Pencil Skills
The Pencil Skills Programme is a supplementary programme that guides the development of students’ ability to control a pencil. It is usually studied as a prelude to Kumon Mathematics and/or Kumon English. The programme supports students to hold a pencil securely and correctly, to use consistent writing pressure, to control the start and end of lines, to draw straight lines, to draw curved lines and to draw lines within narrow spaces. The worksheets are intended to be fun and to be studied by preschoolers. The Pencil Skills Programme consists of two levels, with 100 worksheets in each level.
Kumon English builds a high level of reading comprehension ability. To inspire students to read widely, the worksheets contain more extracts from published texts than any other reading programme in the world. They are arranged in order of increasing difficulty, from the simplest to the most complex.
The worksheets begin with familiar words, phrases and short sentences. Students then learn to read and write by sounding short vowels, consonants and sound parts; tracing, copying and writing words; and reading aloud short passages. They progress to reading and writing simple and complex sentences, and comprehending paragraphs. The worksheets culminate in summarising and critical reading.
Develop high-level reading ability In the English Programme, we aim to cultivate high-level reading ability within all students. Through improving students’ reading comprehension skills to a high level, students acquire the necessary mind-set to read passages critically. By focusing on developing reading ability through exposure to a wide range of books, students acquire greater interest in reading which facilitates learning advanced materials with independence and confidence.
Features of English Programme
The English Programme begins by enriching students’ vocabulary and developing basic reading skills. Students move on to learn about sentence structure, paragraph building, summarisation and critical reading. They develop their reading comprehension skills through the Kumon Method of summarisation. This embodies the process through which students read a passage and rearrange each sentence in their own minds.