The Fundamental Principles of Hanamaru Group - A Greeting from Takahama Masanobu
Hanamaru Group offers extracurricular programs specifically designed to nurture children in three major areas - mathematical thinking, linguistic competence with a focus on reading and composition, and outdoor activities. Hanamaru’s goal is to foster interesting and unique children that grow into independent adults able to make their own way in life. By knowing well about what makes young children tick, Hanamaru teachers provide interesting and meaningful individualized education to kindergarten- and elementary-age children.
Young children have great potential to increase their spatial ability, understand plane figures, and develop their logical thinking, use trial and error, and engage in discovery skills, the basic abilities that form the foundation of success for learning. We help children develop these basic abilities through enjoyable experiences where they will find it fun to learn and easy to understand.
In the past, a frequently asked question was “Is Hanamaru Group going to offer English classes soon?” I always answered that there were lots of work to do to start an English program, and I refused to do thing halfway. Hanamaru Group is pleased to announce our first classes in English. The classroom is located in Roppongi Hills, and the classes target children who already speak English. These children can be native English speakers, children who have lived abroad, have attended international school, and those who are fluent in English because they have studied hard.
Hanamaru Group offers great opportunities to develop cutting-edge math and scientific skills studying and thinking in English, skills that have helped develop problems used in Japanese and International Math Olympiads and the Think!Think! app for Hanamaru Group. We also provide students with a chance to see live music performances once a month to increase their musical sensibilities. Please take advantage of this great chance to observe our teaching methods firsthand.
The Three Points
Lesson conducted in English at Hanamaru Group are intended to help lower grade elementary school students develop a desire to learn. It isn’t our method to teach techniques of calculation. We place importance on children observing, building up their imagination, thinking and first and foremost feeling the joy of working toward solution by themselves.
Point 1Fostering Thinking Skills
Thinking skills are the abilities to make a motivation breakthrough by using reasoning to solve an unfamiliar problem and enjoy the process of solving it. Children would say "Oh, that's it, I get it!" when they find the clues to solve problems; in order to cultivate thinking skills, it is necessary for children to accumulate such "sensation of understanding” which leads them to enjoying thinking for its own sake.
● Thinking Skill Teaching Material: "Nazo Paper" Puzzle Books
Nazo Paper is a teaching material to help your child foster thinking skills and lead them to enjoying thinking.
● Teaching materials for fostering thinking skills which can be done on a tablet: Think!Think!
Think!Think! is an app developed from Nazo Paper. It helps your child develop the ability to imagine by making the most use of a strategy of a digital tool.
Think!Think! has been recognized as a winner of the Google Application World Cup in Japan as well as internationally. Moreover, it received high ratings from a Finnish educational service evaluating group. It is a fast growing educational application and now it is available in over 50 countries with over 400,000 users.
Point 2Nurturing Sensitivity
The source of willingness relates to what you value, in other words, sensitivity. Experience cultivates your sensitivity. Hanamaru Group strongly believes it is important for children to have valuable experiences, and one of the opportunity we offer is music. Once in a month, we offer music experience called “OPERA”, a learning material from Hanamaru Group’s music department, Otonomori. Children learn the life histories of well-known composers. Moreover, children will have opportunities to listen to live performances of their beautiful and powerful masterpieces. Children love this moment and it will surely be impressive and pleasing time.
Point 3Outdoor Experiences
The necessary ability in any period of time - that is, the experience, the ability to take action, and the willingness to live vigorously no matter how the situation is.
We need to deal with everyday difficulties by using our maximum creativity and strength.
The outdoor experiences offered by the Hanamaru Group are neither tours nor vacations, but rather schools to help develop your child's strength to live there lives.
Children may need to deal with a trouble without parents. Besides, they may find it difficult to fix friendship problems. What will they think and how will they react? How will they overcome various challenges they may face?-Some kids- may think “Okay, we can do it! Let’s find a solution!” In short, outdoor activities will constantly challenge children.
We strongly believe children grow when they are exposed to challenging situations. Therefore, our outdoor experience is not limited in fun activities and wonderful memories. Hanamaru Group’s outdoor experience pursues “real experience” which develops their strength of living.
