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With the abacus as a principal tool, this new brain enhancement program promises to lay the groundwork for its students' holistic development
By Marie Anne Fajardo
SIP (Smart Intellectual Progressive) Academy founder Kelvin Tham established this brain activity-enhancing program in 1997 in Indonesia. Today, SIP is being taught to over 200,000 students in 12 countries, including Malaysia, India, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
The abacus, one of the main educational SIP tools, accelerates right- and left-brain functions by stimulating the nerves in the fingers that send messages to the brain through the neurons. By actively using the three main senses-namely the visual, the tactile or kinesthetic, and the auditory-this continuous, synchronized activity promotes one's mental, physical, social and emotional development.
"It's not just a counting program, and no rote memorization is involved." Tham says. He points out that the exercises are aimed at acquiring basic learning skills, such as learning to visualize and improving one's memory. Besides the abacus, he says, alpha or relaxing music also helps one to subconsciously learn new information. "Having fun in class is a totally different approach to motivate kids to learn, so we want to keep a simple, fun, and joyful learning environment," he says.
The SIP also uses the brain gym, in which learning is associated with movement. Says Tham: "In the classroom, you need to warm up the body first and release any mental blocks. You energize them to get them ready to learn. You also encourage students to drink water because it acts as a lubricant and facilitates the delivery of oxygen to the brain."
Tham, a former teacher from Malaysia, gathers students from SIP Academy centers in various parts of the world every year to a particular venue for a world competition. The 2007 competition, to be held later this year in Colombo, Sri Lanka, is primarily aimed at building the confidence of the participants.
Tham says that the students, the teachers, and the students' parents all play a role in SIP. Each SIP activity is aimed at stimulating creativity. For example, there's an activity called dramatization, in which students are asked to make a story out of the drawings in coloring books. "There can be many answers," he says. "By having not just one correct answer, in fact, we are able to maximize the potential of the students."
He adds: "One hundred percent of the students benefit. We give them 'vitamins' every day, which is homework that serves to encourage and motivate them. And we promote character change in the child-they're soon able to think outside the box."
Benidy, Villacruz, and Yap brought SIP to the Philippines in October 2006. Their first students were their nieces and nephews, and within six months' time, their 2007 summer program-largely through positive word-of-mouth, tie-ups with pre-schools, and newspaper advertising-had already attracted some 60 students.
The programs are patterned after the Malaysian model. They consist of Foundation Level 1, for children ages 7 to 12, which consists of four one-hour weekly sessions a month (P1,680); and Junior AML (accelerated mental learning), for children ages 5 to 6, which consists of eight one-hour sessions, held twice a week for one month (P2,016). Tham says that through the SIP, children will also learn to value teamwork and to become good role models.
Indonesia, which had 120 centers in 1998, now has 630 centers. Tham is confident that SIP will also attract a similarly substantial number of students in the Philippines. After training Benidy, Villacruz, and Yap, Tham has been visiting the Philippines regularly to train more teachers and update the courses.
One of the SIP academy's oldest graduates is a 21-year-old who learned to repair mobile phones with very little supervision. Another, an accountant, can man the cashier's box without using a calculating machine. A 13-year-old, who has trained with SIP since age 6, learned Mandarin in only five to six months' time.
SIP Academy Philippines currently has seven facilitators and six trainors in its flagship center in Broadway Avenue, Quezon City. It plans to expand in the next two to three years, targeting as many as 150 centers by that time through sublicensing. It also plans to launch an art program in 2008 to complement the current SIP courses.
The abacus, one of the main educational SIP tools, accelerates right- and left-brain functions by stimulating the nerves in the fingers that send messages to the brain through the neurons. By actively using the three main senses-namely the visual, the tactile or kinesthetic, and the auditory-this continuous, synchronized activity promotes one's mental, physical, social and emotional development.
"It's not just a counting program, and no rote memorization is involved." Tham says. He points out that the exercises are aimed at acquiring basic learning skills, such as learning to visualize and improving one's memory. Besides the abacus, he says, alpha or relaxing music also helps one to subconsciously learn new information. "Having fun in class is a totally different approach to motivate kids to learn, so we want to keep a simple, fun, and joyful learning environment," he says.
The SIP also uses the brain gym, in which learning is associated with movement. Says Tham: "In the classroom, you need to warm up the body first and release any mental blocks. You energize them to get them ready to learn. You also encourage students to drink water because it acts as a lubricant and facilitates the delivery of oxygen to the brain."
Tham, a former teacher from Malaysia, gathers students from SIP Academy centers in various parts of the world every year to a particular venue for a world competition. The 2007 competition, to be held later this year in Colombo, Sri Lanka, is primarily aimed at building the confidence of the participants.
Tham says that the students, the teachers, and the students' parents all play a role in SIP. Each SIP activity is aimed at stimulating creativity. For example, there's an activity called dramatization, in which students are asked to make a story out of the drawings in coloring books. "There can be many answers," he says. "By having not just one correct answer, in fact, we are able to maximize the potential of the students."
He adds: "One hundred percent of the students benefit. We give them 'vitamins' every day, which is homework that serves to encourage and motivate them. And we promote character change in the child-they're soon able to think outside the box."
Benidy, Villacruz, and Yap brought SIP to the Philippines in October 2006. Their first students were their nieces and nephews, and within six months' time, their 2007 summer program-largely through positive word-of-mouth, tie-ups with pre-schools, and newspaper advertising-had already attracted some 60 students.
The programs are patterned after the Malaysian model. They consist of Foundation Level 1, for children ages 7 to 12, which consists of four one-hour weekly sessions a month (P1,680); and Junior AML (accelerated mental learning), for children ages 5 to 6, which consists of eight one-hour sessions, held twice a week for one month (P2,016). Tham says that through the SIP, children will also learn to value teamwork and to become good role models.
Indonesia, which had 120 centers in 1998, now has 630 centers. Tham is confident that SIP will also attract a similarly substantial number of students in the Philippines. After training Benidy, Villacruz, and Yap, Tham has been visiting the Philippines regularly to train more teachers and update the courses.
One of the SIP academy's oldest graduates is a 21-year-old who learned to repair mobile phones with very little supervision. Another, an accountant, can man the cashier's box without using a calculating machine. A 13-year-old, who has trained with SIP since age 6, learned Mandarin in only five to six months' time.
SIP Academy Philippines currently has seven facilitators and six trainors in its flagship center in Broadway Avenue, Quezon City. It plans to expand in the next two to three years, targeting as many as 150 centers by that time through sublicensing. It also plans to launch an art program in 2008 to complement the current SIP courses.
