All About Abacus Training

[Agilemaths]

[Editor's note: Topic selected for http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/content/abacus-mental-arithmetic-good.]


The 7 beads (2 beads on top and 5 beads below) is Chinese abacus.

Taiwan's abacus, or the so call 'traditional abacus' (1 bead on top, 4 beads below), is a Japanese modified version of the Chinese abacus, aka Soraban. (There is a long history on abacus which you can googgle to find out.)

Then there is also another school of people who feels that there are too many formula to remember so they prefer 9 beads abacus and adopt essential formula from traditional abacus. The adventage of this is it is similar to regrouping/renaming taught in school, easier to understand.

All have their pros and cons. All have been around a long time. All require the students to practise diligently. Result wise, it is individual. Some went through the tedious foundation learning but some prefer to do a quick and run learning approach.

In my opinion, the best time to learn abacus is K2 to P2. Once kids achieve good mental calculation skill, they will attain confidence in exam and it will be easier when they are promoted to P3 to handle more complex problem sums. Also P3 onwards kids have additional subject - science to handle, that leave them lesser time to devote time to practise, not to mention they usually have lots of other enrichment classes to attend.

[titank]

mummy of 3:

titank:

It seem that have to go 2 visits a week to practise Abacus (CMA) then would achieve effective results. Some people said CMA Abacus the child would get confused when they go to P1, it is best to go through 3G Abacus.

Hi, r u saying 3G Mental Math at RC or CC? Is oso abacus and is much more cheaper. Which is good? CMA or 3G Mental Math? Is it really useful for their maths foundation? Actually, my 1st choice is to let my DD1 go to E.nopi math

Ya I also consider Enopi Maths but is it the entry age is at Age 5?

[jass]

Hi hi all


Sorry for sounding confused. My girl is in P1. I delayed sending to abacus cos worried worried she would be confused with the sch's number bond etc.

So dear parents, I reckon frm your support, abacus probably won't affect? I m staying near scgs. Any good maths sch to go to?

Is there any alternative to that? Husband sayg something abt xin xuan. Is it mental calculatn? Is that different frm abacus?

Tx for your help.

I also ve a boy just turned 4. Read in your thread. He needs to be able to write numbers before enrolment, would be interesting if he can join the sis.

[CoffeeCat]

If I m not wrong xin Shuan is the mental visualization of abacus.

[Agilemaths]

Yes, 心算(xin suan) aka mental arithmetric/mental calculations is normally introduced after acquiring the ability to use the abacus. Learners will do mental sums using the set of formula learned.

[luckygobaby]

i would say abacus learning is very beneficial. my boy start in cck cc when he was in K2. after finishing the adanced course in cc, he followed his teacher to rc and now after completing his level 1, he has his duan wei learning + maths oylamid at the teacher’s house. each lesson is 1.5 hrs. he’s now P2 and is enjoying very much. for my gal currently K2, she is with her brother’s teacher at rc. just completed level 11. teacher is teaching 1 digit x 3 digits. she is happy learning too.

[blur mother]

:love: I heard learning abacus will confuse them later in primary school. Is this true?

[pokemon]

blur mother:

:love: I heard learning abacus will confuse them later in primary school. Is this true?

So far my ds is okay with abacus method and the traditional method learn in sch. In sch, for those math questions which doesnt need to show any working, he does it throught mental arithmetic way, very fast, even for multiplication, he also uses it to double chk all his answers during tests.

I think as long as they hv strong foundation in abacus and understand the number concepts, shd be able to distinguish the difference.

[blur mother]

hi pokemon! thank u very much for your reply. You set my heart at ease.

[I3-mum]

Hi all, I’m new here. Interested to start my K1 boy with abacus either in Edufarm or Frontier CC. Edufarm conducts lessons in English whereas CC has both English and Mandarin abacus classes. Anyone knows whether is there a difference teaching abacus in Mandarin and English? Which medium is better? My son is comfortable in both languages but speaks slightly more English compared to Mandarin. Any comments is appreciated!