What grade level are the Kumon Japanese G materials for?
The G materials are equivalent to the first grade of junior high school. Even in the 2nd and 3rd grades of junior high school, there is a pattern where children who are not good at Japanese begin Kumon at this level. This is because Kumon is suited for children who are to practice thoroughly through repetition from simple areas in the sense that they are to consolidate the basics once again.
I think the volume zone is from 4th grade to 1st grade. I myself studied the G materials in the vicinity of grade 5. If you finish the G materials in the third grade, you will receive a trophy as a "highly advanced learner," and some people may set this as one of their goals. If your child has reached this level in the first or second grade, you may be able to say that he or she is a very good student.
What is the content of Kumon Japanese G?
Kumon Japanese is divided into GⅠ and GⅡ. Let's check the GⅠ first.
Toward GII materials, we will develop reading comprehension skills to grasp the contents of long sentences of about 800 characters largely scene by scene and track them while maintaining topic awareness, and at the same time, improve self-writing skills. 50 G-grade Suisen books, poems and other works in a variety of genres will be encountered to broaden the students' reading and vocabulary. Students will study non-Kyoiku Kanji characters from the perspective of related words (words that are widely related) to expand their vocabulary.
Based on the premise of "the ability to read coherently" up to F materials, the explanation is to enhance the ability to write.
Regarding kanji, the term "Kyoiku Kanji" is used, which is a way of referring to kanji learned during elementary school. Unlike the F materials, it is no longer explicitly stated how many kanji will be taught.
Students will learn the basic skill of contraction (summarizing the topic of the original text into one whole sentence). Students learn to condense sentences while being aware of "topic and description" (what is being said and how it is said), and gradually improve their writing skills. Vocabulary will be expanded through the study of kanji characters for regular use. In addition, based on the reading comprehension skills they have cultivated, students study grammar and read passages at the level of high school entrance examinations.
This is where the new concept of "contraction" comes into play. Writing skills are also continuously described.
What are the features of Kumon Japanese G?
Kumon G materials have three characteristics.
The notation of the number of words of the kanji to be studied disappears.
The first thing to note is the notation regarding kanji.
Until now, for example, the number of kanji for the relevant grade and the number of characters to be studied in the Kumon Japanese G materials were clearly indicated, such as "91 of the 181 kanji for grade 6" or "Review all the kanji for grade 6 using idiomatic phrases as a starting point". However, from the G materials onward, these statements disappear and are replaced by a vague statement such as "expand vocabulary through the study of common kanji characters.
Kumon's stance is that students learn kanji because they are necessary for reading comprehension. Even the teaching materials come with example sentences and navigation, and there is no image of Kumon advancing to the point where you have memorized the kanji or can write them on a test. Rather, I have the impression that the goal is to get to the point where you can vaguely understand the meaning if you read along with the sentences before and after. I myself learned Kanji through Kumon, and through reading and Kanken, I learned Kanji to a level where I could get a mark on a test.
The number of kanji that must be learned per grade is more than double in junior high school compared to elementary school, and each kanji itself becomes more difficult.
Kumon Japanese's evaluation of kanji learning tends to be higher the younger the child is in the lower grades. This is because in the lower grades, the opportunity to become familiar with kanji is precious, and even if the kanji are familiar to some extent, they can be written easily because of their simple forms. However, as the grade progresses, more and more kanji become difficult to write because of their simple meanings and shapes.
As the grade goes up, students, especially students themselves, often feel that Kumon alone is not enough for Kanji. If you have reached the G materials, which are equivalent to the first grade of junior high school, you may keep in mind that you need something extra for Kanji. I think it is an excellent way to acquire Kanken.
The number of characters for writing questions will increase all the more.
It is also noteworthy in terms of writing ability.
The questions up to F material inevitably have a strong "fill-in-the-blanks" nuance. Instead of writing long sentences on your own, many of the questions require you to extract appropriate parts of the sentences based on your understanding of the content. Even if you did write a description, it would be no more than 10 words at most.
This tendency is completely changed by the condensed GII materials. Even in the official Kumon sample materials, there is a question in GII that asks the student to "condense to 45 to 50 characters. You can see that the difficulty level of the problem has increased considerably.
A new concept called "contraction" appears.
Then there is "contraction," which is a major feature of Kumon Japanese.
I have discussed contractions separately. In contrast to "summary," which is used to accurately extract the main points from a logically structured sentence, "contraction" is a technique for capturing all kinds of sentences in a condensed form. Both have their merits, but "condensation" is characterized by its wider range of target sentences.
Since other learning materials often deal with "summary," it is fair to say that "contraction" is a characteristic of Kumon Japanese. Kumon Japanese G is the first material in which the study of "contraction" begins.
Writing experience comes into play in Kumon Japanese G
Based on these characteristics, it can be said that what becomes important in the G materials is the experience of output.
In terms of writing skills, of course, writing skills are necessary even for contractions. This is because in the Kumon Japanese Language Program, you will be asked to summarize sentences of a certain length into a single sentence. Therefore, it is necessary to write a sentence of about 50 characters, and this requires a certain level of writing ability.
However, the writing questions up to F material are basically fill-in-the-blanks questions of about 10 characters. The writing ability is almost unnecessary, and the level required is higher in the G material. In addition to the Kumon materials, students must also learn Kanji characters at a level that will allow them to get points on tests, and they must reach a higher level through Kanken and writing essays.
Writing is the solution to all of these problems. If you have frequent opportunities to write, you will have many opportunities to compose long sentences. You will also have a chance to improve your knowledge of kanji, which you have only vaguely memorized, to a level where you can use them.
It is not easy to secure writing opportunities. Unlike reading to children, it requires a certain amount of initiative on the part of the child. For example, asking your child to write in a diary is an effective way, but it is very difficult to get your child to write in a diary habitually.
Writing is an expression, a communication, a means of communication. If there is someone you want to communicate with, you will be more motivated to write.
In the 2010s, social networking sites were a good way to do this. In the 2010s, social networking sites were a good way to communicate because they were mainly text-based media such as Twitter and blogs, and could be managed by individuals. However, if we get to around 2020, SNS will be mainly based on audio and video, such as Instagram, Youtube, and Tiktok. The opportunities to communicate by text in this day and age are really limited.
Learning programming could be one breakthrough. This is because text, not sound or images, is what is used when writing code, and text is inevitably the predominant means of communication among programmers. If your child has a favorite area of interest, not just programming, one way to help him or her is to let him or her push it as far as he or she can. In order for your child to be a communicator, he or she must know something well enough to be able to teach it.
He or she must get into something he or she likes to the point where he or she can teach it to others. This may be the key to going beyond increasing the amount of writing in the G materials.