Little Falls Trinityhouse Preparatory School Grade 1 pupil and Wilgeheuwel resident, Ziva Wolf, is a six-year-old mathematics ‘brainiac’. She has participated in many competitions but last year her talent for calculations got her the opportunity to fly to California.
Wolf was part of a team of 27 South Africans to take part in the 15th Pama Global Abacus and Mental Arithmetic competition, held in San Franciso, California, last December. These pupils competed against each other to solve a series of abacus maths problems, the difficulty dependent on their various age groups. She won third place in the competition and received the bronze plaque and certificate out of 22 kids who entered the competition in her category.
The competition was based on the Soroban, the Japanese word for abacus, Education Mental Arithmetic System, which was first introduced in South Africa seven years ago. This teaching method uses the Japanese abacus of beads and rods, where each has a value, and pupils are able to solve complicated sums in a matter of seconds.
Wolf commented on the competition and said, “I liked the introduction when they played the music and beat the drums and danced – that was great. The tests were hard as we had to work fast in the time frame they gave us, and there was a lot I could not finish in time.”
When she was four years old she won first place in one of the competitions she took part in and got a trophy, after which she cried because she got a trophy and not a medal like the others. In all, Wolf has entered five mathematics competitions and has received 4 trophies, including last year’s national championships, plus the bronze plaque.
As if excellence in mathematics was not enough, Wolf, with her family’s support, passed her pre-primary subjects with 100 per cent in every subject.
However, Wolf is still an ordinary six year old. She dislikes homework, even Maths homework, and dislikes getting up for school in the morning. Although, not surprisingly, she loves school, swimming, watching TV and wants to be a teacher when she grows up.
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