The first 6 years of a child’s life are crucial to the full development of the brain’s potential. Research has shown that as the outer layer of the brain develops from right to left, this gives a window of time during which a child is learning primarily with the right hemisphere of the brain. During this critical period or golden “window of opportunity”, children are most responsive to educational input and learning takes place at an accelerated speed. When specific right brain and left brain activities are stimulated at key times of development, children maximize their potential right from the start. Future Kids Brain Services USJ21 (“Future Kids USJ21”) primarily employs the You&Me Right Brain Learning Program, which is a learning program specially designed to maximize this window of opportunity to help children achieve a “whole-brain development”, allowing both sides of their brain to work together in balance.
As opposed to most conventional learning programmes focusing primarily on the logical left brain, the teaching method at Future Kids USJ21 is right-brain-centric, yet it is still paired with other conventional learning tools such as Montessori educational toys, abacus and mental arithmetic, etc. to provide kids with a holistic learning experience. The objective is for kids to learn through interesting education tools and methods, and develop self-interest and motivation to learn. Ms. May Ng who runs the center in USJ21, explained that Future Kids USJ21 is a place where children learn academics using a non-academic teaching method. Instead of spoon-feeding and rote learning, children are introduced to memory games, flash cards, extra-sensory perception activities, speed reading, combined with the conventional pre-writing, colouring and workbooks etc, including gym time to train the gross and fine motor skills of children. All these activities are part of their programs and syllabus during the routine classes from Monday to Thursday.
Every age group covers 4 subjects – English, Mandarin, Bahasa Malaysia, and Mathematics – with the use of flashcards, speed reading and workbooks etc. The speed of the flashcards is rapid and all words are rather difficult; as opposed to popular belief, the younger the age group, the higher the difficulty. However, Ms. May highlighted that young children process words and characters differently from adults – kids register the almost everything they see as images. This eliminates the element of “difficulty” and kids are more open and receptive to learning complex words and characters as opposed to a rational adult which would view certain words and characters as “difficult”. Right-brain learning revolves around repetition and speed – these ways strongly stimulate the right brain and data gets stored in their long-term memory.
It’s important to expose them to more languages from as young as 2 years old; they can actually differentiate the intonations, sounds and voices to know that they are being spoken to in different languages, even though they may not know the language.Ms. May
According to Ms. May, input is more important at this stage, and output will be seen when children attend formal primary schooling, and that’s when words will become relevant.
In addition to the routine classes, every Friday there would be group activities on rotation – Art & Craft, Music & Movement, Speech & Drama and group activities which include gym time, group memory and listening games. Children from all age groups come together to complete the group activities and learn how to interact with other children in a larger group setting. They would be given the opportunity to do role-plays and performances. The purpose is to expose them to as many creative elements as possible, allowing them to discover their talents and interests in arts, music, public speaking etc., and also serve to build children’s self-esteem and confidence.
In the programme, flashcards and speed reading textbooks also help children to improve concentration, listening skills, memory, at the same time their eyesight in teaching them to read books the right way (from left to right, top to bottom), especially nursery kids, and cultivate a positive attitude towards reading and learning. Exposure to electronics is kept to a minimum – children are encouraged to read as reading is an important habit that will greatly benefit children in the future. Other than languages, flashcards are also used to teach maths. Instead of numbers, there will be dots amounting to the numbers for children to learn addition, subtraction and even multiplication and division for older kids. For 5 & 6 years old children, they would be introduced to basic maths and mental arithmetic with the use of abacus and when they gradually grasp the concept, they will be able to do maths at a fast speed without needing an abacus.
Generally teacher-student ratios are kept low so that teachers would be able to know each child personally and would be able to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each child. At Future Kids USJ21, children are assessed with progress reports at the end of each term, focusing on aspects such as fine and gross motor skills, reading, communication, understanding, observation, thinking skills and problem solving skills. Ms May believes that the early years learning should be fun and stress-free for children because each child learns at a different pace, it would be unfair to grade them based on examination/mark-based system.
Right brain learning has been around for some time but has only recently gained higher popularity due to its stress-free learning nature, and past students have proved significant academic and social excellence in their later years. Right-brain learning may still be a new concept to parents, but Ms. May is confident that Future Kids USJ21 will employ the teaching methods effectively in ensuring children graduate with improved concentration, understanding and memory. Children would be able to build a strong foundation academically and socially to excel in life.
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