The children eagerly raise their hands to answer their teacher as she rattles out a list of numbers to add and subtract. It is all in a day’s work for Sailasri, one of the directors of Brain ‘O’ Beads who teaches children in the age group of five to 12 years, the technique of using the Chinese abacus for mental arithmetic.
Started this year, Brain ‘O’ Beads systematically trains children in using abacus helping them attain imaging skills and mental arithmetic ability. The organisation which has centres at Himyathnagar, Miyapur, Kukatpally and Begumpet employes 20 professionals who are all trained by Sailasri who has been in the field for over a decade now. Each batch consists of 18 students and not more so that every child gets individual attention of the teacher. The organisation at present is teaching 800 students and also collaborates with schools in the city.
“When children use the abacus constantly, it helps them develop a photographic memory and visualisation skills where they no longer need an abacus to do calculations,” explains Sailasri who has worked with organisations like UCMAS India.
The classes are taught in different levels ranging from level one to level eight for three months. The beginners use the abacus for arithmetical functions like addition and subtraction initially and slowly work their way up to performing accurate and speedy mental arithmetic calculations like multiplication, division, integers and decimals by visualizing the abacus in their mind.
The reasoning behind this is that the right side of the brain processes the images and since numbers are seen as pictures or images on the abacus, the image of abacus in due course is internalised by the children. By using an imaginary abacus, the numbers that are perceived by the left brain are immediately recognized by the right brain as visualized beads and movements which leads to both sides of the brain being used to calculate the answers at the same time. It helps in removing fear of mathematics in children according to Sailasri. “Abacus not only removes mathematics phobia in children, it develops muscle memory in the brain which helps them perform better academically,” says Sailasri.
Judging by the enthusiastic response of the students, the classes are an enjoyable experience for them different from the usual classroom setup. When asked what they like about the class, Bharath, a fourth grade student in Neeraj Public school said, “It helps me in solving sums quickly in exams.”
Parents who bring their children to the classes say that it has helped their children a lot academically. “I wanted to add another dimension to my daughter’s education. Teach her something besides the traditional Mathematics and it has helped her immensely as she has become very adept in the subject,” says Abha Malik, an MNC employee. Another parent, Abhishek Gupta, a private bank employee says, “I wanted to improve his analytical skills so that later on it helps him in competitive exams. Earlier my son’s favourite subject would be English now it has changed to Mathematics.”
Details: www.brainabacus.com
Contact 9989019323