumon, “was the best decision we made for his education and his future”.

“The structure and expectations of Kumon have established great time management skills within Coleman”, she says. “It has given him back the confidence in himself that almost disappeared three years ago. It introduced him to goal setting which he extends through school and his sporting commitments. His growth has

also been acknowledged as his marks have continuously improved.”

She also believes that Kumon can help any child build their selfconfidence and academic abilities.

“As parents we only want what’s best for our children and to give them the best start for their future that we can”, Hazel says. “Kumon empowered our son through learning. This enabled to regain his confidence, his passion for learning, to personal goals and then exceed them. It can do the same for your child too.”

“In the first couple of months I struggled with time as I tried to complete my work.”

Though once Coleman began to develop his time-management skills – and with the needed support – he began to see how Kumon was helping him.

“Through my hard work, focus, determination, and the support I received from my parents, I was able to progress successfully in my school work, Kumon and basketball”, Coleman says.

The structure and expectations of Kumon have established great time management skills within Coleman. It has given him back the confidence in himself that almost disappeared three years ago.

Kumon features

Self-learning: How

Kumon

teaches students to teach themselves

The concept of self-learning fascinated Toru Kumon, Kumon’s late founder, throughout his entire life – even when he was a young boy. This interest catalysed when he was a fifth grader in elementary school after his maths teacher informed the class that if they were able to learn from the textbook on their own, they could advance. Mr Kumon felt happy to be able to study at his own pace and did so enthusiastically.

Mr Kumon later moved to Tosa Junior High School (equivalent to lower secondary) and was similarly exposed to a self-learning method, where the teacher taught only the basics and expected students to learn by themselves.

‘This method suited me very well. If I advanced beyond the school grade level, I would have an easy time studying in school. In addition, I didn’t like to be forced into studying or to have to listen to teachers’ lectures, so an educational policy which encourages students to learn what they liked at their own pace by themselves was just right for me.’

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‘From this time forward I began to think that all the other schools should adopt this policy of achieving the greatest result with the least amount of effort, so their students can enjoy

their school life more,’ Mr Kumon wrote in his autobiography.

However, in both instances, the schools’ attempts to introduce self-learning were short-lived. Mr Kumon felt this happened because were no learning materials or appropriate methods for keeping up-to-date with students’ progress.

Mr Kumon went on to become a mathematics teacher at the very same high school he attended as an adolescent, and his strong belief in the effectiveness of self-learning’s guided his teaching practice. His teaching was highly beneficial for students, and he would often take the time to help students with their studies after class. The overwhelming majority of the students he helped this way were able to reach senior high school level mathematics within a year.

Furthermore, Mr Kumon’s passion for helping children learn how to teach themselves led to the creation of the very first Kumon worksheets, which he trialled on his son Takeshi Kumon.

After seeing how these worksheets helped his son, Mr Kumon used these worksheets to help other students.

‘For children to make progress, it is more effective to meet their desire to grow rather than for adults to force them to advance by cramming everything into their heads. There is a limit to how much you can force a child to study but the potential for growth through self-learning is endless. All children intrinsically want to develop their abilities and they all have the potential to do so. Responding to these desires, thus helping them grow without limits, not only makes the children and their parents happy but is essential for society,’ Mr Kumon wrote in 1983.

Children’s desire to grow is precisely what informs Kumon’s self-learning methodology.

Instructors do not teach students in a uniform manner. Instead, examples, explanations and hints are provided in the worksheets. Students learn from these examples and attempt the questions on their own, under the watchful eyes of the Kumon Instructor, who guide the students when necessary.

But all the aforementioned are the abilities of long-term Kumon students. You, as a parent, may be asking yourself how Kumon develops the first steps of a long-term self-learning habit.

Atsushi Yamada, president of Kumon Asia & Oceania, explains that Instructors provide more guidance to newly enrolled students than to students who have been studying Kumon for a while. He says the ultimate end goal of this guidance is to develop students who are able, and who want to, study on their own.

As students grow in Kumon, their abilities grow as well and with time, they will be able to study independently. With students learning independently it is then possible for every child to progress as fast as they can at their own pace. This way, Kumon students are not held back because of age, or pushed to advance without having fully understood the concepts simply to keep up with the rest of the class.

Instead, they advance only when they are ready.

This will be explored further in the next issue of Potential.

Kumon was founded 60 years ago, and all through this time self-learning has remained a central tenet. This has allowed Instructors to pursue the potential of each child to the fullest.

As Mr Kumon once wrote, ‘The Kumon Method enables students to advance beyond school grade level. The worksheets are well-organised; therefore this is also true in the cases of students with special needs. Children gain self-confidence and achieve an advanced level of competency, which enable them to excel in high school. Advancing beyond grade level is what is most beneficial for children. The Kumon Method has not been used solely to teach maths. Students have been able to experience self-learning and acquire the skills for selflearning through their study of maths.’

‘Of course, when children first study with Kumon, it is difficult for them to do the worksheets by themselves. That is why Instructors have to provide appropriate guidance in their initial period, and ultimately, nurture them to become children who are able to learn independently and stretch their abilities further on their own,’ wrote Mr Yamada.

