Teaching Methods

This page refers to a number of known methods to teach Go, aimed at various levels. It also points to several discussion pages here at SL about the subject of teaching. Not all links on this page are part of the path (e.g. external links)

Generalities

The method of teaching can take the following into account:

• What is the audience, in general?
• How many teachers, how many pupils?
• How old are the pupils?
• What is the environment of the teaching (class, club, games expo)?
• Online or in real life?
• What is the expected timeframe for the teaching?
• What, if you have no playing material at hand?
• What, if your pupil cannot see the board?

How to explain the game (not really teaching)

Casually you have to explain the game, the clearer - the better.

• Describe Go to Non-Players
• Compare Go to Chess (and Compare Go To Chess / Discussion)

Good and bad habits when teaching

Terrible ways to "teach" Go to a beginner (essentially, in our zeal, we overexplain everything). Please see:

• How Not To Teach Go
• Bad Teaching Habits gives some less sarcastic pointers.

Thoughts about teaching

• Benefits of Teaching Go (some thoughts)
• Teach Yourself Go gives the advice: "If you really want to learn a subject, teach it."
• What it means to be a sensei with discussion
• Teaching Methods / Proposed Outline
• Teaching Go to Newcomers / Generalities
• Ross Werner has collected some advice for teaching absolute beginners
• Teaching Go Rules

Thoughts about Learning Process & Progress

• Learning Process
• ShuHaRi
• Dreyfus Model

Audience levels

How strong is your pupil

• Level indicators
• (more general?)

Teaching Go to absolute beginners

For teaching beginners there are generally three approaches

• Teaching go to curious cats - discussion
• Conventional teaching with inclusion of the territory concept
• Atari Go Teaching Method (Atari Go, Atari Go Setup)
• Stone Counting Teaching Method
  
  
• Go Variants as Teaching Method for more attempts and ideas
• Teaching Go To Newcomers with many sub pages (nearly a path itself)
• The Interactive Way To Go - a tutorial aimed at absolute beginners

Teaching Go to beginners, who already know the basic rules

(some possible orders for your teaching)

• Beginner Study Section
• Teaching Go to Newcomers / 9x9 board (9x9 ? ... 13x13 ! )

Teaching Go to more experienced players

More experienced players can turn towards an established teacher or apply self study. Pages on SL include

• Studypath (more possible orders for your teaching, including:)
  • Teach yourself go
  • Study Techniques
• Large Handicap Games Discussion
• About Teaching Games (= Shidougo) (and some links to examples on Sensei's). See also the discussion sub page.
• Mentoring Schemes aka Teaching Ladders
• Learning pro games
• 10x10 corner game1 thickness training (oh - but white lives...!)
• Understanding Joseki as a Beginner (discussion)
• A New Approach to the Creation of Go Problems

Teachers use various techniques to transfer knowledge to pupils. This section summarizes various techniques that are available to diversify teaching. In a sense, this is the raison d'etre of Sensei's, so maybe the whole library should be viewed as such a repository.

• Endgame bidding (from a - usually pro - endgame position, players bid a komi to begin with Back, then try to achieve the game as the pro would have done.) See also DieterVerhofstadt/TeachingExperiences#toc12
• Retrograde Analysis
• Tsumego
• replay/review existing games
• Simultaneous game session

Teaching Long Time Players

Is different from 'experienced', as playing for 20, 30, 40 years burns some playing styles and lines of play into the players mind.

Teaching Go to Children

• The Yasuda method method is a way to 'open' the childrens mind by creating a relaxed athmosphere, before beginning to tell something about GO.
• Rating Book for Children invented by Kalli Balduin
• GoChild An application to teach children in kindergarten.

Personalized teaching methods and experiences:

• Yasuda method method
• Ted Keiser's Teaching System
• Hu's Teaching Method
• DieterVerhofstadt/TeachingExperiences and some other of Dieter Verhofstadt's sub pages
• JaredBeck/TeachingExperiences
• Agilis/AgiTutoringChronicles
• Rubilia/Teaching
• TeachingToAFiveYearsOld
• Axd/Teaching
• >JonathanHelis: a two year-old taught by migeru.
• Round table: a way to teach a group used in zomergo camps

Special teaching issues

• Disabilities (visually, physical, learning)

Tools, programs, technical aid, copyright

• Teaching customs and used symbols in usenet, in programs, on servers, in Go literature
• Utilities for files, diagrams, div.
• KGSAudio about the KGS/Cgoban Audiofeatures
• Writing A Go Program To Teach Beginners
• Teaching Goban (the magnetic, oversized boards)
• Go Variants as Teaching Method

Understanding the person

(why asking, learning, studying, not understanding, ...)

Promotion (in the street, at exhibitions, ...)

• Teaching go to curious cats - discussion (once more this page)
• Describe Go to Non-Players (also once more that page)
• Hikaru No Go Effect

Beginner player

• Why Did You Start Go interviews with 60 players
• Teaching Go to Newcomers / Including go etiquette

Long time player

• 'Emotions and Controlling Them' (discussion)
• Accepting Defeat (part of the Mentality Path)

Link collections

• axd collects on his sub page Axd/CandidateSLPages some interesting links. See sub titles 'Analogies', 'Promoting', 'Introducing Go', 'KGS Teaching Protocol', 'Reviewing notes',

Literature

• Go as Communication, written by Yasuda Yasutoshi

Movies / Videos

• There is a video 'Go Communication'. Comment on the Go Filmography page of European Go Federation sais 'Film made to promote the work of Yasuda-sensei (engl. subtitles)'
• Go to youtube.com or video.google.com and enter in search field: weiqi baduk and you will find some Go videos (mostly no teaching, but may be useful).

External Links

• Alexandr Dinershteyn about improving
• Mindy Mc Adams' page
• David Carlton's ideas
• Rob Van Zeijst's ideas (and look on Sensei's page The Magic Of Go - Yomiuri Shimbun)
• Scartol's Flash introduction
• Milton Bradley is Go teacher since long time and has collected some material about and for teaching
• Zenmachine http://www.zenmachine.co.uk Peter and Sheila Wendes' Go introduction company
• American Go foundation
• How to progress and become stronger