IN Lately In Russia, a new method for developing intelligence is beginning to gain popularity in our country. Instead of the usual chess sections, parents send their children to mental arithmetic schools. How kids are taught to count in their heads, how much such classes cost and what experts say about them - in the material "AiF-Volgograd".
What is mental arithmetic?
Mental arithmetic is a Japanese technique for developing a child’s intellectual abilities through calculations on special soroban abacus, which is sometimes called an abacus.
“When performing actions with numbers in their minds, children imagine these abacus and in a split second they mentally add, subtract, multiply and divide any numbers - even three-digit, even six-digit,” says Natalya Chaplieva, teacher of the Volga club, where children are taught using this method.
According to her, when children are just learning all these actions, they count the numbers directly on the soroban, fingering the bones. Then they gradually move from counting to a “mental map” - a picture depicting them. At this stage of learning, they stop touching the abacus and begin to imagine in their minds how they move the bones on it. Then, the children stop using the mental map and begin to completely visualize the soroban for themselves.
Abacus soroban. Photo: AiF/ Evgeniy Strokan
“We recruit children from 4 to 12 years old into groups. At this age, the brain is most plastic; the child absorbs information like a sponge, and therefore easily masters learning methods. It’s much more difficult for an adult to learn mental arithmetic,” says Ekaterina Grigorieva, teacher of the mental arithmetic club.
How much does it cost?
Abacus has rectangular frame, which contains 23-31 knitting needles, each of which is strung with 5 bones, separated by a transverse crossbar. Above it there is one domino, which denotes “five”, and below it there are 4 dominoes, denoting ones.
You need to move the bones with only two fingers - the thumb and forefinger. The counting on the soroban starts from the very first knitting needle on the right. It stands for units. The knitting needle to the left of it is tens, the next one is hundreds, etc.
Soroban in regular stores not for sale. You can buy such accounts on the Internet. Depending on the number of knitting needles and material, the price of soroban can range from 170 to 1,000 rubles.
At the first stage, children work with abacus. Photo: AiF/ Evgeniy Strokan
If you don’t want to spend money on bills at all, you can download for your phone free application- an online simulator that simulates an abacus.
Classes mental arithmetic for children in Volgograd they cost about 500-600 rubles per hour. You can buy a subscription for 8 classes for 4,000 rubles and 16 classes for 7,200 rubles. Classes are held 2 times a week. The Volga school gives out abacus, mental maps and notebooks to children free of charge, and students can take them home. At the end of the course, the child can keep the soroban as a souvenir.
Children have to learn mental arithmetic for about 1-2 years, depending on their abilities.
Assignments for students. Photo: AiF/ Evgeniy Strokan
If you don't have money for classes at special school, then you can try to search for video tutorials on YouTube. True, some of them are posted on the website by organizations providing lessons for money for the purpose of self-promotion. Their videos are very short - 3 minutes long. With their help you can learn the basics of mental arithmetic, but nothing more.
What do experts say about this?
Teachers who conduct mental arithmetic classes are confident that the training is worth the money spent on it.
“Mental arithmetic develops well the child’s imagination, creativity, thinking, memory, fine motor skills, attentiveness, and perseverance. Classes are aimed at ensuring that the child develops both hemispheres at the same time, which is very important, because the traditional preparation of a child for school only develops right hemisphere brain," says teacher Natalya Chaplieva.
Psychologist Natalya Oreshkina believes that in the case of children 4-5 years old, mental arithmetic classes will be effective only if they take place in game form.
“Children of this age generally have difficulty concentrating for such a time, unless we are talking about watching a cartoon,” says the expert. - But if the lesson is structured in a playful way, if children practice abacus and color something, then they will learn knowledge while being in their natural environment - in a game. In addition, it should not be difficult for children, it should not exceed permissible level loads. For example, for 4-year-olds, classes should last no more than 30 minutes. I can say that mental arithmetic for children is very interesting. But if a child lags behind his peers in some way, then such activities will be too difficult for him. If a child does not have an internal resource for activities, then it will be a waste of time, effort and money.”
In Moscow, Elena Kleshcheva told Letidor what mental arithmetic is and why every person needs it.
