For teachers: a flash anzan progression that climbs without stalling

For teachers whose students love flash anzan until the day it gets hard.

Flash anzan stalls when three things are raised at once: the number of digits, the number of terms, and the speed. Raise one at a time, in a fixed order, in small steps, and most children climb from 1-digit 3 terms at 3 seconds to 3-digit 10 terms under 2 seconds in two to three years without a wall. The Japanese competitive ladder has well over a hundred steps for exactly this reason; a class does not need that many, but it needs the same principle.

Why it stalls

Flash anzan is the child holding a picture of the abacus in the head and moving the beads in the picture. Three separate loads sit on that picture:

• Digits load the width of the picture (how many rods).
• Terms load its endurance (how long the picture must survive).
• Speed loads how fast the beads move in the picture.

A step that raises two of these at once is a step most children fail, and a failed step in flash anzan is loud: the child sees "2 correct out of 10" on a thing they were proud of. Two of those in a row and they stop volunteering.

The order: speed, then terms, then digits

At a given digit count, raise speed first (it is the cheapest for the picture and the most fun), then terms, then add a digit and drop speed and terms back down. A new digit should always start slow and short.

A class progression

Each step is passed by getting 8 of 10 on two separate days, not once. Between steps the change is one variable, and the change is small. If your tool only offers big jumps (3 terms to 10 terms, 3 seconds to 1 second), insert your own steps on paper or with a hand-flashed set of cards.

The two-minute routine

Flash anzan is the part of the lesson children ask for, so use it as the ending, every lesson, two minutes:

1. One set of 10 at the child's current step.
2. If 8 or more: one set at the next step, "just to see". Do not record it.
3. If fewer than 5: one set one step *down*, so the lesson ends on a success.

The same two minutes works at home, which is why it belongs in daily homework after the abacus problems: it is the part that keeps the routine alive.

Which of the three is the problem

When a child stalls, run three short diagnostic sets at the same step:

• Slower, same digits and terms. If the score jumps, it is speed. Hold the step and shave 0.2 seconds at a time.
• Fewer terms, same digits and speed. If the score jumps, it is endurance. Go back to the terms they can hold and add one.
• Fewer digits, same terms and speed. If the score jumps, the picture is not wide enough yet. The child needs more ordinary abacus practice at that digit count before flashing it; flash anzan cannot run ahead of the hands.

The last case is the common one, and the fix is not more flash anzan.

Keeping the record

Record step and score per child, per lesson; a row that reads 12, 12, 12, 12 is a child to diagnose, and a row that reads 8, 9, 9, 10 is a child to leave alone. Soroban Kingdom includes flash anzan with digits, terms and speed set separately, and keeps the per-child record on the teacher's screen; the progression above also works with a deck of cards and a stopwatch.