2013 Jun 02  (Sun)

I learnt too

I have long forgotten how I learned to do my subtraction.  I only remember that in Primary 1, we had to memorize by hard the Times Table to prepare us for multiplication.  Perhaps, it was by constant practice and drill that we learned our subtraction.

I was at a loss why the teacher (in that government school) kept asking her Grade-2 student to count from x to y when she was correcting their arithmetic.  The child has to hit his/her own chest on the first number before she/he starts counting.  Soon…I know.  It was subtraction….

8 minus 2 is 6.  The teacher would ask the student to count from 2 to 8, with the child hitting his/her chest on 2 and counting his/her fingers starting from 3.  The result?   6 fingers were up!   Voila!  C’est la réponse.

Never thought of teaching a child subtraction in this way.

So….volunteering is a good thing.  I learnt something too.

END