Mental arithmetic is a program for the comprehensive development of children's intelligence and thinking, based on the formation of the skill of rapid mental calculation
During classes, children learn to count quickly using a special counting board (abacus, soroban). Teachers explain how to correctly move knuckles on knitting needles so that kids can almost instantly get an answer to complex example. Gradually, the attachment to the abacus weakens and the children imagine the actions they performed with the abacus in their minds.
The program is designed for 2-2.5 years. First, the children master addition and subtraction, then multiplication and division. A skill is acquired and developed through repeated repetition of the same actions. The method is suitable for almost all children, the teaching principle is from simple to complex.
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Classes take place once or twice a week and last one to two hours.
The ancient abacus abacus, which children use to count, has been known for more than 2.5 thousand years. Children learn to count using special abacus. It is known that they were used in Ancient Rome. IN modern world Counting on the abacus is common in Japan, China, India, Malaysia, and other countries.
In Japan, abacus counting is included in the official school curriculum.
For more than 50 years, mental arithmetic has been part of the public education system in Japan. It is interesting that after finishing school people continue to improve their mental arithmetic skills. In the Land of the Rising Sun, mental arithmetic is considered something like a sport. There are even competitions held on it. In Russia, international tournaments in Mental Arithmetic are now also held annually.
Mental arithmetic develops mechanical and photographic memory
When children count, they use both sides of their brain at once. Mental arithmetic develops photographic and mechanical memory, imagination, observation, and improves concentration.
The general level of intelligence increases. This means that it is easier for children to absorb large amounts of information in short time. Success in foreign languages is immediately visible. Now you don’t have to spend the whole day memorizing poetry and prose.
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Slower students have faster reaction times.
There are also unexpected results. One day a boy came to the center and played tennis. The mother said that her son has problems with coordination of movements. Unexpectedly, they were solved precisely through intensive mental arithmetic courses.
Mental arithmetic is more difficult for adults; the optimal age for starting classes is 5-14 years
You can develop your brain using mental arithmetic at any age, but best results can be achieved up to 12–14 years. The children's brain is very plastic and mobile. At a young age, neural connections are most actively formed, which is why our program is easier for children under 14 years of age.
The older a person is, the more difficult it is for him to abstract from his experience and knowledge and simply trust the abacus. I mastered this technique at the age of 45 and constantly doubted whether I was doing it right or whether there was a mistake. This greatly interferes with learning.
But the more difficult it is for a person to master this account, the more useful it is.
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It’s as if a person overcomes himself, and every time he does it better and better.
The classes are not in vain; the brain of an adult is also actively developing.
Just don’t expect the same results from an adult as from a child. We can learn the technique, but we won’t be able to count as quickly as a second grader does. As experience shows, the optimal age at which it is better to start classes is 6 and 7 years.
The best results are achieved by those who regularly exercise at home.
A prerequisite for classes is daily training on the abacus. Just 10-15 minutes. Children need to practice the formula that the teacher gave them in class and bring their actions to automaticity. Only in this case will the child learn to count quickly. The organizational role of parents, who need to monitor regular training, is important here.
For most Russian mothers, the Shichida method is something unknown, in contrast to the early development methods of Doman, Montessori, Nikitin and others, which are well-known among “advanced” parents. But this fact cannot detract from the merits of Shichida’s method, which has become widespread throughout the world. It is not without reason that in Japan (as well as in some other countries - Thailand, Singapore, the USA) about 460 educational children's centers have already been opened, which are in great demand. Information about the methodology is just beginning to appear in Russia, but “winning” the respect of parents and teachers is happening at a serious pace. And this despite the fact that there are no development schools according to Shichida in our country yet, just as there is no more or less serious literature and Russian-language websites devoted to this method of early development. Why is Shichida’s method so fascinating to young mothers?
Professor Makoto Shichida: “All children are born geniuses”
Makoto Shichida (Makoto Shichida, 1929-2009) – Japanese professor, holder of a doctorate in education, member of the International Academy of Education, advisor to the Japanese Association for Mathematics. For his significant contribution to the study of the brain and its capabilities, Makoto Shichida was awarded the highest Honorary Prize of the World Science Council in 1997, and the World Peace Prize in 1998.