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Kumon features

Instructors’ quotes When children grow up in tomorrow’s world they will constantly have to learn new skills and they won’t always have someone to teach them. Therefore, Kumon focuses on teaching students how to teach themselves, otherwise known as self-learning.

In this issue of Potential, we talked to Instructors from Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and India about what self-learning means for them and how they help students develop this ability.

In my capacity as a Kumon Instructor, I have been blessed to have witnessed the transformation of many unsure, hesitant children into confident yet humble self-learners. This change in children never ceases to amaze me and is my source of strength to keep learning and working with children. Self-learning is not a clichéd phrase to us at Kumon, but a regular feature at centers when we see children studying topics ahead of their class. My faith in children’s ability to self-learn is reinforced on a daily basis when I see children work with new concepts, grapple with the examples and notes and then move through the pages with increasing confidence and understanding. The sight of heads bent over, brows furrowed in deep concentration and then their eyes seeking out mine with a ‘aha’ escaping their lips – that’s my reward.

Toru Kumon always stressed that through selflearning, all children can grow. I maintain that we should all firmly believe in the self-learning ability of all children and that my role as an Instructor is to patiently nurture this. When students learn how to teach themselves they will be more advanced in their studies and enjoy them more. They will also have more initiative and confidence; essential qualities for pursuing future studies and independently solving life’s challenges.

Instructor Ho Lee Choo Kumon Malaysia

Instructor Vandna Mehta Sarin Kumon India

At my centre I’m often asked by my students’ parents many questions such as, “Why wouldn’t you help my child with the questions in the worksheets?” or “How can my child understand the material if you don’t teach them?” I answer these concerns by concisely explaining that Kumon is designed to teach students to think independently. Kumon does this by guiding students to the examples on the worksheets which they analyse to solve the questions by themselves. The Instructor’s role in this model is to guide students on how to study properly and ensure they master a concept before moving them on to the next level.

Ibu Arini Wahyu Erna S. Kumon Indonesia

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For me self-learning is about empowering students as it allows them to think for themselves and persist through whatever challenges they may face.

Self-learners are like this because they have great stamina, perseverance and passion.

Thus, self-learning equates to success.

In Kumon Maths, I build self-learning by using the six significant skills as the building blocks. These six skills are work skills, mental calculation skills, correction skills, comprehension skills, skills to do intermediate steps efficiently, and verification skills. I also look at the student’s capabilities at enrolment and think about where I want to take them.

In English, I do this by instructing students to visualise and analyse a text. They learn to build and support their opinion and arguments through Kumon English.

Instructor Rovi Ravida Kumon Australia & New Zealand

Kumon features

Continually pursuing potential: 60 years of Kumon The origin

1958

Osaka, Japan

Concerned that her 8-year-old son, Takeshi, didn’t do as well as she had expected in a Grade 2 maths test. Teiko told this to her husband, Toru Kumon, who was then a high school mathematics teacher. Toru decided to make them worksheets to help his son gradually improve his calculation skills.

Toru had Takeshi complete these worksheets every day and hand them back for marking. Every day Takeshi would then have to correct his mistakes on the previous worksheet as well as complete the new worksheet which Toru assigned him.

These were the precursors of today’s Kumon worksheets. By studying them Takeshi advanced from relearning addition in Grade 2, to proficiently learning differential and integral calculus in Grade 6.

“Thanks to this learning method, I didn’t have to study maths at home at all when I was a junior and senior high school student. It was enough for me if I just listened to lessons in schools,” Takeshi once said about his experience as the first Kumon student.

“Another result of my Kumon study was the realisation that I could master unknown content that I had not been taught.”

Founding & expansion

Encouraged by Takeshi’s success, Toru and Teiko Kumon, Takeshi’s mother, started a maths centre at home in 1955 and invited children from the neighbourhood to study with them. About ten children turned up.

The Kumon Method helped all of these children learn and grow. Toru wanted to expand this method as he believed that while each and every child has great potential, they need to be taught how to harness it. Therefore, Kumon which was then known, as the Osaka Institute of Mathematics, was officially founded in 1958 in Osaka, Japan.

In 1962, the company The Osaka Institute of Mathematics Ltd was incorporated and by 1969, the total number of subject enrolments exceeds 10,000.

In 1974, Kumon made began its overseas expansion by opening its first Centre in New York, followed by Taiwan in 1975, Brazil in 1977 and Germany in 1979.

Kumon then expanded further from the 1990s through to the 2000s. In total, Kumon is now present in 50 countries and regions around the world.

60 years on –­ is Kumon still relevant?

Fast forward to 2018, the 60 anniversary of Kumon, one might wonder if the pencil and paper approach of Kumon is still relevant with the prevalence of technology. After all, technology has given birth to numerous apps that promises learning without the need of a face-to-face session with an instructor or teacher. However, as every child is different, so the ways to guide a student on their worksheets differs from student to student as well.

Having twice weekly face-to-face sessions allows Kumon Instructors the opportunities to observe the students doing the work, understanding their thought process and study habits. These will help Instructors gauge the “just-right” level for the students and the way to instruct them. While we embrace technology, the face-to-face interaction between students and Instructors is still an indispensable aspect of the Kumon Method and will continue to stay relevant in the 21st century today.

