8 Proven Tips for Teaching Abacus to Kids Effectively

It is rightly said that ‘having great knowledge’ and ‘ability to teach that great knowledge to others’ are altogether two different things. In simple words someone may be an expert in his domain like software or physics or mathematics or even cooking, but it's not necessary that he or she will surely be a great teacher also. Let's do a deep dive on this interesting topic today in the context of Abacus online classes and also explore how we can become effective Abacus teacher. We must also understand that the Abacus course involves dealing with the young children in the age group of 5-15 years, hence to be an effective Abacus teacher there are certain specific aspects to be taken into account.

Here are the 8 Proven Tips for teaching Abacus to Kids Effectively

1. Do enough hands-on practice before enrolling your first student–

What you must avoid is to learn Abacus by just taking classes from the training academy and then straight away jump into taking classes. You must practice Abacus yourself for a minimum of 2-3 months rigorously to ensure you are fluent in the bead movement on the physical Abacus tool. While doing this practice you will inevitably realize the teething issues and will face many challenges. With more and more practice over 2-3 months you will overcome these challenges, some of which are mentioned below: • Confusion around when to use thumb and when to use finger for the bead movement

• Confusion around in which hand to hold the tool (right or left), and from which hand to do the finger movement for the beads

• How to reset the Abacus tool while starting a new question (from hand or from the pencil, or interchangeably)

• Confusion around which is a better physical tool – the one with manual reset option or the one with auto reset option.

2. Self-practice the Visualization Technique – The underlying secret of Abacus is the Visualization technique using which students are able to do all calculations mentally by doing only the finger movement and without using the physical tool. They construct the picture of the tool in their mind and update that picture with every calculation step. It is strongly recommended for the trainer to practice this technique himself and be comfortable with it, so he understands the nuances and the challenges. The trainer may not become an expert in visualization but he must experience it first hand, only then he will be able to conduct the best abacus classes for the kids.

3. Engage with children – Remember that Abacus course is a supplementary Maths language. While it’s a great language with amazing lifelong benefits for the kids, the reality is that not everyone is aware of those benefits due to poor awareness levels. This means that parents or children do not have a strong motivation to complete the course in most cases. Hence its really important to engage the children effectively in the classes else they will soon find it boring. The trainer must possess (or develop) the art of engaging children, only then the child will continue in long term

4. Patience is the key - Abacus classes require patience and regular practice. These are the basic pre-conditions of this course for anyone to learn Abacus effectively. The most common reason for student dropout from Abacus is that they typically do the homework just before the class. Instead, the recommended way to do the homework is by daily spending 10 minutes, since daily practice of 10 minutes will help you retain the concept in mind as well as develop fluency with the finger movement

5. Introduce Fun element – Another secret of successful coaching classes (in any subject) is the introduction of fun to bind the children. If the child enjoys the classes, he will be eager and proactive in joining the classes on time. On the other hand, if the classes are focused on covering only academics, then they tend to become boring and soon children start to lose interest. The moment this happens they will look for excuses to not attend the class. For a few days, parents will push them to join the classes but eventually this will lead to the child dropping out of the course. Hence, it's super essential to have a fun element, which can be achieved in numerous ways. You can use the last 5 minutes of classes where everyone shares some jokes, or play a game like making funny faces or sharing any funny incidents. These are simple but effective means to ensure classes are not boring, and children are always looking forward to these.

6. Regular connect with the Parents – Since Abacus classes for kids is altogether a new technique to learn Maths, we can say it is like learning a new language like Chinese or Japanese. Usually neither the children nor the parents would have any existing knowledge on this. Hence, we recommend that as a trainer you should remain in regular touch with parents since they play a key role in keeping the child motivated and ensuring he daily spends 10 min on the practice.

7. Motivate students to learn Abacus - One great way to motivate kids is by showing them the advantages of Abacus for kids, such as the incredible results they can achieve in just a few months with consistent effort. There are many demo videos online where children perform complex calculations using the Abacus visualization technique, often faster than a calculator. Additionally, there are numerous Abacus competitions at both national and international levels, which trainers should make students aware of and encourage them to participate in, offering recognition within the school and among their peers.

8. Measure the time difference in Abacus vs conventional Maths – Remember that kids will believe what they see. Show them the live demonstration where two students solve the same arithmetic Math problem (example multiplication of double x double digit number), one using the conventional Math approach and another student using the Abacus. Inevitably the Abacus technique will be way faster, and this will be the game changer for the kids. Such super-fast calculations will help them save precious time in exams and it will give a real boost to kids to proactively learn Abacus in an effective way.

Conclusion

Above mentioned is not the exhaustive list and as a trainer, you will develop your own special traits to connect with the kids and make the training effective. Any coaching institute that focuses on developing these traits in trainers to ensure effective Abacus learning is a great place to learn. I can certainly recommend Mathcruise learning academy, whose chief trainer excels in motivating the children and has been teaching Abacus to kids and getting amazing results.

Google reviews and demo videos of her students, which are available on her website, are a clear testimony of these results. They also provide the best abacus teacher training including end to end support like their copyrighted books and infrastructure. So, whether you are a student or a parent or a teacher looking for Abacus training, you can reach out to Mathcruise and start your interesting Abacus journey.