One of my best days ever, The Largest One Day Soroban Competition that officially attend Guinness World Records. In this competition there were 2500 genius students of different ages and gender and from different places all over Lebanon, they all learned the abacus technique for math calculations using the '' Soroban''; an ancient math calculation tool used in Japan for many years. It was held in Forum de beyrouth, and I went there as a volunteer to help in assisting in the opening ceremony, proctoring during the competition, distributing the exams to students where every student has a different exam, making sure that every student is correctly seated by checking his/her ID, correcting about 20 sheets of exams for 30 minutes, attending the final ceremony for distributing the certificates of appreciation to all volunteers. It was a pleasure to see how hard work really paid off, where attending such a competition was a dream for Mr. Hadi Hamza, the owner of genius map. This gave me a lesson that when you believe in your dreams nothing will stop you from achieving it, at the beginning it was an idea and now more than 2000 students all around Lebanon are learning abacus technique and competing all over the world. When I watched those little students solving large mathematical calculations mentally and using Soroban, I thought how much this technique gave students strong skills in thinking process, where they can solve problems mentally enforcing their critical thinking. Moreover, it improves the student's memory, imaginative and creative thinking, logical and time management skills. All these abilities and skills will definitely improve the student's academic achievement and this what I like most. It was a long historical and special day of my life, and I was really glad and proud of myself for this achievement, just like scaling new heights and setting new standards for me, specially when I think that I'm now part of the Guinness Book chapters. Special thank to our university that gave me this opportunity, looking forward for new experiences, achievements like this.
What a wonderful experience you have had! Incorporating such mathematical techniques in schools of Lebanon makes us feel less worried about having learners totally dependent on using calculators instead of their minds. Developing the students' high levels of thinking is essential because it makes them think out side the box and come up with creative and new ideas. I think this process of thinking must be also given attention in other domains also and not only in mathematics.
ReplyDeleteWell done my friend.To be part of such competition is a great honor. I had attended a competition on March 10 in Antoine school in Zahle since my kids were part of it.I highly appreciate the efforts exerted by both students and teachers. What made me overwhelmed with emotions those students who could divide,add.subtract and multiply large numbers in seconds neither using a calculator nor a Soroban.I consider it a unique achievement to be part of Guinness book.
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