English

The Kumon English Programme progressively introduces to students English grammar, comprehension skills and communicative skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. It aims to nurture an interest in reading and learning English, so that students can write and speak in English with confidence.

In order to develop a rich vocabulary in every child from an early stage, Kumon English worksheets cover a large amount of vocabularies for students to recognise and understand. Students learn about sentence construction, paragraph building and summary through story-reading. In the later stages, students conduct analysis and commentary on classic literature by Shakespeare and other writers.

What parents often comment on most is how much Kumon students are encouraged to read books from the "Kumon Recommended Reading List" from which many worksheet excerpts have been selected. This is a list of books whose readability is matched to the level of worksheets undertaken by the student and is a simple tool for parents to confidently encourage more reading at home.

Programme Samples

Worksheet Level Outline

7A World Building Block Students repeat basic words and short sentences. They learn 306 basic words and begin to associate spoken words with their written forms. Example 1

6A World Building Block Students recite basic words, phrases and short sentences. They reinforce the vocabulary of the previous level and learn 210 new words. Example 1

5A World Building Block Students read sentences of up to six words. They reinforce earlier vocabulary and learn introduce113 additional words. Students trace whole words in lower case. Students learn sounds of letters and short consonant/vowel combinations. Example 1

4A World Building Block Students read sentences of up to 10 words. They reinforce vocabulary of previous levels and learn 225 new words. Students trace sentences of up to 10 words and learn to read and trace double consonants, consonant clusters and phonograms. Example 1

3A Word Building Block Students learn fluency in reading sentences with polysyllabic words. Students reinforce vocabulary from Levels 7A – 4A and learn 181 additional words. Students copy words on their own (without tracing). They learn to read words with simple vowels before ‘r’, vowel digraphs, diphthongs and long vowels. Example 1

2A Word Building Block Consolidation of understanding of sound parts within words. Students learn the function of nouns, verbs and adjectives in given sentences. Students develop spelling skills further including new Level 2A vocabulary. Students read passages of up to 50 words within one minute. Example 1

AI Sentence Building Block Students learn the structure of simple sentences, as well as basic expressions (conveying intention, attitude, or past, present or future time). Students develop their skills in completing simple sentences. Students read passages of 50 – 60 words within one minute. Students continue to develop their skills in reading and spelling new vocabulary introduced in Level AI (as they will do for all levels up to Level FII). Example 1

AII Sentence Building Block Students learn to understand the contents of short passages by using their knowledge of the structure of simple sentences. Students read passages of up to 70 words within one minute. Example 1

BI Sentence Building Block Students identify the subject and predicate in simple sentences; expand their knowledge of expressions using verbs which specify past events; learn the functions and usage of adjectives and adverbs; improve skills in making sentences with modifiers; read passages of up to 75 words within one minute. Example 1

BII Sentence Building Block Students learn how to find the meaning of words using contextual clues; analyse a passage by identifying, comparing and contrasting pieces of information within it; and read passages of up to 85 words within one minute. Example 1

CI Sentence Building Block Students consolidate knowledge of the basic structure and content of simple sentences; deepen their understanding of word order, tenses and voices in order to comprehend the precise meaning of sentences. Students read passages of up to 95 words within one minute. Example 1

CII Sentence Building Block Students grasp the elements of statements using the ‘5Ws and 1H’ question words: who, what, why, where, when and how. Students improve their reading comprehension ability and consolidate their understanding of ideas within a passage. Students read passages of up to 110 words within one minute. Example 1

DI Paragraph Building Block Students deepen their understanding of parts of speech within simple, compound and complex sentences; reinforce their understanding of the active and passive voice, and learn to identify and use direct and indirect speech. Students further develop reading ability by identifying main ideas of longer passages. Example 1

DII Paragraph Building Block Students learn how to find the topic and main idea of the paragraph; follow the flow of a story by identifying the topics and/or main ideas. Example 1

EI Paragraph Building Block Students develop a deeper understanding of the links between clauses, sentences and paragraphs in a passage, and become more aware of the logical flow of a passage. Example 1

EII Paragraph Building Block Students learn to follow the flow of ‘scenes’ in a passage; improve reading ability by becoming familiar with how reasons and results are presented in passages. Example 1

FI Paragraph Building Block Students understand links between sentences through referring words; interpret text through restatement, examples and description; construct an answer appropriate to the requirements of a question. Example 1

FII Paragraph Building Block Students break down and unravel a text for an accurate understanding of all textual information; condense a text by using key words and identifying a core topic and its conclusion. Example 1

GI Summary Block Students identify a topic element of each paragraph; gain a greater appreciation and deeper comprehension of a variety of texts. Example 1

GII Summary Block Students summarise a paragraph in one sentence using given key words. Students use summarising skills to write concise answers to comprehension questions and further improve reading skills. Example 1

HI Summary Block Students identify how paragraphs are connected to each other; they develop their own perspectives on various aspects of Level H Recommended Reading List titles and justify their own opinions. They also recognise variations or contrasts, in actions or mood, of characters found in a text. Example 1

HII Summary Block Students develop summarising skills by identifying key words and relationships between them. They apply their summarising skills by writing, with all the required information, concise answers to comprehension questions covering two paragraphs. Example 1

I Summary Block Students read various types of passages with greater precision, including passages with persuasive and descriptive writing. Reading comprehension ability is improved further through completing précis or compact summaries. Example 1

J Critique Block Students are introduced to critical reading exercises through writing comments on aspects of passages and analysing literary characters. Using the concept of subheadings, students learn how ideas are organised in a passage. Example 1

K Critique Block Students deepen their understanding of the elements of literature, such as plot, setting, atmosphere, irony and comedy to improve their ability to read critically. Students write comments about extracts from novels, textbooks, poetry and plays. Example 1

L Critique Block Students examine elements of figurative language: metaphors, similes and symbolic writing, in order to complete a critical reading of detailed passages. They develop the ability to express the meaning of phrases, sentences and passages in their own words. Example 1

Other Kumon programmes include Mathematics and Japanese.