Up Close with Makoto Shichida

In Makoto Shichida’s own words

“When you engage the hearts of children, you engage their minds.”

Professor Makoto Shichida, Founder

Professor Makoto Shichida began his career as a passionate and much-loved English teacher in Gotsu, Japan. He taught all ages from infants to adults and as his career progressed he noticed how much faster and easier the youngest children were learning. He became so curious about this phenomenon that he dedicated the next 20 years to researching early childhood brain development and psychology. The Shichida Method was founded in 1958 as the original whole-brain teaching method, designed to draw out the innate abilities all children are born with. The first Shichida Early Learning Centre opened in 1976 and its popularity has since grown around the world.

“Shichida Education is a soul education. The main aim of the Shichida Method is not just to give children knowledge but to cultivate their heart and soul.”

Professor Makoto Shichida, Founder

Makoto Shichida believed that disconnecting from the right brain aspects of ourselves such as intuition and creativity has created an unbalanced society that favours the competitive, the cognitive and the egotistical. His aim in creating the Shichida Method was not only to strengthen the neural connections of right brain abilities in harmony with the development of the left brain, but to teach children and their families how to use these extraordinary abilities to make a positive difference in the world.

“To raise children with kind hearts, big dreams and full of talents.”

Professor Makoto Shichida, Founder

Makoto Shichida’s Message to Parents

Dear Parents,

We have crossed the threshold of the 21st Century. What will this new era bring? I am convinced it will be a brilliant century full of hope, one that will transform the world.

From ages 0-3, the right brain works dominantly. During this period, it is important to provide as much as a baby needs, and to stimulate his or her five senses regularly. This is also a time when the child is fast absorbing information and is extremely eager to learn.

Children grow and mature faster than parents think. The human brain rapidly starts developing soon after birth. At the age of six, 70% of the brain is developed, and at around the age of 10, almost 90% of the brain is developed. To make corrections or changes later on will prove to be an incredibly hard task, and great effort will be needed for it.

When the right brain is developed well together with the left brain, the heart will be raised to a high level of potential. That is when a child is able to exceed our expectations and show his or her strengths. As a parent, please believe in this possibility – the potential your child carries, by loving him or her, and nurturing them well.

These children are tapping powers we never knew existed as if they are perfectly normal. Watching them rapidly memorize enormous amounts of information and recall with precision and understanding, predict future events, improve their athletic ability instantaneously serve as a guide for education that will revolutionize conventional approaches to child raising in the 21st Century.

Makoto Shichida, Ed.D.
Founder
The Shichida Method

Professor Makoto Shichida was a fellow of the International Academy of Education and advisor to the Japan Mathematical Certification Association. He had a doctorate in education and was a well known public figure in Japan for his numerous contributions to brain research and learning achievements. He was awarded the highest honorable Merit Prize by the World Science Council, a distinguished service for World Peace Grand Knight Title in 1997 and the World Peace Prize in 1998. In 2003, he was bestowed the Swedish Academy for Health and Medical Sciences Grand Prize and the Higashiku Ninomiya Invention Award.

Makoto Shichida led a worldwide revolution in education that is changing the way we understand children, their learning styles and their brain capabilities. Sadly, he passed away on 22nd of April 2009.

Experience Shichida with your child!

Join a trial class now:

Complete your details below to book in and secure your place in a Shichida class.
This introductory lesson is 50 minutes in length and is $60.
Classes fill quickly! Strictly limited to one trial lesson per child.

Rated 5 stars

by parents

Shichida Australia

5.0

Tiffany H Nguyen

2019-10-20T11:52:26+0000

Great service. Nice and experienced educators. My daughter was so happy at her first time there. We all had fun. Highly recommended to everyone

Karmen Novak

2019-06-22T12:43:13+0000

Queentina Zhang

2019-05-18T09:48:07+0000

Good service, nice and experienced educators there. Kids love to attend the class there.

Anna Fazekas

2018-12-05T21:27:31+0000

5 stars it is a unique opportunity for young children. Both my 2 and 5 year old benefit from attending the program and they also love it.

Lassie Zia

2018-11-17T01:44:41+0000

We love Shichida Chatswood. The classes are fun and engaging, my toddler is learning so much every week. We highly recommend teacher Madie from Chatswood, especially for 2yr olds on Tuesdays 11am 🤗

Shin-hui Tang

2018-07-29T08:16:34+0000

So glad that there are Shichida centres in Australia. My daughters have been going to the classes for over a year now and thoroughly enjoy the learnings in a fun and relaxing (stressless) way. My younger daughter is starting to count to ten as she started to speak, I was really amazed. The classes have given me and my daughters quality time spent together.

Mays Brennan

2018-07-23T00:14:53+0000

My son has been attending Shichida since he was 16 months old (now 2 and a half) and it has helped him excel in more ways than one. Being at Shichida has helped improve his speech development, able to recognise and read numbers/letters, increased his attention span, memory, social skills and love for learning. Shichida provides a great environment to allow children to flourish in a fun and stimulating environment; their teachers are all amazing and support the children to reach their highest potential. Shichida has not only been a “school” that my son attends weekly, but is a community that is changing the approach to early development/learning.