Shichida devoted his life to research and practice in the field of learning and education, writing more than 100 books (some of them were translated into English language) and creating our own unique method of early childhood development. Makoto Shichida's website: shichida.co.jp
According to Makoto Shichida, children are born geniuses and have unique abilities. The task of parents is to prevent the child from “losing” his natural talents. Like many early childhood experts, Shichida believes that all newborns have the same high potential. However, unlike, for example, Doman, Makoto Shichida argues that parents should not get carried away with the academic education of the baby. The main thing is to provide the child with such conditions so that his brain develops as much as possible.
Right hemisphere development according to the method of Makoto Shichida
Modern preschool education aimed at developing the left hemisphere of the brain, which is responsible for logic and analytical thinking. The right hemisphere, associated with the unconscious and intuitive, receives virtually no attention.
Shichida's main idea, which distinguishes his technique from others, is the need to develop the right hemisphere of the brain. A Japanese professor talks about the “high memory capacity” of the right hemisphere, which quickly processes and stores information that comes in the form of images. Unlike the left hemisphere, which is something like random access memory(quickly “throwing off” the unnecessary), the right one, by analogy, is a kind of unlimited hard drive, on which information is stored forever in the form of visual images. The left hemisphere develops through slow learning, with repeated repetitions. The right hemisphere, on the contrary, is associated with the subconscious and intuition, and information in it is absorbed very quickly.
For normal functioning of the brain, a person, of course, needs both hemispheres. They work synchronously: the right one stores a huge amount of information, and the left one retrieves, processes and uses it at the right moments.
Shichida argues that in children under 3 years of age, it is the right hemisphere that dominates (they do not have developed analytical thinking and logic), and it is up to parents to create an environment around the child that will stimulate right-hemisphere development - the basis of future abilities. Moreover, kids really love and want to learn.
From the age of 3, the left hemisphere begins to manifest itself - the child develops logic and linguistic skills. By the age of 6, the child’s brain is approximately 80% formed, and the left, logical hemisphere finally “subordinates” the right. Therefore, Shichida considers the ideal age for right-hemisphere development to be from six months to 6 years.
Makoto Shichida talks about the importance of developing the right hemisphere in early age following:
“When a baby is born, its right and left hemispheres are connected by several trillion temporary nerve connections. If in the first three years of a child’s life they are not used (not filled with information), then they simply disappear. This does not mean that after 3 and 33 years you don’t need to work with a person, but the effect decreases several times.”
In the book Children of Geniuses, Shichida calls the right hemisphere the “image of the brain,” explaining that it is the right hemisphere that is responsible for photographic memory and the ability to dream. People with a well-developed right hemisphere of the brain, which means they have a photographic memory, can easily recall any picture they have ever seen. They write competently, have a huge amount of knowledge, since they retain information from many books in their heads, have absolute pitch, and can see a problem from different sides. It is easy for such people to study; they do not have to cram at school and university. According to Makoto Shichida, “When the right and left hemispheres are well developed, the child will have high level potential, the child will be able to exceed all our expectations and show his best strengths. Such children quickly remember huge amounts of information and recall what they read or saw with accuracy, and all the information is understandable to them, and they are also able to improve their athletic abilities.”
It seems like a miracle, doesn't it? However, a wealth of research conducted by Shichida suggests that quickly flashing different images has real benefits in children's development. preschool age. In addition, according to research by scientists from Harvard University, outstanding people indeed have equally developed cerebral hemispheres.
Makoto Shichida Early Development Methodology
In short, Makoto Shichida's system is based on the following basic principles:
- children are geniuses from birth;
- LOVE of parents for their child is the basis of learning;
- during the development process, it is important to use all the baby’s senses (vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch);
- at an early age, it is necessary to pay maximum attention to the development of the right hemisphere of the brain, which dominates in children under 3 years of age;
- The success of classes depends on their systematicity and consistency.
Development according to Shichida is aimed at developing the capabilities of the right hemisphere: photographic memory, mathematical abilities, high speed of information processing, visualization, learning abilities foreign languages, musical abilities, intuition, extrasensory perception. Children who are developed using this method learn to use the right hemisphere consciously, and not on an unconscious level, as most adults do.
What are Shichida's development methods?
- Creating a warm, welcoming environment during classes . In Shichida schools, classes with children are conducted in small groups - no more than 6 people, with the obligatory presence of one of the parents of each child. A feeling of connection with mom or dad helps babies feel protected, makes them more confident, and stimulates brain activity. Makoto Shichida's technique emphasizes the importance of harmonious and loving relationship with children regarding their mental development. Classes should take place in an atmosphere of relaxation, not pressure, so the time for them should be selected so that the child is in a good mood.
