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ADVANCE WORK: Send out the letter home to parents, get class list. Ask the teacher to have each child make a Go folder, name tags in advance

There are several ways I've used to introduce this game. The point is to create some excitement and a new world that the game comes in. You need to grab their attention from the get-go. For younger kids (grade schoolers) a story that includes the rules of capture can be a wonderful way to entrance them. For a sample of such a story type introduction, click here.

Another kind of introduction has also worked well and is given below. This one may be more versatile in the case you don't feel like you are an especially good story-teller.

MATERIALS YOU'LL NEED: 9x9 demo board, class Go sets: bring in 9x9 sets (not to leave the classroom), and lender sets (that the students can take home). 50' tape measure.

(Note: you can make inexpensive boards at the copy store. Have them photocopy a 9x9 board onto cardstock, and then for a small charge, it can be laminated for durability. Optionally, you can have a 13 x 13 board copied onto the back side.)

1. Introduce yourself - last name first. Hi, I'm Weir Susan, and I'm so happy to be here today. Explain that in Asian cultures, people use their last names first, because the family (or group) you come from is considered as or more important than yourself as an individual (This is a theme to develop during the program, as it is a direct correlation to the stones on the board - the group is more important than the individual stone.). In the U.S., we think of the individual as all-important, Asian cultures look at it differently. This is something you'll see in the game of Go.

2. I'm here to teach you Go, oldest, most popular, and most complex board game in the world. How old is this game, anyway? Here I take out the tape measure and ask for a volunteer to come up. I ask the class how old they are - say they are mostly ten years old. OK, we'll count your life span as one inch on this tape measure. One inch equals 10 years. Think of yourselves as one inch old.

Now the volunteer will hold the end of the tape measure and we'll walk backwards in time a little. I'm around 50 years old. that's five inches on the time scale ( pull out the tape to 5"). Now our country, the U.S., is a little over 200 years old. Let's pull out the tape measure to 20", or almost two feet. Now that's a ways of time, but Go is much older than our country.

Now let's go back even further. How about to when Chistopher Columbus discovered the new world? That was in 1492, or about 500 years ago. Let's pull out the tape measure to 50 inches, or about 4 feet. Go is still way older than even the discovery of the new world. Let's go back further, can you imagine about a thousand years? This was before a lot of what we think of as European culture had even developed. Let's pull out the measure 100" (about 8 feet.) I think we now need a second volunteer up here to help hold the tape measure (have a second child come up and hold the measure next to you, as the first child has moved 8 feet away).

Well, go is still way way older. Let's go back to the Roman Empire, the beginning of the Common Era, that's two thousand years ago - now we can pull the tape measure out 17 feet. I think we need a third volunteer to help now (as you are doing this, the tape measure is going down along one side of the classroom and has reached the back). Well, go is still MUCH older. Let's go back another 400 years, during the height of Greek culture, and Plato. This brings our measure out to 20 feet - wow. Go is still way older. Continue is in this way till you get to around 2000 BCE, which is how old the game may be. the tape will end out being out around 33 feet. This usually captivates everyone amnd gets the class with you.

So, how many of you have heard of Go? raise your hands. (not many)

How many of you can name a basketball, or soccer player or figure skater? How many of you follow their careers, have pictures of them on your wall? raise your hands (most ) In America, these sports are very popular, players are famous, make lots of money, are household names.

In Asia, Go players are the same as our basketball players. They are famous, play for big prizes, everyone knows their names. etc. Big world in Go over there - newspaper columns, televised tournaments, magazines devoted to the game. In Korea, there is 24 hour Go programming on TV. But there, perhaps no one has heard much about basketball. About ten percent of the asian population plays the game- so there are probably a couple hundred million Go players- making it the most popular game in the world. So welcome to the big time game world.

3. How many of you study, know about, or have a friends that study martial arts? raise your hands (many) What are the benefits of studying a martial art? raise your hands ( You'll get many replies such as: physical fitness, conflict resolution, fun tournaments, concentration, confidence, managing conflict, etc.) Go is also a martial art - it is a martial art for the mind, and does for the mind the same things other martial arts do for the body.

4. Rating system - how many of you know about the belt system in martial arts raise your hands (many). Go, being a martial art, also has a rating system . Explain 30 kyu - 9 Dan professional. Explain handicap system.

5. Explain capture rules. Keep it very simple, you have 3-4 minutes before their attention starts to wander. I have them visualize the go board as being underwater, and each line coming out from a stone as a snorkel or breathing tube. Stones need to breathe to stay alive. Show how opposing stones block the breathing tubes, show atari, then capture, as the stone dies from lack of air. Then show how stones of the same color can breath through the buddy system, they can hook their snorkels up together. As you explain, have students start a sheet titled "Go Definitions" with each week's new words. The words you will probably cover are below. Write the words on the board.

Then have them pair up, and hand out the sets. They'll be ready to play. Have them play to first capture. About five minutes before you need to end, clap your hands. Talk about taking care of the Go sets and how to put them away properly. Explain that the lender sets wil be left in the classroom and they can check them out from the teacher and take them home to play with.

VOCABULARY WORDS :

LIBERTIES (MEI): unoccupied lines around a stone or a group

ATARI: when a stone or group has only one liberty left

CAPTURE: when a stone or group, is completely surrounded, with no liberties left, and is removed from the board.