Meet the Instructor

Kully Bhangu
The Blakenhall Kumon Centre has been open since October 2008 and we have seen it grow from month to month. Our students range from 5 years old to 16 years old of all different abilities. I was attracted to the idea of becoming an Instructor after a visit to a neighbouring centre where the primary reason was to encourage my daughter who was studying Kumon as a correspondence student. I was overwhelmed by the way students were enjoying their work and working independently, most of which were ahead of their school level.
 

As mentioned, I have an eight year old daughter who is in her third year of Kumon studies. She has developed strong skills in both math & English. During this time we have witnessed her self-belief improve dramatically as she was a shy girl with little confidence. Her self-belief was very low and slowly month by month, I witnessed her confidence grow to such an extent that she recently played the lead role in her school play for which she received glowing praises from other parents. As a year 3 student, she is currently studying maths and English well ahead of her school level. She started her studies below her school level, as indeed all students do, to set her daily study habit, plug any gaps in her knowledge and give her a confidence a boost by producing good work.
 

Kumon has an important role for parents too as you will be responsible for marking their daily work (answer books are provided) so your child knows how he/she has done each day and more importantly so corrections can be done daily to correct their misunderstanding on the same day. This also addresses some of the concerns parents have shown at the lack of homework children receive and have little idea about what their child is doing at school.

 

By daily marking you are witnessing their development on a daily basis.
There are also a number of supplementary activities that take place at the centre to support students' studies.

 

All English students read to a member of staff at each visit before they do any written work. This allows us to keep a record on their reading ability and score them for the following

• Accuracy –the ability to decode new words
• Phrasing – pausing to punctuation
• Expression – the ability to bring the piece of reading to life

Maths students have the additional tasks of the mental arithmetic and number board games. At mental maths they are assessed on their addition, subtraction, multiplication skills under timed conditions, as this will give us an indication of their fluency. The number board games are a useful supplementary tool with the following benefits:

• They help students to develop their sense of number sequencing and placement through a different medium other than worksheets. They can also develop concentration, confidence and hand-eye co-ordination.
• Students can complete numberboards independently, and have fun doing so. This can lead to a feeling that working with numbers can be fun.
• They occupy the students at the centre while their class work is being marked.

We welcome any visit to the centre by appointment to allow you to experience what your child can expect at the centre and also give you a chance to speak to some parents on their views. It is a very pleasing thought to have had so many students from recommendation as this shows that our parents are happy with the level of service they are receiving.