Japanese language should not be regarded as a special subject. Japanese, like other subjects, is a subject that can be developed through the accumulation of fundamentals. There is no doubt that repetitive practice is important to solidify the basics. It is just that the scope of the fundamentals is quite broad, and because the fundamentals can be acquired outside of reference books and classroom study, they tend to be given special treatment.
Repetition allows you to acquire a wide range of fundamentals, from basic grammar to abstract ideas that form the basis for understanding difficult concepts. In this article, I will explain the meaning of repetition in Kumon Japanese.
It is important to keep basic grammar under control even in Japanese.
There are many aspects to reading comprehension, but there are some things that must be suppressed first. Japanese language also has vocabulary and grammar, and it is impossible to correctly interpret a sentence without learning the basic parts.
When studying English, the first thing that comes to mind is learning vocabulary and grammar. This is because if you don't know these things, you won't understand what is written in a long sentence. In the same way, you cannot read long sentences in Japanese if you do not understand the basic parts of the language. Some people think that because it is their native language, they will naturally learn it, but this only means that they will have a natural opportunity to learn it, not that they will learn it without learning it.
Kumon prepares materials that follow the steps, starting with reading aloud words such as "apple" and "hikoki. Kumon does not assume that students can read grade-appropriate material just because it is in Japanese, but rather allows students to acquire basic Japanese language skills.
There is no doubt that repetitive practice is effective in acquiring these basic elements.
Reading comprehension can also be acquired through the accumulation of basic ideas
However, when it comes to reading comprehension, some people think that it is acquired through something special, not through the accumulation of basic skills. It is easy to assume that the basis of reading comprehension is based on some vague aspect, such as a person's "grounding," "sense," or "ability to think.
However, reading comprehension is also something that can be acquired through the accumulation of fundamentals.
In Descartes' Introduction to Method, there is a famous phrase, "I think, therefore I am. In order to perceive the world accurately, we want to start our reasoning from one unquestionable fact. Then everything we see, hear, and feel may be wrong. Mistaken seeing and mistaken hearing are frequent. If we doubt everything we feel, the only thing we can be sure of is our thoughts, which doubt everything. Because thoughts exist, I exist. The phrase generally means this.
It is a very clear and easy idea to understand in a philosophical discussion, but it is an abstract idea, so it would be quite difficult for an elementary school student, for example, to understand it. So what is the difference between understanding this idea and not?
First, you must know what the words "therefore" and "I" mean. Second, you have to understand the idea that we should start from certain facts. If you have studied the three-stage argument, you have experienced that if you start with the wrong facts, you will come to a terrible conclusion.
The fact that what you feel may be wrong may be easy to understand sensibly if you have ever done riddles or illusion problems that use assumptions. If you read shonen manga, you will see people who have the ability to deceive the senses rather frequently. Or, if you have played sports, you may have experienced that a shot may or may not go in, even though you are playing with the same senses. With this grounding, we can deal with the counter-intuitive notion that "what we see now may not be true.
Abstract ideas are also born from the accumulation of history. Even seemingly difficult ideas are born from the accumulation of individual theories.
When understanding a text that you are reading for the first time, whether from a book or not, it is important to know the theories that are the premises of the text. Kumon helps you acquire the knowledge of the premises through repetition.
Repetition, however, is difficult to memorize in its entirety.
So far, we have talked about how many parts of Japanese language skills can also be acquired through repetition. However, some may still think that memorizing the answers to a question may be meaningless, as you will not be able to read the text.
However, it is difficult to memorize Kumon Japanese answers by heart, no matter how many times you repeat them. This is because when you repeat Kumon printouts, you are often repeating a range of 30 to 50 pages. Of course, you may think "I have read this sentence before," but still it would be very difficult to memorize the answers to 30 previous printouts.
Reading is something you deepen by doing it over and over again.
Even if you don't memorize the whole text, you may wonder what is the point of reading a text that you have read once and then reading it again. The question is whether re-reading a text that you know the gist of will not help you acquire the reading comprehension skills needed to read and understand a text that you have never read before. I would like to assert this as well. A text is not something that you read once and that is the end of it; it is something that you have to read over and over again to get a great meaning out of it.
First of all, no one can read a difficult book or article and understand it all at once. This is because what is written in a book is not an absolute fact that exists on its own, but the result of the accumulation of various discussions that have taken place over the years. The true meaning of the arguments in a book cannot be deciphered without reading not only the book itself but also its references. Moreover, what is written in a book is "what seems to be the most correct at the moment," and it is not unusual to find mistakes in the future. In the case of a paper, the text is published at a more uncertain stage, so it is necessary to not only understand what is written, but also to read it critically.
To put it more simply, there are stories about how people feel differently about the same book depending on the timing of reading it. A good-looking guy in a shoujo manga that you thought was cool when you were in junior high school may, when you look back on him as an adult, change your view to "Isn't it bad that a guy who is a working adult still messes around with high school students? So your perspective changes. By reading the manga repeatedly, you can see parts that you may have skipped over or did not understand the first time you saw it. The time available for repetition in Kumon is a few days to a few weeks, but even so, reading the text again after giving it some time and understanding the outline gives the child a completely different experience.
If they're learning ahead of time, we'll follow up with vocabulary.
I have explained that vocabulary, grammar, and reading comprehension are all acquired through repetition, and that repetition in Kumon Japanese is well worth it. There are many people who look at Japanese as a special subject only because it is difficult to study, but the basics of study remain the same. You can reach great heights by building on the basics.
One thing to note is that the more advanced your students are in their preconstruction, the more follow-up on vocabulary you should include. Even in Kumon, students learn enough kanji to help with reading comprehension, but there is also vocabulary that is not explicitly studied, such as phrases and slang. If you do not know the meaning of a word, reading comprehension will be difficult. This may be a part of daily life that the students would normally be able to understand, but this is not the case if the students are learning ahead of time. This is an area where parents should actively follow up.