Looking for a right brain training programme for your preschooler?
The recent buzz around right brain training for preschool kids prompted me to ask myself: “what motivates parents to send their kids to these classes even before starting primary school?” Isn’t this something that kids pick up naturally when they start school?
Then came the invitation from Kuah Eng Liang, principal of Heguru Education Centre at Eunos, to sit in a right brain training class for pre-schoolers. I was thrilled at the opportunity to review the class, as I could finally find out what kids go through during the right brain training class and decide if I should jump right in and enrol my daughter (an active toddler who’s extremely curious about her surroundings).
All about Heguru
The team of right brain educators at Heguru@Eunos
The Heguru Education Centre is a renowned right brain training school which originates from Japan. Being an eager first-time dad, Eng Liang did his research on right brain development and training for kids when his wife was pregnant with their first child. The Heguru right brain training method caught his attention, as he was amazed by the effectiveness of the programmes after seeing how smart and focused Heguru primary school students were.
Upon meeting the founders, Mr Hirotada Henmi and Mrs Ruiko Henmi in Japan in 2011, Eng Liang made the move to bring the Heguru right brain education method to Singapore in January 2013.
Part 1: Class in session
Kids going through an imaginative thinking session with Head Teacher Paige
The Preschool I programme is tailored to instill independence and discipline in 5- to 6-year-olds, and prepare them for primary school education. Classes are conducted in 2 parts, with each segment focusing on different elements and activities.
Part 1 of the class runs for 40 minutes, during which kids are exposed to 30-40 activities at bullet-train speed. According to Eng Liang, lessons should be fast-paced and conducted by a teacher with a strong voice to effectively stimulate the right brain of the children.
The preschool class on that day was conducted by Head Teacher Paige and Assistant Teacher Jaye. With over 10 years’ experience in teaching right brain education to kids below 6 years old, Paige is a favourite with parents who send their children to their centre. One parent I spoke to, Madam Marlene Gwee, told me that she chose to send her 4-year-old son, Gordon to Heguru@Eunos after hearing good reviews about the classes conducted by Paige. This is despite the fact that there are other right brain schools located nearer to her home in the west of Singapore.
The line-up of activities that the class of 4 kids went through during the first part of the session included:
Memory techniques: To stimulate the kids’ Linking Memory and Peg Memory, Paige tells a story to the class by swiftly flashing a series of flashcards. The kids will then have to remember the sequence of pictures by relating them to the story that was told by Paige earlier.
Paige conducting linking memory games with the children.
High speed learning: Aptly called ‘SuperFlash!’, an average of 2 cards per second are flashed to stimulate the kids’ right brain and help with the absorption of general knowledge. In total, 450 cards are flashed which cover over 40 topics, ranging from the states in Japan and hospitals in Singapore to the names of root vegetables and ice cream flavours.
Number concepts: The Heguru method uses a Dots System to teach the concept of numbers to the kids. Cards with dots (instead of numbers) are flashed to develop the concept of quantity and sequencing. Dot Bars (which are essentially grids with dots) are used to introduce mathematical concepts of addition, subtraction and multiplication.
Songs and games: Towards the end of this segment, the kids participated in some light-hearted activities which included an ESP (intuition) game, sang songs about good moral values and learnt a song in a foreign language (French, on the day that I was there). The first part of the session ended with a mini basketball game to develop their motor skills.
Click on the next page to find out what went on during the next half of the class.
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