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Mental Maths (Abacus) Reaching your Child's Potential One Bead At A Time
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WELCOME MESSAGE Announcement A childs potential is terrible thing to waste if not harnessed Jenny Wu Every child has hidden potential talents and unique abilities. These abilities we call talents must be nurtured, developed and enriched. Without the dedication and tools, a childs potential is lost forever. Children throughout Asia are able to calculate without using calculators and are very capable and strong in the area of Mathematics as compare to children in the west. Why?, the answer lies in the tradition and culture of the Orient, in particular the use abacus to develop mental mathematics amongst the young children in Asia. From an early age, the teaching of fundamental abacus is introduced and conditioned. Unlike the west, these children are by the age of grades school are able to function adequately without calculators and other western tools. The speed is lighting fast and their mind set is sharp and definitive. Children in the west are as much capable as the children in the east if they are given the same training and condition, in particular the use of Abacus. ; Unfortunately, the western system still very much depends on modern tools such as calculator to facilitate their training. Those who can instruct and train children in traditional abacus are not easily available, and the perception of calculation differs in the West from that in China and Japan. Using calculators has become so convenient that people have forgotten their abilities; don't use them, lose them. Sense activation and enhancement is much underutilized, particularly in early years. Learning abacus assist children to train those senses: their eyes to see, ears to listen and fingers to move abacus beads for calculation. This training cultivates their concentration skills, and their brain becomes more capable to calculate with no help of calculators. In our modern age, children are rapidly losing their roots in sense and mental development as computer and calculator, and even video games are dominating our children's lives. Although they are convenient and inexpensive, it is no exaggeration to say that usage of calculators, and other mordern conveniences, hinders the improvement of children's hidden abilities..
Chinese Abacus
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Abacus
Mental Maths (Abacus) Reaching your Child's Potential One Bead At A Time
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Abacus
An abacus (plurals abacuses or abaci), also called a counting frame, is a calculating tool for performing arithmetic processes. Abacus comes from the Greek word "abax" which means calculating board or calculating table. An abacus is also a calculator used first by the Chinese since about 500 BC, for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, as well as fractions and square root. It basically constructed of a wooden frame divided into 2 parts separated by a beam, with an upper deck of 2 rows of beads and a lower deck of 5 rows of beads. There is a series of vertical rods on which wooden beads are allowed to slide freely. Although Chinese are known and connected with abacus, the fact is still remain that throughout Asia, the abacus are still being used; in fact the Japanese used it in about 1600 AD, but they call it a soroban. Contests have been held between users of the Japanese abacus and an electric calculator. The result was surprisingly in favour of the abacus. Educators have continued to maintain that the abacus (soroban) helps children develop powers of mental calculation. It enables children 1) To understand the basic number systems such as base-ten and place values, 2) To understand concepts of carrying and borrowing in arithmetic, 3) To understand combinations of 5 and 10 and complement of numbers, 4) To visualize close relations between numbers and numerals and 5) To develop children's ability of mental calculations.
Other using as a tool to teach children simple mathematics and especially multiplication, the abacus is an excellent substitute for rote memorization of multiplication tables, which some young children find daunting. The abacus is also an excellent tool for teaching other base numbering systems since it easily adapts itself to any base. All children are equipped with the similar level of energy and faculty. The potential in each child is vast and abundant; unfortunately, most parents do not know how to tap into the depths of these young minds in the right way and thus fail to realize and nurture these young minds to their fullest potential.
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Abacus
If we ever study human biology or psychology, you will no doubt remember the division of the brain in terms of function. Our brain is divided into two hemispheres, the left and the right. About 95% of our children use only the LEFT brain. They fail to use the RIGHT brain which is the seat and origin of intelligence.
LEFT brain Analyzing Information, Concerning Languages & Sound.
RIGHT brain Integrating Information, Thinking & Creativity.
