The Kumon English Programme

The Kumon English Programme



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The Kumon English Programme helps early learners to understand the connection between spoken words and their written form, whilst building their concentration span. Students develop focus whilst studying with interest, working through their colourful worksheets with an early learner assistant.

As the student begins to recognise and read words, their Instructor will ensure that their worksheets not only increasingly challenge them but they will also continue to develop their concentration. Early learner study with Kumon is fun and engaging, allowing your child to develop their focus through a positive experience of learning from a young age.
The Kumon English Programme will enable your child to develop their confidence through learning key foundations in English with colourful and engaging worksheets working alongside an early learner Assistant. By giving work at just the right level for your child, combined with clear guidance from their Instructor, the programme helps to ensure a positive learning experience for your child, giving them the skills to succeed in their study. Our aim is to help your child to experience a sense of achievement every time they complete the worksheets.

Kumon study is individualised, meaning that each student works at exactly the right level for them, so that every student develops their confidence in current work before moving on.
From the very beginning of the Kumon English Programme we develop a child's approach to study so they can learn with enjoyment and success. Following the instruction and the intention of the worksheets, the child learns how to connect sounds to written words, and then begins to write those sounds with confidence, developing their ability to read, and their study skills.

Studying with Kumon builds great foundations for successful future learning, helping to ensure that your child's initial learning experiences are positive and that they have the invaluable skills that they need to progress.




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The Kumon English Programme develops high reading ability and writing skills in students, ensuring that they have the necessary foundations in place to help them progress. We will establish what level of the Kumon programme your child should start work at to give them the opportunity to strengthen foundations and build confidence before progressing on to more challenging levels.

Students will establish confidence in their ability and develop their study skills and enjoyment of learning, as well as solid reading and writing foundations, which will give them the belief that they can go further than ever before.
The Kumon English Programme engages children with reading through individualised study set at just the right level. Students are introduced to many different genres of text to build their interest in different areas. Creating this positive experience of learning helps to inspire students and appreciate the possibilities that reading offers them.

Students work through the different levels of the English programme building the skills necessary to read thoroughly, understand and critique what they have read, establishing their own interpretations and learning how to express those impressions concisely and correctly.
The Kumon English Programme allows students to work at the best level for their ability, without being limited by age or school grade. Our Instructors give them the tools to develop at a pace and level that matches their potential through exposure to a range of exciting literary works and topics. Through worksheet study your child will build the skills necessary to read thoroughly, understand and critique what they have read, establish their own interpretations and learn how to express those impressions concisely and correctly.

The English programme aims to engage learners in a way that builds confidence, progresses them to the maximum whilst building a love of reading and a love of learning along the way.




I want to help my child to...

The Kumon English Programme focusses on developing students' ability to read at a high level and critique what they read effectively. Through a worksheet-based study programme and Instructor support, they build both the skills they need to achieve this, as well as a positive work ethic. Daily study reinforces the benefits that come with regular learning such as carefully reading not only the passages but also the instructions and examples, before they start writing.

Our English programme uses a variety of different texts and literary extracts to engage older students with learning whilst interesting them in a wide variety of topics and styles of writing.
The Kumon English Programme enables students to develop reading and writing skills to a high level according to their ability, regardless of age. Our programme is not tied to any particular curriculum and allows students to progress beyond school grade level, building advanced reading and writing techniques through our worksheet-based study programme.

We will improve their memorisation skills, build their vocabulary and improve their comprehension skills, therefore improving their ability to compose answers.

With use of passages from a wide variety of different topics and genres of literature, students are engaged and inspired to develop interest and understanding of different themes and areas of interest.
The Kumon English Programme enables its students to read and critique text at a high level through their own ability. Through worksheet-based study along with Instructor support, students not only learn to read with understanding and write with precision and purpose, but they also develop the skills to self-learn. Students are encouraged by their Instructor to try to find solutions for themselves using the examples and passages given. In empowering them to work out answers for themselves they develop independence and the ability to drive their own learning.

Using a variety of texts and literary extracts, our English programme engages students with different topics and styles of writing.




What’s covered in the Kumon English Programme

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Repeating and reciting

Levels 7A to 6A engage students with the concept of reading through repeating and reciting. Learners point to and repeat simple familiar words that are both written and shown as vibrant illustrations. This helps them to associate spoken words with their written form. Through practice they move from repeating after the Instructor to reciting to the Instructor, as they start to memorise and recognise familiar words.

Learning to read and write

Levels 5A to 2A move learners from repeating and reciting to fluently reading words and short sentences aloud. They begin to trace words and learn letter sounds and how to blend them, all the time increasing their vocabulary. They also start to work on spelling patterns. By the end of level 2A they will be able to read short passages as well as write words independently and neatly. Throughout these levels, students are working to develop a sound study approach.

Sentence building

Levels A to C help students to put together simple sentences and understand more about their structure, expressions and punctuation. They build reading speed whilst being able to visualise the contents of the passage they are reading and grasp its meaning. They work on sentence complexity, learning how to use the correct word order, verb forms and punctuation and use these skills to answer questions fully.

Paragraph building

From levels D to F students work on grasping the flow of a story, identifying topics and main ideas, using many texts from the Kumon Recommended Reading List. In their reading they learn how to deduce the point of each paragraph and to express their understanding in written form through restatement and description. By the end of level F they will be able to unravel text and break it down to understand its topic and conclusion.


Levels G to I start to work on the student's ability to express their own impressions of texts and to understand the sentiments of characters, including variations of mood and action, and how that is expressed. They learn how to summarise text, identifying key words and their relationship to each other, as well as answering comprehension questions concisely, drawing reasoned conclusions from the information they have read.


Levels J to L further enhance student's critical reading skills developing their understanding of plot, atmosphere, irony and comedy, as well as analysing literary characters. They build understanding of language complexity covering figurative language like metaphors, similes and symbols. Students consolidate their skills learnt thus far by writing a comment on a passage from an objective standpoint. Our learners are often inspired by the passages they cover, going on to read many of the books on Kumon’s Recommended Reading List.

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.

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