The two agencies carry names that are equated to world champions and but Garry's agency has been around longer than Susan's, at least if we base it from the existence of the said agencies.
GK's foundation has been around for some time, quietly working in schools and providing workshops and trainings for teachers of schools districts in the US of A while Polgar's CU is virtually new but promises a lot of good things for would be enrollees.
I hope DepEd, NCFP and our La Sallian Brothers study both models and try to pick out the best practices for our Philippine Chess in the Schools program if we may call it as such.
Kasparov Chess Foundation's Release of Chess Curriculum throughout the United States in the form of a 3-volume curriculum hits the cherry big time. Here's a part of the review:
Authored by notable chess educators Igor Khmelnitsky, Michael Khodarkovsky and Michael Zadorozny, and editorialized by Pete Tamburro, the materials provide teachers with mechanics to lead a group of beginning students from the rudiments of chess rules to the ability of playing a full game in a competent manner. Combined, they bring a 21st Century approach to teaching one of the oldest strategy games in existence.
The authors have produced an exceptionally user-friendly curriculum so that teachers can help their students improve the educational experience in so many rich and rewarding ways, said editor Pete Tamburro.
I have asked my sister who works as a Special Ed Teacher for the children of Uncle Sam to buy me the set at a very affordable price, $50.
Hope it satisfies my quest reading materials for teaching chess in the classroom while I pass tie here in Morocco.
We now move over to one of the Titans of Gender Equalizer in the Royal Game, Susan Polgar. I leave the intros to you for I know you guys know more about her than I do.
But here is what SP has to offer in her new project called Polgar Chess University:
Susan herself is developing the structured curriculum, personally teaching many of the courses along with other top chess players and professional instructors who will be joining the faculty as the school grows. Polgar Chess University is initially offered in this format:
* Courses identified by level—Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced
* Three general courses, one at each level, run concurrently
* Course lessons are prerecorded lectures that may be viewed at your convenience
* A new lesson in each course is offered each week, on Mondays
* Earlier lessons may be retrieved from the library at no extra cost
* More specialized courses, along with special guests and events, are planned for the future
For a year of PCU life, you pay $100 and again, it's affordable enough compared to your sessions and money spent attending the FIDE Academy for Trainers.
Although I know FIDE Academy will always be head above these chess academies, I still believe, as an educator myself for the past 9 years, that it has never been a question of which school is the best but rather which school is fits the students' needs.
Why am I essaying these things now?
First, June 2009 less than 2 months away and it has been announced that June 09 is the year chess will become a course offering in Philippine schools. Now what were the steps taken to arm our teachers in teaching the subject to our precious Filipino minds?
I heard there was a school considered to be the venue for the "Summer Training of Chess Teachers in the Philippines" but I don't know what has happened to the project. A case of internal politicking among the alumni and the agencies? You're guess is as good as mine guys!
Since my post has digressed on my title, allow me to end this post by agreeing with Rusticbull and his friend who sent him an email about The Benefits DVD Chess Lessons. I received it too but I guess RusticB blogs in blitz nowadays as compared to me. Heheheh!
Bye now!
Have you heard of America's Foundation for Chess? They are a non-profit organization that developed a curriculum called First Move that uses chess as a learning tool in second and third grade classrooms. My son uses it in his classroom and I have seen serious improvements in his math and social skills. They even gave all of the students chess boards to take home, and trained the teachers in the school to teach the program. It is really neat and quite frankly very dynamic. When he started learning it got me interested in chess, and he is even teaching me. If you haven't checked them out, you definately should http://www.af4c.org happy chess playing! :0)
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