Faqs | Woodley | Abacus Maths Tuition

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is the Soroban?

The Soroban is a Japanese abacus that consists of a wooden frame holding columns of beads. One could say that the Soroban was the very first calculator and it is well known to have been used by businesses and banks.

As a calculation device, the Soroban is quite a simple tool - the beads represent numbers and calculations can be done by moving the beads up and down their columns.

Below is an introduction video to the basics of using a Soroban

Why is the Soroban technique better than memorisation?

Children will learn complex calculations by breaking them down into components. Learning to use numbers in this way gives them confidence. For example, when a child wants to add 9 more, they first break the 9 into a 5’s bead and four-1’s beads before they then use the Soroban to perform the calculation.

The Abacus Maths Tuition way is to teach the children how to work with numbers, how to break complex calculations into smaller easier to understand and use components and ultimately encourages a culture of mathematics that is learnt from inside the calculation itself - not just by memorisation which has its obvious limitations.

Is Mental Arithmetic only about Maths skills?

Learning mental arithmetic is believed to encourage whole brain development – The Outlook is Bright When Left Brain Meets Right. Most brain development in children occurs primarily before the age of 14, with much of that development taking place in the first several years of life. Children retain significant “neuroplasticity”, meaning brain adaptability that allows growth and inter-connection of brain neurons. The Abacus Maths Tuition way is designed to develop the integrated and motoring functions from both sides of the brain. When children manipulate the beads of the Soroban Abacus, communication between the hands and the brain stimulates the brain’s right and left hemispheres. The right hemisphere (abstract side) creates an image memory of the beads on the Abacus while the left hemisphere (logical side) applies the requisite rules to perform the calculation. Because the right hemisphere of the brain is much faster than the left, when the students exercise the right side through visualisation’, this results in strengthening the right-brain capabilities such as:

Visualisation
Concentration
Memory Retention
Memory Recall
Photographic Memory
Speed
Accuracy
Listening Skills

How will the Abacus Maths Tuition help my child?

Children have an incredible capacity to learn new techniques and are not necessarily binary thinkers i.e they do not apply a method to solve a maths query only either this way or that. They can supplement their learning at school with the Abacus Maths Tuition way and fulfil their potential.

Our objectives are to give the children:

Mastery over numbers
Improved problem solving / thinking skills
Superior computational ability
Better harnessed short-term memory
Ultimately to be free from calculators

By learning maths the Abacus Maths Tuition way, all the senses of your child will be stimulated - sight, hearing, feeling, and touch; this is what is required for total brain development. At the classes, your child will gradually move from bead manipulation to see-and-calculate as well as listen-and-calculate. These visualization techniques used to teach children mental arithmetic and abacus calculation will help your child achieve total brain development as well as build on their maths confidence and speed.

The small classroom size at Abacus Maths Tuition is intentionally kept so that your child gets individual attention and is able to better open their mind to using all their senses in maths calculations. Patience, endurance, independence are values we all want in our children. The learning is fun filled; patience, endurance, independence, all values we want in our children, are encouraged at Abacus Maths Tuition through the creation of proper stimuli in a happy learning environment.

What age do you recommend to start learning the Soroban?

The human brain is super active between the ages of four to ten years old. When the child is six or seven years old, the brain cells are dynamically learning. Most children start the Abacus Maths Tuition programme between ages 5 to 10 years old.

Between 4 to 7 years of age is the best time to nurture your child’s brain. This is also the critical stage when a child starts to grab hold of mathematical concepts like one to one correspondence and the idea of addition and subtraction. This is also a stage when the child’s school work is light and easy. Learning abacus training and mental arithmetic at this stage will provide fundamental training in maths and calculating concepts. The Abacus Maths Tuition programme is ideal to provide a stronger foundation for their future education.

Why is it important for my child to learn the Soroban Abacus technique?

Studies have shown that the children who have used the Soroban abacus in their past could perform arithmetical calculations more quickly and comfortably when they are grown ups. This is due to the fact that they have the golden rule of calculating long figures with the help of broken packets of that figure in their minds and it allows them to perform more conveniently in the later stage of their life.