- The duration of classes at Shichida's school is no more than 50 minutes. . But Makoto Shichida considers half an hour of practical training a day necessary for a child’s brain to reach its maximum potential.
- Mood for classes . As mentioned above, for the success of Shichida classes, it is important that the baby is in good mood, and also was not overexcited. Before starting the exercises, it is recommended to let your child listen to music with alpha waves, which activates the brain. What are alpha waves, or alpha signals? These are certain vibrations on which intuition, telepathy and clairvoyance are based. Alpha waves are emitted by the brain during moments of relaxation and meditation. Shichida believes that children, unlike adults, can read alpha signals, and this ability needs to be developed. Concerning specific examples, examples of music with alpha waves are the audio recordings of “Ocean Waves” by Dr. Jeffrey Thompson, “Rest and Grounding” by Kelly Howell. Shichida schools also practice breathing exercises before performing main tasks.
- Dynamism and variety of forms of activities with a child . Shichida's methodology covers a wide range of tasks - humanitarian, musical, mathematical, for the study of foreign languages, physical. And, of course, all tasks should be interesting for the child. Ideally, each exercise using the Shichida method is performed in 1-2 minutes (maximum 5 minutes). If the process is delayed, the child needs help and continues to use simpler tasks.
Classes using the Shichida method include the following games and exercises:
- games to develop imagination (imagine yourself as someone else, make up a story);
- exercises to develop the ESP function (clairvoyance, telepathy, psychometry, foresight);
- demonstration of flash cards for developing photo memory;
- games with cards (develop memory and imagination);
- games with tangrams, puzzles, construction sets (develop imagination, Creative skills);
- mathematics (recognizing the number of dots on cards, familiarization with numbers);
- music and physical exercise;
- creative tasks(modeling, drawing);
- Reading books.
- Don't expect instant results from exercise . Parents should not require their child to reproduce the images shown. Information during classes is postponed until subconscious level and will be retrieved when really needed.
Principles of education from Makoto Shichida
Makoto Shichida advises parents to believe in the child and his potential, not to demand the impossible from him, not to compare with other children, to praise as often as possible and point out shortcomings less often. Your child's academic success should not be about you. main value. Remember that all children are ideal from birth, and try to show love to the baby with everyone possible ways. By the way, when Professor Shichida once talked with a group of children, he heard from them that their parents did not love them enough. Therefore, do not be so sure that your child is receiving enough attention and love. Makoto Shichida's advice on how to show love to your child:
Tight 8 Second Hug
After your child has fulfilled your request or task, praise him: “Thank you very much, you helped me so much (made me so happy)! I love you very much!" and give me a big hug. In 8 seconds of hugs, your love will reach the child’s heart, says Makoto Shichida. This method helps to cope with whims and bad behavior. Praise makes a child more self-confident and motivates him to do good deeds.
Listen carefully to your child
Many mothers try to talk more with their child, but it is important not only to talk ourselves, but also to listen to the baby. One-sided conversations, especially in an edifying and moralizing manner, make the child withdraw and feel unloved. Listen and try to HEAR. When talking with children, the practice of the “echo method” works well, in which the adult plays a passive role, repeating, like an echo, the child’s words, analyzing them and asking questions. For example: “Mom, I don’t want to go to kindergarten.” - “You don’t want to go to kindergarten... What don’t you like there?” - “Sasha offends me.” - “Sasha offends you. Why does he do this?
Use the 5 Minute Setup Method
This method is used when there is a need to correct any behavioral disorders of the baby - thumb sucking, throwing toys, reluctance to go to school. kindergarten, hysterics, etc. 5 minutes after falling asleep, when the child’s consciousness is already asleep, the subconscious continues to be awake and respond to information coming from outside. At this time, you can effectively influence directly the baby’s subconscious, whispering to him about what his behavior will be like.
For example, a boy, 2 years old, sucks his thumb. Mom, 5 minutes after he falls asleep, begins to tell him the following: “Son, you are already so big, you are two whole years old. You are happy and calm, dad and I love you very much and always take care of you. You feel confident and loved. You don't have to suck your thumb. Now you will sleep soundly, sweetly. You feel very good. Tomorrow you will wake up in a joyful mood, and we will play together.”
