Inspired by his niece and nephew in Montreal being taken “to a whole new level” on a visit to Montreal, Thava brought home the Universal Concept in Mental Arithmetic System program commonly known as UCMAS. In the previous Downsview Advocate edition, we introduced. Mathan Thava, Program Director from Aizen Academy, located at Keele and Finch. The goal of Aizen Academy is to provide children from diverse backgrounds with exposure to an array of tutoring services as well as arts-based and physical activity programs including yoga, karate, hip hop, classical dance, chess and vocals. Thava is proud to announce to the Downsview community, the launch of the UCMAS program at Aizen Academy. “I wouldn’t simply call it a math program,” states Thava, rather it is an “Abacus-based mental math program.” Students use the visual component of their brain, rather than just the logical component, helping them enhance their memory, strengthening the left and right hemispheres of the brain. And after a while, children “can perform these kinds of calculations [higher level addition, subtraction, multiplication, division] without having the physical Abacus in front of them.” With over 5000 accredited UCMAS programs worldwide, Aizen Academy launched program 59 of 60 in Canada, and is currently the only UCMAS program in North York. Thava has seen, beyond children learning how to do the high-level calculations in the head, an increased level of confidence when approaching learning, “and that is the highest value added they can get.” As for parents, Thava states, “parents are blown away that their kids are able to do calculations at age 4-6 faster than they can!” Beyond the initial fascination with children’s ability to grasp this high-level thinking, the long term affects are tremendous – increasing their short and long term memory, enhancing analytical skills, and truly learning how to pay attention, without solely having a teacher or parent over their shoulder reminding them to do so. As a firm believer of providing children these enriching opportunities, Thava offers discounts and reasonable rates to parents and families. Though UCMAS is mainly available to children age 4-13, Aizen Academy is also home to those between ages 3 – 23. Call or email Mathan Thava directly for more information on how to sign your child up in the UCMAS program.For more information on the UCMAS program or Aizen Academy:www.ucmas.cawww.aizenacademy.comaizenacademy@gmail.comMathan Thava, Program Director647-990-0864416-665-4756