CMA Math - Discussion
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Hi HappyAvon,
Am glad to read that it worked out for your gal. Really!
I totally agree with you that patience and interest are 2 most impt things in getting a child, or anyone, to learn something.
I see that your gal's teacher was nice and helpful and encouraging. I was kinda expecting and hoping to see that coming for my girl's teacher. But nope, nothing at all. Just that one single question of why not continuing and that's it. She seemed more interested in getting (and keeping) her money and deposit. Perhaps if she had done something about it, we wouldn't have struggled so much. As it was, all she did was pull me and my hubby aside and told us to drill drill drill all the formulae into my gal. None of that talk about the kid needing time to familiarise, adapt before seeing results. She seemed more concerned about keeping her class \"up to standard\". You know, last time back in school (my school at least), class teachers \"counsel\" kids faring badly in certain subjects to drop that subject so as not to pull down the class average. I get that feeling from her. No warmth, no passion as a teacher. It just made the whole experience worse. It's as if it's just me and my kid battling the CMA maths alone.
Perhaps other centres have better teachers and I've always believed good teachers make a whole lot of difference. But i didn't switch her to another centre coz ultimately, i realised that my gal will be fine learning just the conventional maths. Maybe she may be slower in getting the answers right, since she doesn't have mental maths to quicken the process or double check, but it's more impt to me that she understands the concepts, than being able to mental calculate fast. Also, frankly, the whole experience spooked me and my gal, esp the drilling and confusion part, so I didn't wanna go thru it again, particularly when it's not totally essential that she masters the CMA maths. -
onyva:
Hi Onyva, the teacher you mentioned sounds no good at all...For my girl, her teacher is very understanding and patient....she had never asked us to drill the formulae into our gal.. My gal just had the usual homework. In the past, I was required to sit beside her to double check her work and do the explanation if necessary. This is no longer required now...She will do the homework by herself since she has become more confident... As our gal is now in K1, we just want her to hv more exposure and CMA is just to stimulate both sides of the brain..I feel that CMA does help her in a way...She is able to grasp new concept easily and it does helps in improving concentration skills...Hi HappyAvon,
Am glad to read that it worked out for your gal. Really! I totally agree with you that patience and interest are 2 most impt things in getting a child, or anyone, to learn something.
I see that your gal's teacher was nice and helpful and encouraging. I was kinda expecting and hoping to see that coming for my girl's teacher. But nope, nothing at all. Just that one single question of why not continuing and that's it. She seemed more interested in getting (and keeping) her money and deposit. Perhaps if she had done something about it, we wouldn't have struggled so much. As it was, all she did was pull me and my hubby aside and told us to drill drill drill all the formulae into my gal. None of that talk about the kid needing time to familiarise, adapt before seeing results. She seemed more concerned about keeping her class \"up to standard\". You know, last time back in school (my school at least), class teachers \"counsel\" kids faring badly in certain subjects to drop that subject so as not to pull down the class average. I get that feeling from her. No warmth, no passion as a teacher. It just made the whole experience worse. It's as if it's just me and my kid battling the CMA maths alone.
Perhaps other centres have better teachers and I've always believed good teachers make a whole lot of difference. But i didn't switch her to another centre coz ultimately, i realised that my gal will be fine learning just the conventional maths. Maybe she may be slower in getting the answers right, since she doesn't have mental maths to quicken the process or double check, but it's more impt to me that she understands the concepts, than being able to mental calculate fast. Also, frankly, the whole experience spooked me and my gal, esp the drilling and confusion part, so I didn't wanna go thru it again, particularly when it's not totally essential that she masters the CMA maths.
I had been through what you went through previously and I fully understand the process.....We too may had quit if the teachers did not encouraged us to hold on to it.... -
Hi Onyva
I am about to sign my k1, p1 and p4 for cma, but after reading your article, I am really reconsidering now.
I didn’t realise there are so many formulas to remember! Like the good friends, good neighbours, good brothers stuff! My god! Don’t these complicated maths!!! I mean, in the first place, it is not an easy subject, by introducing all these stuff kind of make it worse, doesn’t it?
Parents with kids who have gone through these, could you kindly share?
Btw, Onyva, perhaps MPM may be more suitable for your gal? That is another option I am considering, but it is so expensive. -
My gal has gone thru’ CMA and she is ok with learning the formula. ACtually, CMA has made it much easier for the kids than others - my DS went thru’ another system and that is really memorising formula.
For CMA, they explain it in the form of friends, siblings and neighbours (good and bad) and with the right fingering, it is quite easy. I tried teaching my gal with the memorising, and she was totally lost. I later learnt from the CMA teacher and when I went thru’ with my gal again using how they had explained, she grasped it immediately and could proceed quickly.
Having said that, must be very hands-on when kid start leanring CMA. Parents involvement will determine kid’s interest and progress. -
Hi Happybirdks,
Indeed I found them confusing. As in, I understand what they are trying to teach, but I thought why need so many “frens, siblings, neighbours” stuff? I know it’s a way to make it easier for the child to remember, instead of rote learning. But I also realize they need all these formulas chiefly because of how the abacus work. You need some “shortcuts” or formulae before you can add the beads up correctly. I think these shortcuts/formulae are why one can mental calculate quicker than simply using fingers.
