Franchise Asia APRIL 2015

Interview
■ Kumon is the ‘world’s largest after-school math
and reading programme’. Can you briefly explain
the uniqueness of this method?
Kumon is an academic programme like no other and we have
around 40,000 Kumon students in Malaysia to prove it. At Kumon,
we believe in the potential of each and every child and that they can
advance irrespective of their age or school grade level. As we believe
each student is an individual with different styles of learning and
abilities, even the sets of Kumon materials given to the same age
group are not always similar. Every student’s study plan is different,
and the difficulty of the levels will be similar to school level. Instead
of passively receiving instruction from teachers or tutors, Kumon
students actively develop self-learning skills.
Under the Kumon Method, every student will be required to take
an achievement test before progressing from one level to another.
The test by the way is a self-test for the Instructors to evaluate
themselves too.
At times if necessary, we even start students at an early age at
the basic levels where they’re taught to draw lines to develop their
motor skills to improve on their alignments; from simple lines to
more difficult ones. We know that alignments are important when
it comes to vertical sums, which may affect a student’s answer
when not corrected early on.
At Kumon each student progresses at his or her own pace through
an individualised programme of worksheets carefully planned
by the Instructor. The Kumon worksheets are the keys to the
Kumon Method, and to a child’s success. Kumon worksheets
are structured to allow progression in small steps, enabling each
student to advance smoothly from easy to difficult problems and
ultimately toward studying advanced high school level materials on
their own. The worksheets provide examples of how to solve each
problem, enabling students to self-learn new concepts on their
own. Information such as students’ reactions to the worksheets
and feedback from Instructors are continually taken into account
when revising worksheets.
■ Kumon is renowned for its Math Programme.
Not to be outdone, the Kumon Reading
Programme is equally well-known and result
producing. Can you briefly tell us what both
these programmes emphasise?
From counting to calculus and beyond, the Kumon Math
Worksheets enable students to progress all the way up through
high school-level math. The benefits of the Kumon Math
Programme are manifold. Kumon’s assignments progress in small
steps to build all of the critical skills needed to study high schoollevel
calculus. Each worksheet not only covers specific concepts,
but also helps students develop mental calculation and reasoning
skills and improve their problem-solving techniques.
The Kumon Math Programme simply gives students a solid
foundation and a head start, helps improve performance in
math class, increases your child’s overall math comprehension
and prepares your child for the rigours of high school and
advanced mathematics.
The Kumon Reading Programme on the other hand covers
everything from learning letter sounds to reading high school-level
literary texts. And the benefits are plenty too. Kumon’s assignments
incrementally build on each subject to develop students’ comfort
with and understanding of reading. Each worksheet not only covers
a specific concept, but also helps students interpret information,
expand their vocabulary, and enhance reading and writing ability
and overall comprehension.
Franchise Asia • 2015 Vol 27
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