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These courses have now taken
place:
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Bristol
Training
Course
14 March 2012
A training
course for teaching chess in primary schools
was given at Bristol by John Foley. The 17
attendees had an enjoyable day in the fine
premises of the Bristol Conference Centre in
Shirehampton. The attendees comprised
teachers, classroom assistants, a special
needs instructor, a parent and a chess tutor
attending for the second time. There was
also a teacher of the deaf accompanied by
his sign language translators. Amongst the
comments from the attendees:
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“Informative session on why chess is very
important to the school curriculum.”
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“Pacey delivery with humour.”
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“Plenty of ideas.”
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“Networking with other schools was useful.”
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“Role-play” helps understanding things like
pins, skewer and castling.” |
Malcolm Pein,
the Chief Executive of CSC, along with
Robert Chandler, the CSC Bristol project
organiser, had a full programme of
activities on the same day including
meetings with Bristol Council who are
very supportive, an interview on BBC
Radio Bristol, simultaneous displays in two
schools and a visit to Clifton College, a centre of excellence
for junior chess. Chess is alive and well in
Bristol.
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King, bishop and
knight |
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Practising chess
variant |
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Theory training
session |
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Robert Chandler has
an idea! |
Nottingham Teacher Training Course
A training day for chess tutors and teachers
took place at Nottingham University on 1st
February 2012. The event arose as a result of an
initiative by the University chess club to
promote chess in local schools.
Club president Eldar Nagijew and co-ordinator
James Byrne organised the training event and
invited local teachers and head teachers who
obtained a good overview of what is involved in
teaching chess in primary schools. Schools
represented included Radford, Dunkirk,
Netherfield and Higham on the Hill. David Bevan
from Nottinghamshire junior chess was also in
attendance.
According to James, everyone enjoyed their
time and found it very interesting. Nottingham
hopes to run the event again.
Manchester Teacher Training Course
22 Sept 11 -
There was a big turnout for the
course for school teachers and teaching
assistants at Hyde in Manchester on
22
September given by John Foley, the CSC
course director. David Hardy, the local CSC
chess tutor organised the event and welcomed
over twenty participants. We spent an
intensive day learning how chess can be made
exciting for primary school children.
The course started by confirming the
benefits of chess for developing thinking
skills such as concentration and analysis.
Links to the school curriculum were
identified. The 15% improvement in academic
performance associated with playing chess in
schools was noted. The structured course
then proceeded at a fast pace with an
emphasis on practical classroom exercises.
The basic principles of teaching chess were
communicated in a lively way using a chess
demonstration board, a flipchart and a
projector.
The attendees tried out instructional
chess variants such as mini-games which
gradually lead children up to the orthodox
form of chess and beyond. They learned the
distinction between material and spatial
concepts in child development psychology.
They explored the use of coloured blocks to
illustrate which squares are attacked and
also to depict the fascinating geometrical
contours generated by individual pieces.
Much fun was had acting out fundamental
concepts such as checkmate – an exercise
always popular with children. The CSC
primary school curriculum was explained. The
social aspects of chess were emphasised with
sessions on the touch move rule and chess
etiquette. By the end of the course, some
participants were avidly playing exchange
chess which is popular in junior chess.
Course handouts included the curriculum and
the teacher’s guide.
The participating schools included: St.
George's CE Primary School, Holden Clough
Primary School, St. Francis Xavier's
College, St. George's CE Primary School,
Millbrook School, Greenside Primary School,
Holy Trinity CE Dobcross, Waterloo Primary
School, Hey with Zion Primary, Stalyhill
Junior School and St Peters RC HS.
We hope more schools can attend next time
for this well-received course.
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