School Grade :
Primary 6
Center :
Kumon Luoxixincheng Education Center (Guangdong)
Subject :
English (EFL): Completed in August, 2016 (equivalent to senior secondary school level)
Chinese:: Completed in February, 2017 (equivalent to senior secondary school level)
Math:: Level M (equivalent to senior secondary school level, 5 years ahead of school grade)
Kumon advocates individualized instruction, which allows children to study at their own pace, and improve in continuous learning. However, you may wonder what if a clever but naughty boy studies in Kumon, how will he grow? This time we are going to meet student Jiang. In his instructor’s eye, he is a “little learning genius, education center devil”, who makes instructor and assistants love and “hate” him at the same time.
Jiang, moving his big round eyes, introduced himself, “I am 11 years old, Primary 6, and I am still a primary student.” He amused everyone there. Compared with other boys of the same age, he seems to be more active, like not being able to sit still. However, during the three years at Kumon, he studied three subjects altogether. He has completed the Kumon English and Kumon Chinese study; he has also reached level M in Kumon Math, which means he is close to finishing the entire study as well.
We asked curiously, “Leaning Kumon requires to sit still every day with full attention, can you persist in doing so?” He replied, “Basically, I can do it every day, but on some special days, like the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, or June 1 Children’s Day, I will make some excuses for not doing so.” He made everyone laugh again.
If you look at Jiang, you may think learning seems not matter to him; actually, he has learned how to plan and manage his time to study while he was learning three subjects altogether in Kumon. “I do one set in the morning, one set at noon, and one set at night. Sometimes I take it to school to work on that. I can persist in doing so.”
Jiang is soon to be a secondary one student. His homework will be increased relatively; plus his Kumon Math learning has reached to high school level, which is more difficult. Jiang does take the initiative to discuss with his instructor and parents Based on the current situation, Kumon instructor would adjust the learning progress plan appropriately to let Jiang study smoothly in both school and Kumon.
Jiang’s mom always hoped that Jiang could stay still in reading books, but she once thought that it was impossible for his son, until she found the Kumon Chinese learning materials by chance. “I was following Jiang’s classmate’s mother to Kumon education center, and I looked at the Kumon Chinese learning worksheets, and found that the contents and the level of difficulty are progressive. I did not intend to let him learn any answering methods at the beginning. I just thought that it involves a wide range of contents as the level goes up, my son will benefit from it. It turned out that it really made him stay still and patient, and helps him to learn reading.”
Besides, Jiang also learned to read the examples in Kumon study. He smiled and told us, “I feel particularly happy that I can understand the example by myself, and know how to do the rest of the questions. If I cannot figure it out, I can ask my instructor. She will guide me to answer step by step with the practice in the example.
The habit of self-learning is not a one-step process. Kumon requires children to study daily, and Jiang’s mom really agrees with this idea. “I think learning is a continuous process. My son learned English in somewhere else before, it required going to class once a week, and only a few things needed to be done at home; actually, he did not learn anything. In the next class, he almost forgot everything he learned for the last time. It has to learn every day to accumulate knowledge and to make progress. I see the importance of daily learning as one of Kumon’s features, and it only takes a short time to finish every day.
In three years of Kumon study, Jiang has become a completer of Kumon English (EFL) and Kumon Chinese. For Kumon Math, he has achieved five years ahead of school grade. Jiang’s mom said, “My son had a hard time paying attention in class, and now his ability to focus is enhanced, advance beyond school grade also helps him to be more self-confident.” Jiang said, “When my school teacher taught about equations, only Student Ng (another Kumon student) and I could understand it. I feel so satisfied. Now, I do math faster and I feel so happy.”
Jiang is very clever, but very naughty too. That’s why instructor and assistants love and “hate” him. In these three years of the learning journey, he changed from having low ability to focus to be able to finish his school homework or Kumon worksheets in one go. This big change in him makes everyone happy and relieved.
When we asked about what his dream was, his answer surprised all of us. He said, “I want to be Kumon’s general manager because the Kumon Method can help many children. It is fun to help others.”
We hope that Jiang will cherish his precious learning journey in Kumon, and his dream can come true soon!
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