A bit of background for our readers. The Kumon Math program at Libis Elementary School has done very well and in its nearly six-year existence has proven to be effective in elevating the math skills of the kids enrolled, reflective of Kumon students’ progress worldwide. But – despite several attempts, with three different Kumon Phils administrations, to allow the opening of additional outreach centers in additional public elementary schools and to increase the enrollment at Libis beyond 125, our requests have been rejected or shelved indefinitely. Clearly, to move forward, One Small Step Forward Foundation (OSSFF) needed a new after-school math remediation program without any restrictions.

Thus, a new math program was conceived that would use the typical strengths of the Kumon, e.nopi, Aloha etc. math programs. That is, daily homework on off days, based on “practice makes perfect”; 2-3 days of the week doing classwork at the center and correcting errors found on previous homework submitted; bringing back students to lower levels when found to be making errors or taking too much time on work sheets; letting students move ahead when they make no errors and do the sheets under expected time; and allowing good students to do more worksheets per day if they obviously have the capacity and capability to do so. In effect, children proceed at their own pace (or “self-paced”).

What significantly differentiates the content and thrust of the new iSipnayan program from Kumon, e.nopi and the other systems is that it’s loosely modeled on math competition materials, including MTAP (Math Teachers Association of the Philippines), MTG (Math Teachers Guild) and international Math Olympiad (IMO). In both local and international competitions, unlike Kumon and e.nopi, where all math problems consist of purely numbers and math operators, iSipnayan’s daily drills are all in word problem format, i.e., in full sentences. Hence, the extra challenge of reading comprehension and understanding word problems, which has always been a weakness of the Kumon program. Given the below-average literacy levels in the public school systems, the iSipnayan program provides the extra benefit of reinforcing the practice of reading – and understanding – problem sentences phrased in both Filipino and English. But it does the MTAP-MTG-IMO style several steps better:

» The new math program would still include math drills on the side – addition, subtraction, multiplication and division drills through flash cards, decimal ten number boards, and math logic puzzles – to ensure that math operations speed and accuracy is not sacrificed

» It would also make the material more socially relevant by using Filipino terms, history, geography and sociology in the word problems, e.g., Juan walks 1000 feet up Taal Volcano, which is located in the middle of Taal Lake, then climbs down 550 feet. How many more feet does he need to walk down before he reaches his starting point?

» At the lower grades, it would include word problems in Filipino, recognizing that public school kids do not go through nursery, kindergarten or prep schooling, hence have very limited reading skills. And their earliest vocabulary set is in the local language. The percentage of word problems in Filipino will decrease as we go up grade level.

» The coverage is broader, to include “near-math” concepts such as telling time, reading the calendar, understanding directional instructions, Roman numerals, measurement units, etc.

» Looking at the questions included in competitions for just one grade level often gives the impression that there is no logic or structure to the types of questions asked. iSipnayan has a structured curriculum that backstops the development of worksheets.

» Level of difficulty for the activity sheets is also tightly structured – from 90% easy in worksheet 01 to 90% difficult in worksheet 100 for the same grade level.

Similar to the success achieved by Kumon, e.nopi, Aloha, etc. worldwide as well as benefits achieved and also observed in detail at the Kumon outreach center at Libis Elementary School, Bing del Rosario expects the benefits of the new program to include:

» Significantly increased math abilities and skill for the entire spectrum of starting capability – slow, average and fast. Slow students catch up with their classmates in math class, average students start to achieve high grades in math, and fast students excel and attain academic honors

» Greater discipline, focus and concentration for school and homework, as reinforced by daily homework drills

» Increased self-confidence in their academic skills, including participation in math competitions

People have asked where the program name iSipnayan came from. To answer, “Sipnayan” is the deep Tagalog term for mathematics. This was combined with “isip” which means “to think” (as a verb) or “thinking” (as a noun). So, “iSipnayan” is a conjugated make-up word to mean “I think Math”.

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