EDU-Port Nippon 2026–2027 · Supported by MEXT, Japan’s Ministry of Education
Kodomo Soroban Center teaches with the same method and curriculum as Kodomo School, which has taught soroban in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, since 1976. Your child can learn at our center in Vinhomes Gardenia or in the club at their own school.
Classes for 5-year-olds and primary school children at Vinhomes Gardenia, 1, 2 or 3 sessions a week. Free trial lesson.
See our classes Parents of club membersWhat your child learns, and how the club reports to and keeps in touch with parents – all in one place.
See club information SchoolsIt begins with a free 30-minute trial session for grade 1 and grade 2 students.
See how it worksIsn’t all soroban the same – just “math for developing thinking skills”?
In fact, the way soroban is learned varies a great deal depending on the country it comes from.
Today there is a Malaysian way of learning soroban, a Japanese way, and others. Soroban is also easily confused with Finger Math. In Japan, soroban is a tool for building patience and perseverance along with sharp, quick thinking.
With a traditional abacus and a few simple finger movements, children practice calculating by turning numbers into beads.
Read the number on paper or on a screen.
2 in the tens place, 7 in the ones place. Move the beads with your fingers to show the number.
Close your eyes and move the beads on a soroban you picture in your mind (mental calculation).
The Kodomo Soroban program is the same program used in Japan today, run by the Kodomo School education network, whose history goes back to 1976.
Our goal is not to grow as fast as possible. For 50 years in Japan, we have refined our approach to teaching and kept improving it through real experience with thousands of children, so that we can offer them the most effective soroban program we can.
Focus, persistence and clear thinking: what parents hope for, built lesson by lesson.
Children see numbers as bead pictures and understand how they work.
Timed practice, a little faster every lesson.
Eyes, hands and brain work together.
Careful bead moves and complete, correct answers.
Visible progress turns into confidence.
Grid drills and mental math use both sides of the brain.
Every new student starts at Level 0, whatever their age, and moves up one step at a time, building solid finger technique, posture and a clear picture of the beads.
Posture, moving the beads, adding and subtracting 1–3 digit numbers
Adding with carrying, 2–3 digit numbers
Every addition and subtraction on the soroban
Times tables, multiplication, division and graded exams
Session counts follow the in-school club pace (once a week). At our center, children can come 1, 2 or 3 times a week.
The same program and the same way of teaching – at our center or right at your child’s school.
Before a club opens, we run a free 30-minute trial session for grade 1 and grade 2 students, so that children and parents can get to know soroban before registration.
Children handle the soroban, show the numbers 0 to 9 and try their first calculation. The feeling of “I did it!” sparks their interest in the club.
After the session, the school helps pass on an information leaflet to the parents of the children who took part. With their child’s own account and the leaflet, parents find it easier to decide.
We bring the sorobans, materials and teachers. The school only needs to provide a room and a time slot.
Please let us know a convenient date and time by phone or email.
An inter-school mental calculation competition that KSC holds every year for its partner schools. The first one took place in April 2025 at a primary school in Hanoi. Every participant receives a certificate, and the top performers receive prizes.
For parents who want to understand how their child learns: setting numbers on the soroban, the 5-complement and 10-complement rules, multiplication and division, with step-by-step illustrations of each bead movement. 95 pages, with answers.
Leave your details and the center will contact you to arrange a trial lesson at a time that suits your child.
info@kodomo-soroban-center.com
Parents of club members, and schools interested in starting a club, please contact us by phone or email.