Carol Feng

2018-07-18T23:55:04+0000

Both my 4 year old and 14 months old go to the class since the last term. I can see their increasing interests on participation at each class, most importantly they really enjoy the content. I really appreciate the one on one one spent with the little ones & tell you what, sometimes I learn a few things too!

Nikki Ktzd

2018-07-09T02:43:02+0000

Julia Wennie Hu

2018-07-03T05:55:42+0000

Chrisitian really blossomed after going to shichida for 1.5 years. He has not only learnt a lot but also fostered a love for learning. We are really happy with his progress in class

Nora Xu

2018-07-01T11:51:53+0000

Shichida is such a great program for little brains. It is so stimulating and so much fun. I love the way they challenge the brain without stressing out my kids. Kids learn from playing. We have been to Shichida for two years so far and will be still going in the future. My daughter who is now 3 starting to contribute more in class. When she sees the fallen leaves on the street, she will sing the song that Shichida taught her. She enjoys in the class, and 50 minutes seem long but not so long. What a fantastic program for young little brains!

Margaret Tjhin

2018-06-30T05:37:15+0000

My daughter has attended Shichida since she was 3. She loves the classes and teachers. Shichida creates fun learning environment and great foundation for children before they starts school. My daughter's reading is great because of Shichida.

Krystal Kaldis

2018-06-30T03:32:42+0000

My son has been doing the shichida program since he was 14months old. I love this program as it is fun, creative in how it delivers all it's beautiful content. I have several of the packs and toys at home which we play on school holidays and I find it so helpful with his school work as well. I have and would recommend this program to everyone. I wish we had found the program when my son was 6 months old as I would have started him earlier. I love the fact that my son's favorite activities at school are Maths and Art which I put down to the Shichida program.

Meet our Shichida students

Little Big Shots

Raphy was invited to appear on Little Big Shots [Australia]. Look at his amazing capability, developed in his Shichida lessons.

The Project

The Project featured a story on Shichida Australia and two of our students at opposite ends of the Shichida learning journey.

The Today Show

We invited Today Show host Sylvia Jeffreys and son Charlie to our Shichida centre in Chatswood to enjoy their first ever Shichida class!

Julia shows off her memory

Astounding her parents and teachers, Julia has made headlines around the world with her ability to remember 500 items from our ‘Box Memory’ activity.

Faraway by Jacqueline

Jacqueline has amazing writing talent! In this video she reads a wonderful poem that inspires us to appreciate nature & keep our environment healthy.

Joel demonstrates robots

Joel shares his passion for robots, as he represented Australia at the First Lego League World Festival Robotics Championship in the USA in 2017.

Visit your nearest centre

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Chadstone, VIC

Level 3, Central Tower
Chadstone Shopping Centre
1341 Dandenong Road
Chadstone VIC 3148

Call Chadstone Centre:
(03) 8673 5150

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Doncaster, VIC

Level 4, Suite 4002
Westfield Shopping Centre (Office Tower)
619 Doncaster Road
Doncaster VIC 3108

Call Doncaster Centre:
(03) 9034 4990

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Highpoint, VIC

Level 4
Highpoint Shopping Centre
120-200 Rosamond Road
Maribynong VIC 3032

Call Highpoint Centre:
(03) 9888 6886

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Chatswood, NSW

1/29 Albert Avenue
Chatswood NSW 2067

Call Chatswood Centre:
(02) 8973 9700

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Parramatta, NSW

Ground Floor, Office 1/7 Hassall Street
Parramatta NSW 2150

Call Parramatta Centre:
(02) 9099 1810

Parents share their Shichida experience…

“My son joined Shichida when he was 5 years old. My husband and I are both very happy with his progress. Now my son is a happy, positive and confident child who loves and enjoys learning. After attending Shichida classes, we realised that the program not only benefits the child, but also teaches parents how to raise a child happily and successfully.”

– Miranda & Daniel (son, Shichida Graduate 2016)

“Thank you for the wonderful experiences that you have given Luke over the last 7 years at Shichida. The skills he has learnt through Shichida will last through his entire life. You have really helped and encouraged Luke to achieve such great things… Shichida has been such a huge part of our lives, we will really miss it.”

– Mark, Emily & Luke (son)

“I’ve noticed my daughter does remember things quite well, she can listen to songs only a few times and she remembers the tunes and the lyrics. She is one of the few kids in her class who can read at her age. Callum can count to 10. He sings the alphabet and he knows his colours and his shapes. He will sing along, it’s just play for him. There’s not that many programs out there for young kids, and you know why not? It doesn’t hurt them and they enjoy it. It does help them to develop to the best of their potential and their ability. They do an amazing amount of stuff in that one hour that I could not do at home with them.”

– Jane, Caitlyn (daughter) & Callum (son)

“Chloe has been attending Shichida Australia since she was 18 months old. I first heard about it on TV and thought it looked like an interesting program – mainly because it worked on skills like visualisation techniques, fine motor skills, confidence building and fun aspects of learning that didn’t seem to be offered in any other activities… This has really stimulated her learning, improved her concentration and helped her prepare for the transition to school. Shichida also gave us the tools to be able to incorporate opportunities for learning into everyday life – this has been incredibly helpful. The first time we realised that Chloe knew her numbers and letters was when my husband was out washing the car. He could hear her mumbling away and went to check up on her. She was just two at the time, and was reading our car’s licence plate!”

– Emily & Chloe (daughter)