The KUMON English Programme

Through the KUMON English programme, children will develop a high level of English reading comprehensions along with a love for reading.

Unlike conventional English tutoring, children can start learning English at KUMON from the age of two onwards. As with learning their native language, children hear spoken English from an audio device, repeat what they hear and recognise accompanying illustrations. In this way they naturally learn to understand what they are hearing.

From there we move on to learning to read and write. Children gain a deeper understanding of the sentence structures before they learn the grammar. At the more advanced programme levels, the focus is then on reading more sophisticated original texts. Unlike conventional English tutoring, our goal is for your child to enjoy reading these texts, even if their level is higher than the subject matter currently taught at school. This widens their horizon and develops the joy of reading.

We offer a test, free of charge, to determine at what optimal level your child should join our programme. Whether you are interested in early learning or English tutoring, with the KUMON English programme your child can develop English skills at their own pace, far beyond their school level.

My Child is...

The KUMON English Programme aims to develop each student's ability to read and understand a variety of texts, and to nurture a life-long habit of reading for education and enjoyment.

The English programme progresses from basic word and sentence building and culminates in critiquing advanced texts.

Each student starts at their own, individually set, starting point which will be established during their free assessment.

I want to help my child to...

The KUMON English programme helps children to enhance their ability to concentrate. The speed of the CD sets the rhythm and keeps the student interested. The sounds that accompany the content help focus a child’s attention. Focused acknowledgement by the KUMON Instructor also strengthens the ability to concentrate. Slowly, the child learns to stay focused on a task for an extended period.

At KUMON, each student works at a level that best corresponds to their abilities and from which they can achieve daily progress. The KUMON Instructor ensures that your child is aware of these daily achievements, even if they are small. From daily success stories - “I’ve made it!”, “I can do something new!” -the student gains more and more self-confidence.

Combined with the guidance of the KUMON Instructor, the programme offers a positive learning experience, which enables your child to be successful in learning English - or learning in general - and not require any extra private tutoring in English.

Experience shows that English language graduates read English-language books according to their preferences. The goal is for students to become responsible adults who can tap into a variety of sources of information in English and always broaden their horizons.

With the KUMON English programme, we first develop solid learning skills that make learning enjoyable. By listening daily to a CD and looking at the accompanying picture book, your child learns to connect sounds with illustrations and later with words and sentences. They then learn to confidently read and write in English.

With KUMON, you ensure that your child’s first learning experiences with the English language are positive, and that they will acquire valuable skills, such as concentration, problem solving abilities and perseverance, which they will need to advance further.

Not only is our programme designed to teach a very positive attitude to learning, but it also helps children to build the foundation which they need to progress to a comparatively advanced level (of learning).

The KUMON Instructor first observes how your child handles listening to the audio device and how they respond to small cues. This way, the Kumon Instructor knows how to motivate your child to start learning English and how to move forward.

Through English songs that awaken curiosity, your child hears words and sentences on a CD and repeats these. This is how listening skills are developed when learning English. Illustrated accompanying books ensure understanding. In this way, your child gains their first vocabulary and internalises sentence structures naturally, as they would learning their native language.

Printed hints and symbols encourage the children to work attentively and carefully. So, when learning English, they develop concentration skills and widen their attention span, as well as gain proper learning skills, which will be beneficial for them in school and other areas of life.

In the advanced levels of our learning programme, your child will learn to read, write and acquire grammar skills through compact and purposefully designed learning stages. They will listen to spoken texts on an audio device and expand their reading comprehension with increasingly demanding reading materials. Right from the start, and often accompanied by questions about the texts, they learn to approach exercises autonomously and decipher texts competently.

At each level of the English programme, students further develop their skills gained at previous stages. In this way they build a solid understanding.

I want to help my child to...

By studying the KUMON English programme, your child develops listening, reading, speaking and writing skills. We assess at which level of the programme your child should begin in order to strenghten the basic skills needed for reading and understanding complex texts, prior to moving on towards more advanced and challenging levels.

The students gain confidence in their own abilities and they realise that they can go further than ever before.

Children who begin with the KUMON English programme can soon enjoy their first learning successes. For example, learning new words or reading more easily than the day before.

The further a student progresses in the KUMON English programme, the more texts they can read and understand, which leads to enjoyment and growth in self-confidence! Furthermore, children will often feel enriched by reading higher level literature.

The KUMON English programme generally awakens the joy of reading. Your child will dare to tackle more and more English texts and will no longer feel intimidated by them. Many of our graduates tell us that they continue to enjoy reading books in English after graduation.