1974 USA

1977 Brazil

1980

France, Canada

1983

United Kingdom

1985

Belgium, Peru

1987 Singapore

1989

Italy

1991

Thailand, South Africa, Indonesia, China, Mexico, Colombia

1993

Netherlands

1995

Luxembourg, Bolivia

1997

Botswana, Argentina

1962

Tokyo, Japan

1975 Taiwan

1979 Germany

1982

Philippines

1984 Australia

1986

Malaysia, Austria, Switzerland

1988

Hong Kong

1990 Korea

1992

Spain, Hungary

1994

New Zealand

1996 Chile

1998

Sri Lanka, Namibia, United Arab Emirates

1999 Bahrain

th

2001

2000

Kenya, Ireland

Zambia

2005 2006 Qatar

2008 Greece

2015 Brunei

India

2007 Vietnam

2013 Andorra

2017 Cambodia

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Kumon features

Old ideas, new vision:

Education’s evolution in Australia and New Zealand

During recent months major education reforms have been canvassed across the region. Late last year, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern foreshadowed the country’s most sweeping educational reforms since 1989, with the announcement of the Tomorrow’s Schools1 review.

And across the ditch in Australia, the Gonski reviews of education have been hotly debated for more than a decade.

The Tomorrow’s Schools review is due to report its recommendations to New Zealand’s government in November 2018. However, at the end of April 2018, a review panel chaired by David Gonski, Australian businessman and philanthropist, published his latest review of Australian schooling, titled2 Through Growth to Achievement.

The review recommends that Australia modernise its schooling from an outdated mass education model where all students in a classroom learn the same content and are grouped by age, to a model focussed on individual student growth and achievement.

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The review proposes 23 recommendations around three core ideas: introducing mechanisms to track each individual student’s learning progress and provide meaningful information to students and parents; ensure students have developed their core literacy and numeracy abilities by age eight, and ensure all students have the opportunity to be partners in their own learning.

These core ideas all draw from the fundamental concept that as each student is distinct; instruction must adapt to suit the person. This personalised and adaptive teaching model would best draw out each person’s potential and develop their abilities to the maximum. As Gonski himself has explained most of these ideas aren’t new.

“Our report is not designed to be a revolution, it is an evolution”, Gonski said in an interview with Fairfax Media.

“Most of the ideas have been raised before, but what we’ve put together is a vision.”3 The three aforementioned core ideas have been fundamentals of Kumon since 1954.

“The ability of each child is different; therefore, it is unfair to force children to learn the same material just because they are the same age”, Toru Kumon said during a lecture in Japan, in 1993.

“We should start each child at a level that precisely matches their ability and then steadily develop their skill from that point.”

Kumon rigorously tracks each individual student’s progress through its various tools and practices which Instructors can use to provide specific feedback to students and parents.

Kumon also focuses on developing the core literacy and

numeracy abilities, stripping away extraneous content that clutters curricula and hinders development. By starting each student at their appropriate starting point, Kumon can close any learning gaps efficiently.

Finally, in Kumon, students ultimately take ownership of their learning and become the main drivers of their education. Toru Kumon referred to this as “self-learning”, where students gain the confidence to examine a problem, study it carefully and solve it by themselves. And by starting each student at their appropriate starting point, Kumon efficiently closes any learning gaps.

This is what drew Tracey, a Kumon parent from Melbourne, Australia, to enrol her three daughters – Maddi, Taylee and Asha – into Kumon.

“I wanted my daughters to be able to take a problem, may it be in maths or in a comprehension task, and work through it themselves”, Tracey said.

“The way the Kumon worksheets are set out enables students to build upon their skills with each progression through the levels.”

Since the release of the Gonski 2.0 report, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham have endorsed its findings.4 There will also be much more discussion and negotiation as these reforms have to be accepted by Australian state and territory governments.

Once the recommendations of the Tomorrow’s Schools review are revealed similar discussion will likely occur in New Zealand.

Score books and record sheets are just some materials that Kumon uses to track students’ progress.

1. Ministry of Education, Tomorrow’s Schools Review - www.education.govt.nz/ministry-of-education/consultations-and-reviews/tsr/ 2. Department of Education & Training, Through Growth to Achievement - https://docs.education.gov.au/node/50516 3. Sydney Morning Herald 2018, David Gonski says parents should not fear sweeping classroom change - https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/david-gonski-saysparents-should-not-fear-sweeping-classroom-change-20180430-p4zchk.html 4. Sydney Morning Herald 2018, Malcolm Turnbull backs Gonski 2.0 ‘blueprint’ for radical overhaul of Australian curriculum - https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/ malcolm-turnbull-backs-gonski-2-0-blueprint-for-radical-overhaul-of-australian-curriculum-20180429-p4zcaq.html

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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 dreams.

Kumon offers learning opportunities in 50 different countries and regions around the world.

VI03.AU.01.0618

The original Kumon worksheets created by Toru Kumon for his son Takeshi

Toru Kumon (Founder of the Kumon Method)