What grade are the Kumon Japanese F materials for?
There are two main guidelines for the progression of Kumon materials.
The first is the approximate grade level for each material; the F materials are equivalent to grade 6. However, there are not many students who start Kumon in grade 6, and I have the impression that the volume zone is those who learn the F materials around grade 4 or 5.
Another guideline is whether or not the students are at a "high advanced level". Kumon recognizes those who have advanced more than three grades ahead of their classmates in the "Highly Advanced Learner Award" in the "Highly Advanced Category. You can receive this award if you complete the F materials in the third grade of elementary school, so if you are studying the F materials before the third grade, you can assume that you are making fairly rapid progress.
What is the content of Kumon Japanese F?
The Kumon Japanese F materials are divided into F I and F II. Let's first check out the F I one.
This course cultivates the ability to accurately grasp the content to which the directives in sentences refer. Cultivate the ability to interpret expressions in the text (paraphrase, example, description, and metaphor). Cultivate the ability to write answers that correspond to the format of the questions. Of the 181 Kanji characters in the 6th grade, 90 new Kanji characters will be studied to expand vocabulary. In addition, students will review the Kanji learned in FI using idiomatic phrases as a starting point.
Students will learn various forms of paraphrase, including indicative, paraphrase, example, description, and metaphor.
This is followed by FII material.
This course is a comprehensive study of reading with an awareness of the cohesiveness of sentences, which has been cultivated from D I to F I. Students will learn how to read with an awareness of greater cohesiveness. Students will develop the ability to read and comprehend sentences with a greater awareness of the cohesiveness of the text. Of the 181 Kanji in the 6th grade, 91 new Kanji will be studied to expand vocabulary. In addition, students will review the Kanji learned in FII using idiomatic phrases as a starting point.
It can be seen that D to F progressed along a single theme of "capturing the cohesiveness of sentences.
F materials are a summary of the theme of "sentence coherence.
Kumon sometimes deals with themes that straddle multiple grades, in addition to grade (alphabetical) divisions.
For example, grades 7A to 5A deal with the theme of reading aloud, grades 4A to 2A with the theme of hiragana, grades A to C with the theme of basic grammar, and grades D to F with the theme of understanding sentences as a coherent whole. These themes are only a part of the material, and there are other things that are studied in parallel, but in the larger scheme of things, they are a coherent section that deals with a single theme.
It is noteworthy that the further back in the cohesive section you go, the more minor concepts within that theme are covered.
In sections 4A through 2A, hiragana is treated, but in the order of the parts of speech: nouns in 4A, adjectives and verbs in 3A, particles and voiced and unvoiced sounds in 2A, and so on. You can see that even within the same hiragana theme, they are progressively used less frequently and with more difficulty.
In the same way, this F material is a summary of the "sentence structure" material covered in D through F. Therefore, it can be said that it covers more difficult material than the material covered in D and E. The concepts covered are similar to those in D and E, and the material in F is more difficult than the material in D and E.
Concepts covered are more minor than those in D and E
Then, what kind of concepts are covered in the F materials?
The D materials covered the concepts of "5W1H" and "question and answer," while the E materials covered "actions and feelings of characters," "facts, thoughts and opinions," and "cause-and-effect relationships," which can be said to be the main topic of the text.
The F material deals with "directives, alliteration, examples, descriptions, and metaphors. Of course, these are important topics, but they are definitely more minor concepts than before.
These concepts are not as difficult as the major concepts. It is no more difficult or important to determine what the indicative "it" refers to than, for example, reading "the actions and feelings of a character. So basically, the cost of learning it will not be high.
There are exceptions, however. This is the case when you have had little or no exposure to minor concepts.
If you read a story, it is impossible for you not to pay any attention to "the actions and feelings of the characters". In Japanese class, your teacher will probably ask you about it, and it is difficult to enjoy a story while ignoring the feelings of the characters. However, this is not the case when it comes to "indicative language, alliteration, examples, descriptions, and metaphors. Even if you do not understand the meaning of "it" in a sentence, you can decipher the meaning of the sentence to some extent.
Therefore, in some cases, it is possible that you have not been aware of any of the directives, alliterations, examples, descriptions, or metaphors. When these concepts are introduced in the F materials, it may seem more like confusion than difficulty, and this can be a barrier to learning.
It is important to have the experience of reading simple books carefully.
What is important here is not the experience of reading difficult books, but the experience of understanding simple books.
The concepts that come up in the F materials are minor, but they are not entirely new to you. Even in books at the lower elementary school level, descriptions and metaphors are present.
For adults, these expressions are not skipped over because they are simple sentences. But for children, especially those who are learning ahead of time, the book they are reading is difficult. They are so busy understanding concepts and answering questions that they do not always have a firm grasp of the detailed expressions.
This is not a problem unique to children. It is a problem of the book's difficulty level. Even adults, when they read a difficult text, they are too busy trying to grasp the gist of the book. It is difficult to pay attention to metaphors, descriptions, and paraphrases. Similarly, children who are reading at the very limit of their comprehension will not be able to pay attention to detailed expressions.
However, if it is a matter of the book's difficulty level, it is not difficult to deal with. All you have to do is lower the difficulty level of the book.
If a child is reading a book that is too easy, parents can become concerned. If they are still reading picture books in elementary school, we tend to think that we should somehow get them to read more proper books. However, by reading simple books for the current grade level, they can read with a little leeway. This gives them more leeway to pay attention to detailed expressions and to think about the theme of the book. This allows you to read independently.
When you are able to read independently, the effects are not limited to understanding minor expressions. You will be able to read more deeply and find books more interesting. And when they feel that they have read enough simple books, they will naturally become interested in the next level of books. I believe that such an opportunity to read enough simple books is important for students to get through the F materials.