What kind of material is Kumon Japanese 5A?
Let's try to understand what you will learn in Kumon Japanese 5A.
Check the image of the Kumon Japanese 5A teaching materials.
The Kumon Japanese 5A teaching materials are as follows.
In the first half, you will see three-word sentences, and in the second half, you will see picture book-like sentences. The final goal is to reach a place where you will be able to read several coherent stories.
Check the explanations of the Kumon formula
Next, check the explanations in the list of Kumon Japanese language materials.
You will be able to read aloud Hiragana sentences of about three to six phrases smoothly. Build up your vocabulary as you enjoy reading sentences, sentences or a series of linked stories. 10 pieces can be read aloud on your own. As a step towards self-study, they are able to check what they have read on their own.
The key point is the 'read aloud 10 pages on your own' part: if your child is old enough to have progressed to 5A, he or she may have heard more difficult sentences when you read to him or her. However, when it comes to being able to read aloud on their own, this requires a different set of skills.
Check the positioning of 5A in the overall Kumon Japanese.
It is also important to check the positioning of 5A.
It is right in the middle of the Kumon materials for early childhood, and for those families who have started Kumon from around the age of three, it is probably about time they started to get used to Kumon.
At what age are the study materials?
Children who started Kumon at the age of three or four often make smooth progress up to this age. The reason for this lies in the way Kumon separates grades.
Kumon basically does not state age guidelines by grade. However, each grade from grade 1 to grade 3 corresponds to nine letters of the alphabet, from A to I. If we follow the same procedure and go backwards, with 2A being 5 years old and 3A being 4 years old, then just this 5A is the difficulty level of the 2-year age guideline.
Children under 2 years of age will join 'baby kumon' instead of the regular Kumon system. So in most cases, the minimum age to start Kumon is 3 years old, and it is often a thumping progression up to 5A.
Conversely, 3-year-olds are learning age-equivalent material for the first time here. It is at 5A that the material gradually starts to feel more difficult.
What are the key points of attack?
Families who start Kumon at a young age are likely to put a certain amount of effort into reading to their children, and as 5A ultimately deals with small narrative texts, familiarity with picture books can make a big difference.
On top of that, what makes it different from reading aloud is that the child has to read aloud themselves.
Three-word sentences in particular are a surprisingly big barrier. This is because there are few opportunities to say three-word sentences in everyday conversation. For example, you may say "omizu kudasai" (please give me some water), but it is difficult to say "tsumetai omizu kudasai" (please give me some water) in a conversation with a child. The concepts of adjectives and particles are also more likely to be introduced, so some children may find it a little difficult in this area.
From a parent's point of view, it may seem that after 7A and 6A have progressed smoothly, it is difficult to make progress with the material in 5A. When the material is difficult, children tend to be less motivated. This is probably the first area where some people quit Kumon as a result of frustration and irritation being passed on to the child.
First of all, it is important to realise that 5A is where things can seem a little more difficult for children. It is a time when progress is slow and children's motivation can easily wane, but this is a barrier that all children will encounter sooner or later in Kumon.
It is also important to deliberately increase the number of three- and four-word sentences in everyday conversation. Once children are able to understand this area, their vocabulary, if not their vocabulary, will be much closer to the number of words in a single sentence spoken in daily conversation between adults. This will allow them to become familiar with longer sentences naturally in their daily lives.
Three- and four-word sentences are the length of sentences in the valley, which are not used very often. Helping them learn these in everyday conversation will help them to get through the 5A material.