The Left and Right brains have their own specialized powers and functions. Our task is to activate BOTH parts of the brain simultaneously. By using BOTH the parts of brain, students can more fully realize their great potential. But......how can we motivate BOTH parts of the brain at a time? Learning abacus can accomplish this goal. Using an abacus, a child can do all arithmetic calculations up to 10 digits and master the skill of doing it mentally, without relying on modern devices such as calculators. There are procedures and training methodologies to master abacus use. When children use both hands to move the beads for small and large arithmetic calculations, the quick communication between hands and brain stimulates brain cells, promoting quick, balanced and whole brain development. Using the abacus also: q Fosters a greater sense of numbers. q Helps develop an intuitive understanding of numbers through their concrete representation. q Fosters one's trust in the process of calculation by enabling one to observe it in action. q Manifests the concept of decimal places and the progression of units by tens physically. q Instantly accomplishes addition and subtraction when numbers are placed on the abacus. q Improves understanding of compounded numbers (through the use of supplementary numbers for 5 and 10). q Helps in developing the beneficial qualities of concentration, patience, and endurance. q Fosters one's confidence in calculation. q Uses a left to right calculation method, which makes quick estimation and rounding off possible. q Works on the decimal rather than fractional system, an easy progression to digital systems. q Develops mental calculation, which is the ultimate resource.
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Abacus
q q q q
Develops the right brain tremendously. Leads to greater mental capacity. Expresses large numbers simply and easily. Provides a sense of achievement as one's proficiency improves.
Abacus education enhances progress in various abilities. Scientific analyses have demonstrated the effectiveness of abacus training in improving the following six abilities: q Ability to concentrate (Concentration) q Ability to visualize and to be inspired (Inspiration) q Ability to memorize (Memorization) q Ability to observe attentively (Insight) q Ability to process information (Information processing) q Ability to listen and read quickly (Speed reading and listening) (Top)
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About Us
Mental Maths (Abacus) Reaching your Child's Potential One Bead At A Time
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About Us
Founded in 2006, Fundamental Education Center and its site mentalmath.net are committed in distributing innovative traditional educational concepts to enhance mental capabilities in young children and adults. We offer classes for various age groups of children. Fundamental Education Center is committed to creating a new generation equipped for the challenges of an increasingly competitive career environment. As one of the few true traditional Chinese abacus education centers in Greater Vancouver Region, we recognized the needs to disseminate this unique tool to children in the Greater Vancouver Region. Mentalmath.net has been chosen as our designated means to communicate the advantages of improving and developing childrens ability for mental math for their future endeavour and challenges. Abacus has been elevating the mental abilities of millions of students throughout Asia. Blessed with tradition, driven by our vision, Fundamental Education Center has set out to offer similar skills to students in Greater Vancouver Region. Steered by our dedicated staff, Fundamental Education Center is setting new benchmarks for the industry and is rapidly gaining recognition for its promotion of traditional Chinese abacus called mental math.
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Parent Information
Mental Maths (Abacus) Reaching your Child's Potential One Bead At A Time
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Parent Information 1- Facility / Building: We are responsible for keeping the facility safe and clean so please be considerate and supervise your children at all times. Make sure the place is cleaned up at the end of the class. To avoid unwanted accidents, children are advised to walk (not run) both within and outside the building, especially when they walk in from the entrance door.We are sharing this building with other tenants so we need to respect their privacy and safety as well.
2- Drop off and Pick up: We request parents drop off the students no more than ten minutes before the scheduled starting time. Earlier arrivals result in unnecessary distractions for those still in the class. Please pick up your child promptly after class. We would like to have all parents come inside to pick up their children before the class ends. When you arrive, you may wait quietly in the room until your child is dismissed. Often classes may last a few minutes longer, so please allow additional time for students who need more help and for communications with parents. Please be patient. However, please do not assume class will always finish late! It is important that you pick up your child/children on time so that the next class is not delayed.
To view the calender in PDF
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FAQ
Mental Maths (Abacus) Reaching your Child's Potential One Bead At A Time
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FAQ
Q: What is the best age to start abacus ?