Makoto Shichida says in his book that all mothers whose children had certain behavioral disorders noticed improvements after using this technique. One child went to kindergarten without crying three days later, another child stopped sucking his thumb in less than a week.
Shichida technique: pros and cons
Shichida's development methods, on the one hand, are confirmed by many years of research by the Japanese professor and have some points of contact with other methods. On the other hand, any promises to develop psychic abilities, intuition and other “ephemeral” matters are often perceived as deception. However, regardless of your position on the topic of clairvoyance, you should not deny Professor Shichida’s technique.
The clear advantages of the technique are: emphasis on love and harmonious relationships parents and child; the desire to fill the child’s life with varied and interesting tasks; the presence of a system that facilitates daily activities with the child; the lack of a goal among adults to teach the baby to read and count as soon as possible, i.e. develop his academic skills.
The disadvantages of the method include the author’s assumptions already mentioned above about the development of superpowers - not everyone likes them. However, it is precisely this part of Shichida’s technique that attracts some. And exercises like “Ball of Energy,” which seem overly magical to some, can be compared with any other children’s games where the child simply trains his imagination.
Some people in the method do not like the point about showing a huge number of cards, which must be constantly different. Indeed, if you follow Shichida's method thoroughly, printing out thousands of cards can be a problem. And showing images on a computer is not very beneficial for a baby’s vision.
In any case, mothers who use the Shichida technique in classes with children speak about it with delight. They talk about the brilliant successes of their kids who have good memory who begin to speak early and easily master reading and arithmetic. Whether this can be considered the merit of the technique or the mothers themselves is difficult to say. One thing is certain: communicating with your child, playing with him and doing activities will definitely not be in vain.
The classes themselves using the Shichida method will be discussed directly in the next article -.
Nowadays, parents who pay great attention to the development of their children have access to an incredible number of different methods. In this “pedagogical sea”, the works of Japanese specialists stand somewhat apart and at the same time attract great interest.
Love is the basis of everything
The first postulate of Makoto Shichida may surprise you: the professor is confident that the basis for the successful development of any child always lies in a huge role. The scientist notes: children very often believe that they are not loved enough, while parents are sure of the opposite. And this lack of love, felt by children and not noticed by parents, has the most detrimental effect on the development and upbringing of children of all ages. To prevent this from happening, the professor suggests using the following methods:
- Frequent and strong hugs
Even minor successes of a baby or an older child, any of his help to you (even inept) or even just a willingness to respond to a request must be rewarded. And the best reward is a hug. They not only help demonstrate to children the depth of parental feelings, but also perfectly motivate them for future “exploits.” Hug your children as often as possible, whisper words of gratitude and love into their ears. Just be sure to do it sincerely, and not because the technique “tells” you to. Hugs should not be formal, “for show,” because children feel this very subtly.
- Attentive and sensitive attitude
Never listen to your child with half an ear, do not give endless instructions and refuse constant (or very frequent) criticism, because this is precisely the main reason for the alienation that often arises between parents and children. We often forget about delicacy when communicating with our children. But they deserve sensitive and respectful treatment no less than other people. Therefore, be sure to also call for help with a sense of tact and good upbringing. But there should be as little declarativeness and undisguised edification in our communication with children as possible. Instead of declaring: “Do as I say!”, gently and kindly suggest: “Let’s think and decide together.”
- The right attitude
The professor is convinced that during the first five minutes from the moment of falling asleep, a person’s subconscious does not sleep. These precious moments can and should be used to influence children. Positive attitudes received at this time can work wonders. Parents can “dictate” literally anything to their children: a good appetite or deep sleep, self-confidence or a friendly attitude. But the most important thing is that in these moments the children’s subconscious will hear and remember the words of love, which, among other things, must be heard during the “tuning”. Interestingly, even listening to recordings of parental “attitudes” has the most beneficial effect on children. Therefore, even if parents often leave and do not have the opportunity to give “instructions” every night, they can simply write them down and ask the grandmother or nanny to turn on the recording. Keep in mind that you need to speak quietly (you can even whisper) and kindly, and not broadcast to the whole apartment. Makoto Shichida calls this method “five-minute suggestion” and advises using it regularly.
How to organize classes
What advice does Makoto Shichida give on organizing classes:
- The lesson should last no longer than one hour
- Changes in activity occur at least once every five minutes.
