Profile-Sonia-Tagare

BY SONIA TAGARE

546 x 678. 219447/ 333.

23467 + 57655 + 4568. Upon seeing these daunting numerals, the average human being in the USA thinks of only one solution. Let’s use that handy-dandy calculator, shall we? However, some other countries approach these math equations differently.

Taiwan, Japan, China, and other Asian countries tend to use the abacus, defined as, “A manual computing device consisting of a frame holding parallel rods strung with movable counters,” (Houghton). In other words, it is a mathematical instrument used for calculations. In Taiwan, learning the abacus is part of the school curriculum starting from elementary school to high school. Jin Hwei Chen, an abacus teacher in San Jose, first learned how to use the abacus in elementary school in Taiwan.

Although Chen disliked abacus at first, she gradually started to enjoy it throughout her schooling.

An abacus is an instrument made with beads and wood and is used to calculate numerals. In the olden days, it

was made namely to do basic calculations, when the calculator never existed. Still used in many Asian countries around the world today, the abacus has slowly been accepted into other areas of the world such as the United States of America and Africa.

When Chen was in sixth grade, she attended a local abacus tournament that changed her perspective of abacus all together. At this tournament, there were only two contenders: one with abacus skills and the other one with a calculator. She recalls that every round, the student with the abacus skills beat the calculator hands down. “The student who used the abacus was faster than the student who used the calculator because he was trained to use the abacus for many years. The person who used the calculator was slower because he had to push the buttons on the calculator, which takes up time. Also, the person with the calculator was unskilled in the using the calculator compared to how the

abacus student was with his abacus” (Chen). What she concluded from the experience is that learning how to do the abacus is an important skill to have because it teaches one to be efficient, focused, determined, and competitive.

Teaching abacus for 30 plus years, Jin Hwei Chen has come to appreciate the value of abacus and instill that value in her students. Teaching kids from age 4 to age 19, she knows how to deal with every age group of children. Chen believes, “ Learning abacus is important to brain development in children at a young age. It helps them be more disciplined and focused” (Chen). Another benefit of the abacus is that it is also used to teach blind people arithmetic (Anon, tsbvi.edu).

Not only does the abacus allow one to compute quickly, but it also teaches students how to be efficient and finish their work in a given amount of time. Chen believes that although abacus is an endangered instrument, it is still as valuable to students today as it was thousands of years ago because of that reason. Similar to Chen’s school example, Takashi Kojima’s (an author) book illustrates that Kojima firmly believes that a person adept at abacus can easily beat a man with a calculator. In a contest held in Japan, Kojima revealed that the abacus won 4 times in accuracy and speed in comparison to the calculator (Kojima). As shown, learning how to use the abacus can increase one’s efficiency and remove one’s dependency on electronic objects.

Born in Taipei, Taiwan in 1955, Chen was introduced to the abacus in elementary school as a mandatory, core subject. Although she did not like to use the abacus at first, she changed her mind after her high school abacus teacher taught her the instrument in detail. “Everyday in high school, we would go to my teacher’s house and study for hours and hours for abacus. We even had to practice in the morning” (Chen). After high school, she became an abacus teacher in Taiwan and proceeded to get married and start a family. To support her husband in furthering his education, she and her husband moved to America when she was in her 30’s.

Chen came to America with the intentions of starting a sewing business, but as her close friends asked her to teach their kids to use the abacus, she gave up her passion of sewing as a profession and opened an abacus class in her garage. “I have a lot of talents like sewing and abacus. I wanted to come here to sew, but my friend insisted that I teach her kid how to learn abacus” (Chen). Although she never largely advertised her abacus school (Jin’s Mental Arithmetic Academy), she eventually saw an increase in her class size. In a classroom in San Jose, she now works 6 days a week and teaches over 200 students. She has also taken her students to compete internationally and nationally, resulting with many wins for Jin’s Mental Arithmetic Academy.

Characterized as determined and successful, Chen is a well-dressed, middle-aged, Taiwanese woman whose main focus in her business is to not only make her students international champions in abacus but also to teach them the importance of focus, discipline, and hard work. She deals with children with all types of personalities and circumstances, but she still treats every child with the same amount of respect.

Chen started her business through word of mouth.

She only had 5 students when she started her school in the confines of her own garage.

“It was hard to find more students because I had no way of advertising my business. The only reason it is as big as it is today is because of friends telling their friends about my business” (Chen). Gaining some more students, she had to find another place to hold her teaching and bought a small classroom in San Jose.

She struggled with getting people to join, but Taiwanese parents from Taiwan wanted their children to learn abacus, so she finally got customers.

Eventually, she started getting customers of different ethnicities and walks of life. Chen says, “Now I have the Indian students, Korean students, American students, and the Chinese students.” Her school was then noticed by a bigger community, and her business boomed from there.

Chen soon became involved with other abacus schools around the nation, including those in New Jersey, Oregon, and Los Angeles. She started to enroll her students in written abacus competitions. Later, the other schools in America and Chen came together and decided to make a yearly competition in Los Angeles. “The first competition in LA was in 2004. We have been having competitions there ever since” (Chen). She later expanded these competitions by sending her students to international tournaments in countries such as Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, and India.

One of the best qualities of Chen is that she always likes to give back to the community. Every year, she gives scholarship money to her graduating high school class voluntarily. She also requires students to volunteer at her class in high school so she can help them get their volunteer hours for high school and college. In her Sunday class, Chen teaches special needs children for an hour pro bono.

She says, “The special needs kids take more time to understand the method, but some of them end up very successful.

One of my special needs student got up to the 6 Dan Level, which is higher than most people without special needs who take abacus.” Chen’s goal is to not only instill values in her students but also to prepare them for their life after school.

In the future, Chen plans to continue her business and take her students to higher levels of competition. She wants to train her students to reach the 10 Dan level, which is the highest level of mental arithmetic.

She hopes to get more students involved in abacus and spread awareness of it locally. She thinks about going back to Taiwan after she retires but says, “I don’t want to retire. I want to keep on doing my business forever.” Always an optimistic woman, Chen looks toward the future with passion and determination.

“While primarily focused on enhancing a child’s mathematical aptitude, learning abacus also promotes brain development, increases mental capacity, builds patience, boosts confidence and improves discipline. The benefits of learning abacus are essential to any child’s mental development” (Chen).