Role of a Course Instructor in Abacus Mental Arithmetic coaching

A  course instructor (CI) is  one entrusted with the most important job  of teaching the children.Teaching is like no other profession. As a teacher, he will be wearing many hats. The Course Instructor will be a communicator, a disciplinarian, a conveyor of information, an evaluator, a class room manager, a counsellor, a surrogate parent to name a few roles he/she assumes in carrying out their duties.

Each of these roles require practice and skills which he has to learn in the training course. Those who want to be a teacher should invest their time and resources,besides they should have the appropriate temperament, skills and personality;one thing for sure, it's more than loving kids.

The duty of a Course Instructor doesn't end when the 2 hour session is over. A conscientious C.I. will be involved in after - class meetings with her franchisee, assisting students, orrecting homework, evaluating their class performance and test papers, taking extra classes for the weaker ones and calling parents. All these demand a sacrifice of their personal time. As a
Course Instructor, committed to excellence, it's a sacrifice he can live with.

The role of an Instructor is different from that of a regular school teacher. His responsibilities are more. Abacus coaching is an extra-curricular activity which the child or parent has opted for. The C.I. cannot take the students for granted in the sense that, unless he impresses upon the parent the worthiness of the course and sustains the interest of the child, they may not be willing to continue.So, he should strive to make the course as interesting a subject as ossible,
monitor the child's performance, motivate them and counsel the parents when needed. This is not an easy task, because the age-group, the attitude & mental make-up of the children and parents differ from one another.

The Course Instructor should transit smoothly away from the planned lesson in response to
the student's need which surfaces during the class. They should have the capacity to explain a concept so that it makes sense to a young child. He must master the ability to be tuned into every child in the classroom, letting little or nothing to slip by unnoticed.Probably ,for those who have read this far, the Course Instructor job may seem unenvious or formidable, but that's not so.

The sheer pleasure he gets while teaching, while he is involved with innocent children and the happiness derived when the child blossoms into a genius (human calculator) is immense. The satisfaction experienced when the parents express their appreciation and gratitude and the inexplicable emotion which brings a lump in his throat when their students excelled in their subjects and tell everybody that they want to become an  Abacus coaching instructor like  their madam.

Such moments are precious and can be regarded as the highest Reward a Course Instructor can get. "Give me few years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be
uprooted". Vladimir Lenin.

Children at the tender of 4 years and above come to us. Along with the parents and schoolteachers we as Course Instructors also share the responsibility of moulding the chil­dren. I am reminded of the letter read recently by me - writ­ten by Abraham Lincoln to his son's school teacher in which he writes about all the qualities he would like the teacher to
teach his son. Parents, given the opportunity will come out with pages and pages of what they expect us to nurture in their children, and as C.I's we shoulder this responsibility. We take this as our passionate assignment.

Unless we are passionate & look at creating interest in children, we cannot transfer subject content/knowledge to the students. Teaching does not restrict itself to only motivating children to learn but also teaching them how to learn in a manner that is relevant, meaningful and memorable.

A good C.I. listens, questions, responds and remem­bers that each student and class is
different. Our work in­volves caring, nurturing and developing minds and talents. Thus it involves devoting time often invisible to every student.Thankless hours of correcting books, preparing model papers and worksheets and other material to improve their speed and accuracy becomes a part of this onerous task

End of the day teaching experience is but fun, a pleasure filled with rewards like observing a
flower blossoming. It would be a great delight to see a child after 2 years owning skills acquired through systematic training. Course Instruc­tor could thus feel the pleasure, as what she sees is her own creation. Let us rededicate ourselves in the noble task - as a abacus Course Instructor