Some Great Soroban videos!

[Soroban]

Hi Guys,

Merry X-mas (late) and Happy New Years.

I just wanted to give you guys some new videos from a recent trip to Japan.

A bit of background information: I'm a Soroban teacher from NY who used to compete in international tournaments and was at one point ranked #1 in the US for the highschool division. I'm a 4th degree Dan (kinda like a black belt in martial arts) and I've been doing soroban since I was about 4.

The videos are on a new website I'm building to help parents teach their own kids Soroban. I'm sure some of you will recognize me from other posts, but I would love to have some feedback on what you'd like to accomplish with Soroban and your child's math education.

Anyway, enjoy the videos. http://www.learnsoroban.com/

Thanks,
Tom

[NadiaD]

Congratulations, Tom, on starting your website!
The videos are great!

So great to see how enthusiastic the children are!
That is what I want for my children, to be able to master Soroban while enjoying the process of learning!
My DD is 2 and a half, and is no way ready for Soroban yet.
 We just moved from NY. Now we are 3 hour drive from NYC.
Do you think that a child can benefit from Soroban classes held only once a week, or it is daily thing...

[Ayesha Nicole]

Welcome back!   

Thank you for answering my questions on the other threads.  And the videos are amazing!  I personally wish you would create more videos and a Soroban kit with instructions and a suggested schedule or videos (similar to Doman kits); and even offer classes online via either skype or wiziq.  And then give homework for parents to work with their children. 

The Table of Contents of the Year 1 book from nutureminds.com curriculum (from Malaysia):

Unit 1:  Know your abacus, page 1

Unit 2:  Numbers 0 - 10, page 8

Unit 3:  Addition with the highest total of 10, page 36

Unit 4:  Subtraction within the range of 10, page 56

Unit 5:  Numbers up to 20, page 72

Unit 6:  Addition with the highest total of 18, page 82

Unit 7:  Subtraction within the range of 18, page 94

Unit 8:  Numbers up to 100, page 104

* * *

Year 1 Activity Book is the same as above with additional Enrichment Activities A - F.

And I will post TOC for Year 2 soon.

It looks pretty self explanatory and the pictures are fun and similar to the online demo from Aloha:

http://www.alohama.com/alohama/demo/

and it has exercises along with sections to 'imagine seeing XXX" to prepare them for mental calculations; and then the workbook which reinforces the lesson with additional exercises. 

But it is unclear how long a lesson is, how many pages is minimum; although I did receive a response via email that 30 minutes day practice is good and 1 lesson per week, with the book begin completed in a maximum of 1 calendar year. 

This is why I like the 'guidelines' from the Doman kits; for reading:  5 cards to a set, 5 sets maximum per day shown 2 - 3x per day, with a schedule for retiring and introducing new words or number cards, etc. 

I just need instructions that I can follow - and repetion for mastery is not a problem for me, because we already practice this concept with learning Qur'anic recitation and memorization, which requires perfection before moving forward to the next lesson.

Another idea, create .ppt presentations or LM learning sets and we purchase them for download.  Shall I suggest it to KL? 

Thanks!   

[DannyandAmy]

Thanks for your website. I am also 3 hours away from NYC and we just moved here from Japan. 

I have never learned how to use the abacus but know the benefits of soroban. I think it is crucial and regret that it was never a part of my education.

I've bought a few books (well, workbooks) for my three-year-old, (Pacchi Soroban) and am aware that one of the most important techniques to learn are the particular finger moves. I can look at a textbook and learn what beads to move and in what order, but I don't know if I can teach my daughter the way to move the beads. Does that make sense?

I guess that would be what I want to look for in addition to the things Ayesha Nicole mentions.

Oh, and Tom, if you ever need something translated from Japanese to English (or vise versa), let me know.

[Ayesha Nicole]

Soroban > I have a question about the fingering technique; according to page 5 of Year 1; it has pictures that are very clear, and the abacus has a clearing device/button for the left forefinger; and describing the right hand fingers:

Thumb:  The thumb moves the lower beads towards the beam (move up lower beads).

Forefinger: The forefinger moves the lower beads away from the beam (moves down lower beads).

Middle Finger:  The middle finger moves the upper beads towards and away from the beam (move up and move down upper beads).

Is this technique the same as what you teach?  Or is it as described here:

Setting Numbers on a Soroban

Use only the thumb and index fingers to manipulate beads on a soroban. The thumb moves the earth beads up toward the beam. The index finger moves everything else (all earth beads down away from the beam and all heaven beads up & down).

         
Earth beads up
(Fig.2)   Earth beads down
(Fig.3)   Heaven beads down
(Fig.4)   Heaven beads up
(Fig.5)

http://webhome.idirect.com/~totton/abacus/pages.htm

[Ayesha Nicole]

Can someone please translate the instructional videos on this i-Pad app using English subtitles, please?:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/master-soroban/id463382105?mt=8

I watched the Beginner's videos for Chapters 1 - 3 and was able to understand the concepts although I don't understand the language, and I now better understand the finger techniques.  And each lesson also has a nice "support" function that is helpful with showing how to move the beads and in what order. 

[Maquenzie]

Tom, thsnks for sharing!!

Can someone please translate the instructional videos on this i-Pad app using English subtitles, please?:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/master-soroban/id463382105?mt=8

I watched the Beginner's videos for Chapters 1 - 3 and was able to understand the concepts although I don't understand the language, and I now better understand the finger techniques.  And each lesson also has a nice "support" function that is helpful with showing how to move the beads and in what order. 

Ayesha, where did you watch the beginner videos?  Just the Japanese ones on the app? Or somewhere else?

Which fingering technique did you settle on?  I also read the two fingers from some online site and ALSO ordered the same book you've mentioned (though, through a different site and just a few days ago, so I don't expect it to arrive for 2-3 weeks).  So, I'm very curious about that as well if the suggestions conflict. 

[Ayesha Nicole]

Hey  Maquenzie,

The videos on the app itself.  I could somewhat understand them up to Chapter 5, and am a little lost with Chapter 6.     Until I watched these two videos:


<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/3gDibLEZc20&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/3gDibLEZc20&rel=1</a>


<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/bEvwSlA88fU&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/bEvwSlA88fU&rel=1</a>


And I like the two finger technique which feels more comfortable for me at this point.

[2010BEBES]

Tom,
Excellent idea to keep up with your blog. As you see there will be many follewers from this forum
I will like to know if you specialize in teaching kids or adults?
I tried to show the soroban to my 4 year old grandson but he did notsbow interest. Do you have any tips tomake it attractive for him? He turn 5 yrs 2 weeks ago and knows the numbers and likes to be ask simple addition questions.

[DannyandAmy]

Ayesha--> I can translate, but I'm assuming you have to have the app to view the videos, right?

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