"aloha, care for some math?"
What would you say if someone greeted you that way? I visited my in-laws two days ago. My niece-in-law, Nica, was there, and as soon as she saw me, she said, "Tita Donna, ilan 'to?" holding up three fingers on her right hand (the forefinger, middle-finger, and ring finger) and three more fingers on her right hand (the thumb, forefinger, and middle-finger). Of course, you'd think she was holding up the number 33. But, no, three unsuccessful guesses later, it turned out it was the number 37. And she was doing some kind of finger math called Aloha. Her book is called "ALOHA Mental Arithmetic". She's in Grade 3.
It is no wonder then that kids today are short of being mutants. I swear, the stuff they teach kids in school these days! I've never even heard of that kind of arithmetic! I know about finger math but my knowledge is limited to mulitiplication (and only single digits multiplied by 7, 8, or 9, at that). So, I asked her to teach me the trick. She said all I needed to know was how to count with my fingers, er...somewhat differently. It was rather confusing at first because it went against the counting logic I've been accustomed to since pre-school. But, I got used to it after a few run-throughs. And you won't believe how easy it is to add and subtract two-digit numbers with the Aloha method! Definitely saves not only time, but paper and pencil as well. Oh, count the eraser in, too.
We then proceeded to tackle about five pages worth of exercises in her textbook--my threshold I would suspect, as after that I was already complaining of a headache (my feeble brain's attempt at genius left me exhausted). Yet, Nica still had the mental stamina to keep going (though I think her enthusiasm was already bordering on obsession ;p). What an amazing kid! :D
Maybe next visit there will again be something new to learn. Meantime, if you'll excuse me, I have another skill to add to my resume.
posted by haiku @ 2:57 AM
1 Comments:
HI. I have been searching the telephone number (even website) of Aloha but to no avail. I hope you can help my by asking your Nica the contact number of ALOHA. I am interested in enrollng my son there. Hope you can help me. My email add is yppah29@yahoo.com. Thanks and hope to hear from you.
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