Basketball: AS Monaco secure narrow victory over Alba Berlin

AS Monaco have emerged victorious from a challenging EuroLeague game against Alba Berlin, but only just. 

During the away fixture on 14th March, Alba Berlin initially took the lead, but AS Monaco’s players staged an impressive comeback through a 12-32 second-quarter surge. This pivotal moment ensured that the Roca Team could withstand Alba’s later push and ultimately clinched their 19th season win. The game ended 82-90.

Key to AS Monaco’s triumph were standout performances from Elie Okobo and Mike James, who together contributed 41 points.

See more: Roca Team’s Mike James crowned best scorer in EuroLeague history

Following the action on court, Sasa Obradovic, the Roca Team coach, remarked, “It wasn’t an easy game, and we didn’t play the way we wanted to, with a few mistakes. We have to stay focused for the future. To use this game to realise that we can’t let our opponents come back like we did tonight.”

This latest triumph extends AS Monaco’s winning streak to eight games and elevates their position in the EuroLeague. Their next challenge in the EuroLeague will be a home game slated for 20th March against EA7 Emporio Armani Milan.

 

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Photo credit: asmonaco.basketball

How France is integrating the Singapore Method into maths teaching at school

Back in December, the French government announced that it was preparing to take a “major leap” by introducing the Singapore Method into the teaching of mathematics in schools around the country. Now, that transition has begun.  

Maths can be daunting for many students. Unlike other subjects, where shades of grey filter in, answers are either wrong or right in this field, and children who don’t fully grasp the concepts being taught often get left behind.  

The Singapore Method, which is now gradually being introduced to French classrooms, is an alternative way of teaching the subject. It teaches step-by-step processes to ensure children not only understand but also make connections between different mathematical practices in a fun and engaging way.  

HOW IT WORKS 

According to Monica Neagoy, who holds a doctorate in mathematics education and is the Director of the Singapore Method collection for the Librairie des Écoles scholastic manuals, the approach “places the child at the centre, taking into account maturity, curiosity and, above all, pleasure”. 

France has adopted a three-headed approach – manipulate, represent, abstract – to ease children into complicated concepts by using visuals to assist in learning.  

The manipulation phase allows students to physically handle objects in staged situations and emphasises the use of maths in day-to-day life. The representation phase adds in diagrams, drawings and charts that use the mathematical symbols mastered in the manipulation stage. Students then move into the abstraction phase, where they break down maths problems into easy-to-manage sections.  

Active participation is encouraged between instructor and pupils in a bid to give students the confidence to ask questions and indeed to ask for help. 

ATTITUDE COUNTS 

Perhaps the biggest departure from the old way of teaching maths is the Singapore Method’s positive spirit: mistakes are all part of the journey.  

“When mathematics becomes a litany of formulas, definitions, procedures and ‘how to do it’ without any ‘why’, then it is the beginning of the end of the love for mathematics,” says Neagoy. “That is an intellectual crime. The child has not yet even tasted real mathematics. When you understand, when you see a connection – regardless of finding the result – there is jubilation, absolute joy.” 

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Read related:

Inclusivity inside and outside the classroom taught to Monaco’s schoolchildren

 

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Photo source: Luis Arias, Unsplash