For me, the main reason for enrolling my gal in CMA is really to get her more comfortable with numbers, and also to learn how to add/subtract (I wasn’t even thinking any much further than that, coz at that time, she was really not good at even simple addition stuff). But for a child who’s already weak in basic normal maths concepts, the CMA formulae just made it worse, IMHO. For my gal, she could grasp the best fren concept (i.e. frens of no. 10), coz it’s similar to the number bonds taught in her pre-school – which 2 numbers between 1 to 9 add up to ten. This she could grasp, the number bonds, but when they use it for supposedly simple sums like 9 + 1, that’s where the problem sets in. My gal could do it on the abacus: + 9 – 9 + 10. But when I asked her to do it without the abacus, just simply what’s 9 + 1 using fingers, she struggled. She totally lost the basic concept of simply adding 1 to 9. She wanted to use her hands to do + 9 – 9 + 10 but when I stopped her, she started to picture the abacus mentally in her mind, did the abacus way, and got the answer. At that time, I was quite happy. Like, hey, this is what mental maths is all about. Maybe she doesn’t do it the conventional way, but as long as the answer’s right.
But over time, as the numbers got bigger and more formulae were introduced at CMA, and at the same time, the pre-school is teaching more advanced stuff like count in 2s, 4s, 10s, using tens & ones to do sums like 10 + 14 (add the ones first then add the tens), she really got lost and we struggled. When I managed to get her on track with CMA concepts, she lost it with the pre-school maths, and her teacher feedback to me she’s not doing well. When I work with her to get back on track with pre-school maths concepts, she lost it with CMA stuff. And due to the massive amt of CMA homework, I had had to spend more time on CMA work, so she got nowhere with pre-school maths.
In the end, as I researched more and spoke with frens with kids in pri school, I decided I have to stop CMA to stop this whole confusion. Pri school maths is really about English comprehension and modeling. They ask questions like “what is 1 lesser than 5?”, “what is the number before / after 14?” and “what is the number just before / just after 14?” For the latter 2 qns, you really need to understand what is the meaning of “before” (which can mean any number before 14) vs “just before” (answer can only be 13). As you can see, no amount of abacus or mental maths can help if the child doesn’t even understand the question. And even after understanding, they have to do workings, like 1 lesser than 5, draw 5 boxes and cross one 1. I dunno how they teach this 1 minus 5 in CMA, I stopped the classes at the “best fren” formulae, never went on to neighbours and siblings, good or bad. Besides, I see no point in these formulae anymore. All these formulae, to me, are just to calculate something which can easily be done on a calculator. And l agree with Pen88n – CMA needs a lot of parents’ involvement at the starting stage. I had lost confidence in the CMA concepts and could not see myself teaching my gal stuff which I have no trust in.
Like I said, my objective of enrolling my gal in CMA was to help her in adding and subtraction. It wasn’t for her to be able to help me mental calculate my basket of groceries in under a minute, or tell me 123+234+345+456 = what in 5 secs flat without using calculator/abacus. So I stopped her CMA classes and decided to work with her myself at home, and give any sort of maths enrichment classes a miss. I bought workbooks targeted at her level from popular, and worked with her from scratch to get the basics right. I’ve always been doing this since before, and during, her CMA classes, but she kept struggling due to the confusion. Now, devoid of the confusion, she’s coping well with the normal maths concepts. I’m thankful that her English comprehension is good, so she can read and understand the qns. Now it’s just helping her with the concepts, and the exercise books offer various topics – odd/even nos, measurement in length, weight, etc, and they introduce the modeling concept. All these – not taught in CMA.
But I understand that CMA has worked out well for some kids. So I’m not disputing their teaching method – it’s more of what’s suited for your child. I feel that if your child has a good grasp of basic math concepts, CMA will help enhance it further. But if not, it may cause confusion. Also, I truly think my gal’s CMA teacher is not that good. She explained the best-fren concept to me, but after that, just flipped to the back page of the workbook with all the formulaes and said pls get your girl to memorise all these. She didn’t manage to get me interested in it at all. So I wonder how she gets the kids interested. -
Hi Onyva
thanks for your detailed input!
I am glad that your gal and you have came to make a good decision and have pick up the maths skills again.
I agree that no matter what system or enrichment centre one send the kids to, it is still ultimately whether the kid can adapt to the method. An enrichment centre may be so great so great to most, but there are bound to be some who just don't get it. No point spending money and ended up frustrated instead. Anyway, a lot of maths whiz don't go through abacus wah
As for me, I am still considering. Maybe yes, maybe no, I'll think about it this week
Anyway, I notice something funny when I brought my boy to the centre to take a look last week. I watch their tv which features all their whiz kids on local variety shows, as well as the newspaper article and some of the interviews. Seems that almost all those featured are wearing specs! I can't help but wonder has it got to do with the abacus, because it is so small. Imagine hunching over the small beads to count count count
Why don't they have bigger abacus instead???? :? -
Hi Onyva
thanks for your detailed input!
I am glad that your gal and you have came to make a good decision and have pick up the maths skills again.
I agree that no matter what system or enrichment centre one send the kids to, it is still ultimately whether the kid can adapt to the method. An enrichment centre may be so great so great to most, but there are bound to be some who just don't get it. No point spending money and ended up frustrated instead. Anyway, a lot of maths whiz don't go through abacus wah
As for me, I am still considering. Maybe yes, maybe no, I'll think about it this week
Anyway, I notice something funny when I brought my boy to the centre to take a look last week. I watch their tv which features all their whiz kids on local variety shows, as well as the newspaper article and some of the interviews. Seems that almost all those featured are wearing specs! I can't help but wonder has it got to do with the abacus, because it is so small. Imagine hunching over the small beads to count count count Why don't they have bigger abacus instead???? :? -
I’m also interested to sign up my child for the CMA course at Tampines Blk 210E, wondering anyone has any review with regards to this school and also kind enough to provide reference for me for some discount.
Thanks!! -
I’m also interested to sign up my child for the CMA course at Tampines Blk 210E, wondering anyone has any review with regards to this school and also kind enough to provide reference for me for some discount.
Thanks!! -
hi Ed Ke,
i’ve just pmed you for the referral discount. Thanks!
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