All About Abacus Training

[dragonball]

janetfong:

Ya lor Tats y i will ask them whether they like it or not, if not then i will withdraw them out. I feel tat is important tat they like these enrichment classes. If not, is a chores to them.

Kids learn faster if they are interested. But my kid is only interested in playing. The course I send him to, he doesn't like it at first, need to condition him for a while before he accept it. Same as the pre nursery that I sent him, there was a period of time when he refused to attend the nursery (especially after a long school holiday). It take sometime before he accepted going to school is part of his routine.

So sometime I wonder, how do we really know if the course we send them to is a chore or for the good of them. Hard been a parent.

[super_dad]

But but but....why need to do mental math when you can use a calculator? :P....I suppose that in the future, you can talk to a calculator...eg. what is the square root of 5.487..and it will shoot back an answer in 1 sec. . How to beat that? :)...It is like learning kung fu, when people are killing each other with guns.

[dragonball]

super_dad:

But but but....why need to do mental math when you can use a calculator? :P....I suppose that in the future, you can talk to a calculator...eg. what is the square root of 5.487..and it will shoot back an answer in 1 sec. . How to beat that? :)...It is like learning kung fu, when people are killing each other with guns.

I suppose this is a way of cultivating the brain. It will look cool if you just stand down there without pressing the calculator and out come the answer to complicated arithmetics. Isn't that cool

[jedamum]

have finally decided to drop my boy off abacus training cos he resent using abacus method to do sums which he can do using normal method. think he doesn’t have the ‘left brain’ power to visualise the workings of the mental abacus.

[ChiefKiasu]

jedamum:

have finally decided to drop my boy off abacus training cos he resent using abacus method to do sums which he can do using normal method. think he doesn't have the 'left brain' power to visualise the workings of the mental abacus.

Not all techniques are suitable for everyone. Just like mindmaps which looks like a mess to me! Most important is to make sure your kid is comfortable with the techniques he use.

[jedamum]

ChiefKiasu:

jedamum:

have finally decided to drop my boy off abacus training cos he resent using abacus method to do sums which he can do using normal method. think he doesn't have the 'left brain' power to visualise the workings of the mental abacus.

Not all techniques are suitable for everyone. Just like mindmaps which looks like a mess to me! Most important is to make sure your kid is comfortable with the techniques he use.

i agree...but to a certain extent, we have to see that the techniques are MOE 'approved' too. there goes 'creativity'!

[phantom]

jedamum:

ChiefKiasu:

[quote=\"jedamum\"]have finally decided to drop my boy off abacus training cos he resent using abacus method to do sums which he can do using normal method. think he doesn't have the 'left brain' power to visualise the workings of the mental abacus.

Not all techniques are suitable for everyone. Just like mindmaps which looks like a mess to me! Most important is to make sure your kid is comfortable with the techniques he use.

i agree...but to a certain extent, we have to see that the techniques are MOE 'approved' too. there goes 'creativity'![/quote]MOE always change their model. Now I think they are using MPM (Multi Process Model) to teach primary school kids math, which is suppose to do algebra with algebra method but using visualization.

[purplewhite]

Hi all,


I am new to this forum . Quite surprised to see that there are parents discussing about 3G abacus here.

Just to help provide more information.

Visit this :http://www.3gabacus.com/

where you can find out more information regarding this course.

Recently we just had a mental arithmetic competition at Chong Fu primary school. Hopefully the pictures will be ready soon where you can have a glimpse on the event.

Currently I have observed that majority of the students in 3G abacus courses are from Nan Chiau and Chong Fu Primary. As a maths tutor & abacus teacher, I do feel that this course indeed is greatly beneficial to a large group of the students, especially when they are K1 or K2 and very new to numbers. There are also students who been through the various modules attaining very good mental / abacus grades.

Basically some parents do feel that the grading exams might be too stressful for the little kids. My personal opinion is that there are pros and cons just like school exams. Abacus students are encouraged to take these exams but they are not compulsory. I believe that for young children, self confidence is very important and it would be best to send the child for the exam which he/she can handle.

I hope I do not bore this forum with my 2 cents worth.

_____________________________________________________
**A part time maths tutor / abacus tutor

[ChiefKiasu]

purplewhite:

Hi all,


I am new to this forum . Quite surprised to see that there are parents discussing about 3G abacus here. ...

Hi purplewhite, welcome to Kiasuparents. Of course we talk about abacus courses - we are kiasuparents afterall!

Chong Fu are amongst the top tier-2 schools in Singapore, so this might be their secret to success!

But I'm amongst those parents that feel that grading of anything will simply kill off interest in kids.

[ctct61t]

ChiefKiasu:

Judy:

hi dragonball, what janetfong has shared is true.


I first introduced my son to abacus when he was 4, but i realised that he wasn't keen... cos the class is a sit-down environment thus at such young age, it was difficult to keep him sitting still for 1.5 hrs.

But of course all children is different...

Yes and no. Beware of the side effects of using food. My 2.5 year old girl is one cheeky rascal. Mommy is at the top of her hierarchy of love and I'm right at the bottom. So I try to change the situation by tempting her with candies everytime I want her to learn something. Here's the conversation during last evening's dinner:

Me: OK.. swallow your food and I'll give you a lollypop later.
Her: No response.
Me: I thought you liked lollypops?
Her: (Nodding vigorously) Yes, I like lollypops.
Me: OK.. then swallow your food.
Her: No response.
Me: Do you like daddy?
Her: I like lollypop.
Me: No, daddy, do you love daddy?
Her: I love lollypop very very much.
Me: But daddy give you lollypops, so don't you like daddy?
Her: Daddy is lollypop... I lick daddy... slurp slurp.

Chiefkiasu, you are so cute...