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by Sheila Wendes
June 7, 2004
Eleven-year-old
George had failed to learn how to read, and his
behaviour was violent, unpredictable and
increasingly worrying his teachers and foster
parents. Last summer I agreed to tutor George; I
have a background in teaching children with
emotional and behavioural difficulties and, having
discovered go since giving up teaching,
I'd often thought the game might
be a useful educational tool.
When I told George on
my first visit that we would not be doing any
reading or writing at all that day, I saw him
visibly relax. I began by teaching him First
Capture Go and he caught on quickly and
enthusiastically played about a dozen games. George
was clearly delighted to be relieved of the burden
of his inability to read or write. The patterns of
the stones liberated his imagination and creativity
and he could try out ideas safely.
"After all," I told
him. "Nobody loses in go
, every time you play you learn
something new!"
George's
homework was to teach his foster-father the rules
of Atari Go and then to play a game a day and keep
a record of the results with coloured stickers.
This was the first time George had had anything to
teach to an adult, a new experience that was
obviously very empowering and good for building
George's self-esteem. George's victories helped him
begin to think other things might be possible as
well.
Since then, I have
visited each week for four months. We have moved on
to the 19x19 board. George has learnt about making
territory, life and death on the board, has been
happy to beat me with a nine stone handicap and
ecstatic in beating his foster-parents on a level
playing field. He arrives smiling each day
clutching his board and stones, go puzzles and
books. We have also incorporated some reading and
writing into our activities, because success at go
has changed George's attitude
towards himself.
- the original version of this article appears in
the Spring edition of the British Go Journal;
http://www.britgo.org/
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