- The scheme of organizing classes for children of all ages is the same. The difference is in the level of difficulty of the tasks.
- Older children three years They should also do a special exercise that activates the “dormant” right hemisphere.
Mandalas - benefits from Shichida's technique that develop photographic memory
Lesson scheme
How are classes going?
1. Introductory part
- Singing or listening (for very young students) to songs; for this purpose, life-affirming works are selected.
- Breathing exercises. They are quite simple. For example, you need to sit on chairs or on the floor, relax, take deep breaths and exhale several times. Inhaling, arms should be spread to the sides, and exhaling, clasp the body. Parents should help children perform breathing exercises.
- Meditation. Behind this word that may alert opposing parents oriental practices, rather, something similar to auto-training from the film “The Most Charming and Attractive”, beloved by our viewers, is hidden. Only configure small child parents should. In a calm and gentle tone, it is necessary to say a few encouraging parting words: “you are very capable,” “we love you,” “you can do anything,” “you can do anything,” etc. Older children can easily “configure” themselves.
After this stage, children under three years old can move on to basic exercises, while older children need to “switch to images.” Makoto Shichida offers several ways for this, including games to develop imagination and visualization. A child can imagine himself as a moth or fish, grasshopper or bird.
2. Main part
The main part of the lesson includes several blocks:
- 1 block - training of supernatural abilities
This is perhaps the most controversial component of Shichida’s method for many parents; it contradicts our traditional views on life. Professor Shichida is confident that all people have supernatural (extrasensory) perception and that it needs to be developed, since such skills incredibly expand human capabilities. Indeed, in his arsenal, for example, telepathy, clairvoyance, psychometry and foresight appear. The scientist is convinced that for young children completing this block of tasks is not difficult, but in older children this “dormant” skill can be “awakened.”
- Block 2 - memory training
This block of tasks actively uses so-called memo-techniques to facilitate memorization. Here's an example of what an exercise might look like:
- The child is shown cards with different images, for example, a fish and a house.
- At the same time, they pronounce a text that helps to remember what is shown in the pictures, for example, “a fish lives in a house.”
- After this, the cards are placed face down and the child is asked to remember what is drawn on them.
Gradually the number of cards must be increased. When a child can name 15 cards he saw (!) for the first time in the required sequence, his memory will be trained so much that no auxiliary texts will be needed. After all, he will be able to remember any images without verbal reinforcement.
Shichida developed many similar exercises that develop, among other things, photographic memory, which can make life much easier for, perhaps, each of us. Therefore, this block is very popular and arouses great interest among parents from different countries.
- Block 3 - development of musical and mathematical abilities, etc.
This block also uses exercises to help you better assimilate and remember new information. The professor calls for relying not on one way of obtaining information, but on several at the same time. For example, children learn songs based on visual images, and listen to music by looking at cards with notes.
If children cannot cope with some tasks, parents must complete them in front of the children, making sure to explain each of their actions.
Tasks for board game tangrams that develop abstract thinking
Many of the parents who decided to try working with their children using the Shichida method say that they do not use everything. Most often they refuse the “extrasensory” block. But exercises for developing memory, musical and mathematical abilities, and mastering speed reading skills are of great interest to our compatriots. At the same time, experimental parents note that the exclusion of some questionable tasks does not affect the child’s achievements in other areas. Therefore, those who would like to try Shichida’s technique, but who are confused by the “supernatural” block, can be advised to take on board not all tasks, but only those that seem most suitable and acceptable to you.
In 1954, there lived a mathematics teacher, Toru Kumon, in Japan, and one day his son Takeshi brought home a bad grade in arithmetic. Mr. Kumon was not at a loss and began to give his son simple addition tasks every day that fit on one piece of paper. Soon Takeshi became the best in the class, and the parents of his classmates took their children to classes with his father.
60 years have passed. Now KUMON training centers are located all over the world - in almost 50 countries. More than 4 million children study in centers using special workbooks.
In Russia, notebooks from the KUMON center are published by the publishing house Mann, Ivanov and Ferber. We talked with the head of the children's direction “MYTH.Childhood” Anastasia Kreneva about how the Japanese method of child development differs from the Russian one; what and how KUMON notebooks teach and what other educational aids for children are available in Russia.