KUMON is more than extra English tutoring: The KUMON method allows students to work according to their abilities, without being restricted by age or school year.

Anyone who masters a topic can move on to the next one. In this way, students can advance above and beyond school grade level - there are no limits placed on the children and their abilities.

In the first interview, the current abilities of each student are assessed, and on this basis - regardless of age - a starting level is determined at which your child can start learning English in a motivated manner.

Each day the child works with a CD, where they repeat what they hear, and look at a companion book to enhance understanding. By way of intensive daily contact with the language - often called a “language bath” - the child internalises the vocabulary and sentence structures in a natural way, just like when learning their native language, and developing a feel for it. Printed hints and symbols (the “teacher” in the material) encourage the child to work attentively and carefully. So, they develop their concentration and attention span, as well as good study habits, which will benefit them in school and in life.

Then your child will learn grammar, which is offered in a compact format. Later, your child turns to reading texts that gradually increase in length and become more challenging.

At the most advanced level of the programme, your child reads original English texts. They continue to listen daily to CDs, and thereby continuously enhance their listening and reading comprehension. Guided by questions, they acquire textual competence: they learn to extract information from a text and to competently develop an understanding of it.

At each stage of the English programme, students continue to enhance their skills gained at previous learning stages and so develop a solid understanding.

I want to help my child to...

The focus of the KUMON English programme is comprehension of advanced reading materials and effective verbal and written communication in English.

The KUMON method also imparts general strengths, such as concentration, perseverance, careful attention, the ability for self-assessment and correcting mistakes. The daily English practice thus contributes generally to a positive learning and work attitude, which benefits your child both in school and life in general.

The KUMON English programme enables students to improve their English skills, as well as further develop basic learning abilities in every aspect.

In their daily study, your child will repeat after the spoken text on the CD to improve their pronunciation. From Level 4A onwards, they will learn to write and spell words correctly and train their reading comprehension.

The KUMON Instructor points out even the smallest of achievements, so that the child becomes more and more aware of their own progress. This could include improved fluency in reading, longer concentration spans, or more confidence and enjoyment in taking on challenges.

Through the KUMON English programme students can learn well above and beyond their school curriculum. It is important to us that they do this autonomously and joyfully!

The KUMON Instructor does not teach but inspires discovering the “teacher” in the material, until it becomes a habit. They praise a child for trying themselves, even if the result is initially not quite correct.

Autonomous learning is one of the most important elements of the KUMON Method.

The KUMON English programme helps students develop a positive attitude to learning English and master the language. They also learn to pay close attention, to get an overview, to extract information and to work in a structured manner.

Through daily contact with the language (listening, repeating, reading, writing) your child will quickly improve their English skills.

In the first interview, the KUMON Instructor assesses at what level your child joins the programme. Unlike conventional English tutoring, the starting point is where your child can work with ease. In this way, the child can develop momentum and gain the self-confidence that they need to progress further.

At each stage of the English programme, students continue to enhance their skills gained at previous learning stages and so develop a solid understanding and strengthen their ability to learn independently.

What’s covered in the KUMON English Programme

Click on the topic blocks below to learn about what the KUMON English Programme covers

Listening

Reading and Writing

First Daily Communication

Sentence Structure

Grammar

General Reading Comprehension

Reading Comprehension of Original Texts

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Listening

The KUMON English programme starts at levels 7A, 6A and 5A.

At levels 7A, 6A and 5A, students listen to words, practise repeating them out loud. The pace set by the CD helps them to concentrate and to develop a proper work rhythm.

At level 7A, students first hear individual words. When the word “dog” is played, the barking of a dog is audible in the background on the CD; when the word “truck” is played, the humming of a motor becomes audible. In this way, their first encounter with the English language is as natural as learning their native language. This maintains the joy of learning and sparks curiosity.

At level 6A, numbers, colours and various adjectives are added.

Reading and Writing

In levels 4A, 3A, 2A, young children learn to read and write, and develop a learning rhythm, whilst older students gain confidence in spelling and pronunciation.

In level 4A, students predominantly trace words. In level 3A they write these words and practise them, and in level 2A they independently write complete sentences. They develop initial abilities to correct themselves. In all three levels, they practise their English reading comprehension by connecting words and illustrations by means of drawing lines between them.

The sequence in which the separate consonants, vowels and sound combinations are introduced is coordinated in such a way that allows students to internalise subtle differences in spelling and pronunciation — they are engaging all their senses. They continue to listen to two tracks on the CD per day, repeat these and read their writing exercises out loud.

First Daily Communication

In levels A, B and C, the students practise simple phrases and expressions that are commonly used in the English language, such as expressing wishes or make suggestions. Based on information given, they write sentences and complete dialogues. When learning English, these exercises fine-tune the ability to memorise and focus.

