Mental Arithmetic Competition Time! – HappyCare Daycare Centre’s Snaps! (Malaysia)

Attention to teachers and parents please visit Mental Arithmetics at Flikr here for the original album pictures. Or ninebeads.notlong.com for ease.

• Event: 9 Beads Mental Arithmetics – Nine Beads Regional Competition and Grading Test.

• Venue: A Primary school in Pandan Indah, Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia
• Date and Time : Morning of a sunny Sunday 26 August 2007 9:30am -12:30am
• Participation : 6 kids from Happy Care Daycare Centre participated in this event involving about 85 kids from various spots of KL.

Our ‘little’ smiling champions from HappyCare, all our participants received an award each!

Last but not least, Have Fun!

Some Information

If you are new to the abacus and mental arithmetics, you may be surprised to watch some kids actually doing large numbers mentally as you speak, and have answers at their fingertips once you stop. Now that is what happens when smart or average young kids learn mental arithmetics for couple of years. Most people refer to the Japanese Abacus when they are talking about abacus, which require the memorization of 34 formula to master it. Methods of learning have evolved, kids are taught to use both hands for writing and calculating the abacus, thus help develop both the left and right brain and enhance concentration and focus.

The 9 bead Mental Arithmetic – Another Breakthrough

Did i mention couple of years? Now with the 9 bead mental arithmetic the learning curve’s been slashed dramatically, kids may attain the same level of competency in just half a year! How is that possible? I call this Accelerated Mental Arithmetics Learning(AMAL). Well firstly, the abacus has been simplified to suit our modern understanding of number calculation and easily complements the school’s way of number teaching. It makes sense to adults and kids! Secondly, the relatively reduced or complete lack of formula memorization (compared to the previous 34 formulas) means that kids DO NOT need to memorize with lengthy painstaking effort. Well, learning should be fun!

Really faster? Yes, imagine younger kids with less learning duration testing for the same grading level as those studied for years.

And noticeable improvements in the kids’ general school studies too!

What is the ideal age to engage in mental arithmetics? 4-6 years old. A child’s brain development is very active between 0-6 years old according to research.

How many years does it take to attain proficiency? The 9 beads Mental Arithmetics course has a layout plan of about 2 years. Though it may be possible to continue upgrading thereafter.

It takes about 6 months for a kid to do mental arithmetics sums.

Grading generally comes after about 3 or 4 months of studying.

Kids may attend the competition shown in the pictures as soon as within 1-2 months of studying.

However, this course is one which relies on the teaching methodologies which the training teacher will learn on an on-going basis. Therefore, it may not be suitable for the buy-a-book-and-Learn readers.

May all have boundless intelligence!