- What is KUMON and what are their “tricks”?
KUMON is a Japanese method of developing skills that a child should usually have developed before school. At KUMON centers they teach how to hold a pencil, draw lines, cut, glue, count, and write numbers and letters.
In total, there are more than 50 workbooks in the series that we publish - each for a specific skill and age. The notebooks contain 40 tasks, and they are designed for a month or two of lessons. The main thing is to practice every day, consistently and little by little. It is very important. Key Principle The whole technique is a consistent complication. It’s always the simplest first, then more and more difficult. This is what distinguishes them from most domestic publications.
So, for example, you can often find this: you open a notebook to prepare your hand for writing, and one of the first tasks there is to circle a flower or a sun along a dotted line. And the question immediately arises: how can a two-year-old child, who still doesn’t even know how to properly hold a pencil, do this? This is difficult - you need to draw a circle and straight lines going under different angles. Not every adult can handle it well. It's different at KUMON. It all starts with very, very simple things. First the child learns to lead short line, in the next task the line lengthens, then one bend appears, then several, etc. That is, according to the logic of the Japanese, the task with the sun would be at the very end of the notebook...
Another feature is that KUMON is not only a mechanical practice of a skill. These notebooks teach the child to be independent. Parental participation here is reduced to zero. Thanks to the illustrations and page design, all tasks are intuitive for the child. He opens the notebook and does everything himself, without prompting. Plus, the Japanese constantly repeat to parents that children must be praised. When you praise children, it increases their self-esteem, they begin to believe in their abilities, and the activities themselves evoke only positive emotions in them. They themselves want to exercise every day. And this is very important - after all, this is how the child also develops good habit to classes.
- I heard that the Japanese even think about the thickness of paper for children. This is true?
Yes, they thought of everything possible. Notebooks for children two years old - small format; notebooks for older children - large. The thickness of the paper is also different. For example, notebooks for children use the thickest paper. How older child, the thinner the paper. Everything is done to make it comfortable for the child to write. At two years old, it is still difficult for him to hold a pencil and draw a line, so he presses hard on the paper. If the paper is thin, it will tear, and this will upset the baby. There will be no satisfaction from the completed task. And next time he won’t want to study.
Another example of thoughtfulness, and far from obvious, is in the illustrations for the assignments. At the beginning of the notebook, the tasks are very simple, and the illustrations for them are bright, with many details. The child perceives it all as a game and immerses himself in it. The further you go, the more difficult the tasks become. And the picture becomes less saturated and colorful. Why? Here it’s also very simple: the more difficult the task, the stronger for the child you need to concentrate. Nothing should distract him.
- So the reason for the popularity of KUMON is that everything is very thought out there?
Yes, but not only. It’s also about the emotions of parents who see the real result. The child did not know how, for example, to hold a pencil or use scissors. He did 40 exercises - and now he can do it perfectly.
By the way, we made a discovery for ourselves. It turned out that our children have problems with cutting. The most popular notebook in the entire series is “Learning to Cut.” In principle, there is an explanation for this. Analogs that are offered on the market today are notebooks with applications. But how can a child cut out a circle or square for an applique if he doesn’t yet know how to cut paper? In KUMON, everything is consistent: first we learn to make simple cuts, short, along thick lines, then the lines become thinner and longer, angles, arcs, waves appear, and only then circles and lines of complex shapes.
Another trick is that in cutting books the child doesn’t just cut out - at the end he gets some kind of toy that he can then play with. For example, some kind of snake that he cut out in a spiral. Or, for example, you cut out a blanket and cover the drawn girl with this blanket.
- What types of educational notebooks are there in Russia?
Educational children's notebooks can be divided into two types. The first is comprehensive development notebooks. These are such development tools general. Here, within the framework of one notebook or series, everything can be: mathematics for kids (shapes, opposites, correspondence, etc.), and general development speeches (groups of words by topic), and creative tasks (finish drawing, making, gluing). The child develops, learns new things, of course. But the process is completely different, this intellectual development. Such notebooks do not “set your hand” and do not teach you exactly how to cut out, as KUMON does. Or, for example, notebooks with stickers are quite popular now. They are wonderful and interesting in their own way. The tasks here are also for general development and, in parallel, for development fine motor skills. That is, usually you first need to think, decide what and where to glue, and only then glue.