Genius Kids - page 7

Business View Magazine
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Dhillon believes that what makes Genius Kids special
is that is has its own curriculum, written in-house, by
Dhillon, herself, and is unique to her experience as a
scientist and trained public speaker. “I have created
lessons that teach public speaking all day long,” she
states. “Even your infant or toddler will have a micro-
phone in hand. Everything we do – it doesn’t matter
whether we’re teaching math or science or reading
or art – everything goes back to building confidence
and public speaking - etiquette, protocol, how to stand
– these are things we incorporate every day. I think
that’s very unique to us. We have two-and-a-half-year-
olds who give wonderful speeches on stage because
they do public speaking all day long.” The Genius Kids
franchise has three brands: The Lil’ Genius Kid that
caters to day care ages 0-6; the Genius Kids Club that
caters to after school enrichment; and Genius Kids
that does both.
Dhillon has also created her own doppelganger – a
cartoon character named Miss Rennu – who appears
in all of the centers’ teaching videos. “The reason I did
that was because when we were running our own cen-
ters, everybody was coming back and saying, ‘I want
you to teach my child; it has to be you, Miss Rennu!’ I
thought to myself, ‘How am I ever going to multiply my-
self in five classrooms? There has to be a way in which
Miss Rennu can be in all these classrooms teaching,
and yet, not physically be there.’ So, now, I’m in ev-
ery classroom; it’s my voice that teaches. I am there,
teaching. Also, in this way, the curriculum is consis-
tent. We’re not relying on the teacher in the classroom.
At Genius Kids, we’re relying on the curriculum.”
Another pioneering, educational initiative that Dhillon
introduced was the use of smart boards as a learning
tool. “I know a lot of people are using smart boards,
now, but when we started preschool, 16 years ago, I
don’t believe anybody was using smart boards at that
time,” she says. “They’re very interactive and the kids
are always engaged. Kids are doing it now with IPads
and smart boards in public school, but we introduced
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