There is no exact research to recommend what is a best age for a child to begin abacus; however, most children in Asia start from kindergarten and up. Q: How can Abacus help nurturing your child's intelligence? Abacus program is designed to improve not only on a child's calculating ability and his/her understanding of arithmetic, but also to increase the memory power and creativity, the concentration level and the listening skill, as well as the ability to analyze problem. Our ultimate goal is to enhance your childs confidence for school, work and ultimately success in life By using the well-organized and challenging-enhanced methodology, Abacus can help children quickly improve their ability to calculate as much as 2 to 10 times. According to some research, children can improve their IQ score by 5 to 25%. By stimulating both the left and the right sides of the brain during the training process, experts believe that abacus & image abacus training is the key to optimal learning capability. Q: How important is mental arithmetic? In our modern world, math plays an important role as can be seen all around us. Math has been said mother of all sciences. To foster solid academic foundation, math is one subject that requires great attention. For most children, first exposure to math can be very challenging, especially when presented only in the abstract form. Arithmetic is remarkably important for helping young children build up a solid academic foundation. Teachers who work with young children know that it is not easy to introduce the concept of numbers and their values. Abstract means using nothing but brain power to solve problems. It is difficult for children to comprehend numeric relationships without using concrete objects such as abacus beads to relate numeric values. Mental math plays an equally important role, as it will effectively tap the unexploited parts of the brain and therefore promotes the overall intelligence. The practice of mental arithmetic will sharpen the imaginative and memory power. According to a scientific research, a child who lacks good mental formation can experience a sharp decline in mental abilities even as early as the age of 20. On
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FAQ
the other hand, a child who receives this formation by the age of 12 will continue to remain brilliant even up to the age of 70. Q: Is Abacus necessary when we have calculator? Although much of what we do, we can do with technology. From a learning perspective, learning abacus is still a must for every child because it is instrumental in developing whole brain and lifetime skills. Using abacus requires co-ordination of the main nerves of the human body such as sight, sound and finger movement which will induce growth of brain cells. The mind undergoes three main stages of development namely physical contact, logical explanation and visualization throughout the process and the abacus acts as a bridge that connects the three stages. More than 80% of the world populations are right-handed and right-handed people normally have more developed left brain with less developed right brain. While the creativity side of the right brain is more than a thousand times than that of the left brain. Learning abacus will stimulate the development of the right brain at an early age. Q: The advantages of learning abacus through Abacus are: Improve the accuracy and the speed of computing skill or logical reasoning. Build stronger memory power. Enhance imaging skills or photographic memory. Raise the level and speed of understanding (comprehension). Increase sense of observation/visualization power. Sharpen sound judgment/hearing power. Promote endurance or longer concentration. Enjoy the fun of learning and reduce stress. Create higher learning capability and self-confidence . The practice of abacus involves intensive finger movements and will also help blood circulation and enhancing the overall health.
Q: Where can we buy abacus? A: You can purchase it at our store in our center. You can also purchase it in various stores in town. (Top)
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Contact Us
Mental Maths (Abacus) Reaching your Child's Potential One Bead At A Time
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Contact Us Fundamental Education Center 2131 Renfrew Street Vancouver, BC Phone: 604 916 2382 info@mentalmath.net
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Location
Mental Maths (Abacus) Reaching your Child's Potential One Bead At A Time
HOME :: ABACUS : ABOUT US : PARENT INFORMATION : FAQ : CONTACT : LOCATION : LINKS : Fundamental Education Center 2131 Renfrew Street Vancouver, BC Phone: 604 916 2382
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Links
Mental Maths (Abacus) Reaching your Child's Potential One Bead At A Time
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Links Abacus Vs Calculator :
http://www.bookrags.com/Abacus http://www.tqnyc.org/NYC074709/webpages/abacus_vs_electronics.htm http://www.ee.ryerson.ca:8080/~elf/abacus/abacus-contest.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hqhnaAmRH4 http://www.ee.ryerson.ca:8080/~elf/abacus/feynman.html
Abacus Research And Children Development:
http://www.articlealley.com/article_83545_22.html http://s22318.tsbvi.edu/mathproject/ch5-sec3.asp#main RESEARCH ON EVALUATION OF MEMORY IN ABACUS LEARNERS
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