Students build up a solid vocabulary and can look forward to an increased ability to express themselves in a foreign language.

Sentence structures, which is a topic covered at more advanced levels, will be imprinted in their memory through daily use of the learning material. This includes listening and repeating what is heard, as well as writing and reading out loud.

Sentence Structure

The emphasis in levels D, E and F is on sentence structure.

Using a modular principle, students enhance their ability to frame sentences themselves. As the writing workload increases, students train their stamina when learning English. In level E, the past tense is introduced, and in level F, the children learn nuanced expressions through the introduction of modal verbs such as “can”, “may” and “should”.

Learning continues to be intuitive, with students imitating examples, and listening and repeating what they hear with increasingly longer dialogues. As a result, they develop a solid foundation for speaking freely.

By answering questions about the short stories they read, students train their memory skills and learn to search for specific text passages. Whilst learning English, they grow into competent readers and strengthen their ability to pay attention to detail and to work carefully.

Grammar

In levels G, H, and I, grammar is systematically presented and consolidated. Explanations and tabular overviews accompany the English learning exercises and make students aware of grammatical rules. Students will have intuitively practised many of these rules in earlier levels, others will be new (e.g. ‘Past Progressive’ in level G; ‘Passive’, ‘Present Perfect’ and ‘Past Perfect’ in level H; ‘Relative Clauses’, ‘Type 2 Conditional’ and ‘Indirect Speech’ in level I).

In order to internalise the grammatical structure effectively when practising English, students at this level will listen to two CD tracks per day, repeat what they hear and read their exercise sets out loud.

General Reading Comprehension

Once students have acquired a solid vocabulary and are confident in their grammar skills, they will further develop their reading comprehension when studying Level J and onwards. They continue to intensively focus on specific grammatical elements (such as ‘Type 2 Conditional’ and ‘Indirect Speech’).

The reading texts in levels J, K, and L contain content from world literature such as Pinocchio, Treasure Island, and Oliver Twist. However, students also read factual texts from a diverse range of topics.

Students study texts by answering questions about the content. They work in a structured manner that enables them to extract information from texts, to focus on crucial information, and to answer questions precisely and meaningfully. Students also internalise those structures, by listening to the same texts played on an audio device.

Reading Comprehension of Original Texts

The three most advanced levels of the programme (M, N, O) contain extracts from original texts of literature by renowned authors, such as, Anna Sewell, (Black Beauty), Roald Dahl (Matilda), Richard Adams (Watership Down), Helen Keller (The Story of My Life), and F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button).

At these final levels, questions about the content will lead students to intensively analyse texts and grow their comprehension of content and text structures while practising English. Thus, students enhance their reading comprehension and occasionally practise extrapolating the meaning of an expression from the context. The programme concludes with an extract from Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.

Exposure to the language does not have to stop here; KUMON graduates will feel confident reading any English text that presents itself to them going forward. They will continue picking up new words and expanding their language horizons as they continue through life - and that is a beautiful thing.

How does KUMON work?

KUMON students complete daily KUMON study at home and attend their study centre twice a week. The time taken to complete a day’s work may be around 30 minutes per subject, although this study time can vary.

When visiting the study centre, students complete their day’s worksheets and are observed and guided by the Instructor and a team of Assistants. Time spent at the study centre allows the Instructor to support your child in their studies and ensure that they are progressing well. Whilst at the study centre, students hand in work that has been completed and marked at home, as well as collecting work for the following days until their next study centre visit.

30 minutes at KUMON

Arrive at Your Local KUMON Study Centre

Students come once or twice a week to ensure the Instructor can develop their self-learning and academic skills.

Collect folder and hand in homework

Homework involves daily study completed and marked prior to arrival.

Completion of worksheets

Students complete work that the Instructor has set to develop their skills and ensure they are progressing.

Receive Instructor guidance when necessary

Instructors observe students and instruct when necessary.

Marking and self-correction of worksheets

Assistants mark work and students do corrections immediately to aid learning.

Achieve perfect score and home time

It is important to us that each student leaves with a sense of achievement motivated for the next challenge.

It is great that parts of KUMON's English program are excerpts from books. We also read them to understand how the story unfolds. We are very happy with Anna's progress in English!

The KUMON English program helped me to lose my fear of English. At school, I was not very good in English, but now I feel comfortable speaking, reading and writing.

Your efforts were worth it. Anna has improved her English, acquired new skills and gained more self-confidence. Now she can face new challenges and do so with an extraordinarily positive attitude.

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