Teaching Life Skills Through Chess

Reviewed by Carol Lite, Montgomery County Public Schools

Author: Fernando Moreno

Publisher: American Literary Press, Inc., 78 pp. $12.95

Enter Learning Cottage 4 at Rolling Terrace Elementary School in Takoma Park, Maryland, any Monday at 10:00 a.m., and you will see fourth and fifth grade ESOL students playing chess. They are not just playing chess, but are also discussing various moves and their consequences and relating the chess moves to their own life situations. Each student is an active participant, in turn offering suggestions and listening to those of other classmates. Fernando Moreno, ESOL student counselor for Montgomery County Public Schools, walks from group to group, providing praise, asking questions, and offering hints. These fifteen students are lucky to spend time with Mr. Moreno as he applies his practical ideas and lessons about learning through chess. So that all students can enjoy the same important lessons, Mr. Moreno has written a valuable guide for counselors and educators who wish to teach life skills through chess.
As he explains convincingly in his new book, Mr. Moreno believes that chess is in many ways a metaphor for life and a tool for helping students deal with academic and social issues through play as well as discussion. His focus on chess in the classroom or in a counseling situation is not so much on playing the game as it is on adapting the game to meet counseling objectives. His book outlines the concept behind using chess to stimulate the development of real-life academic and social skills.
Mr. Moreno's book also offers practical lessons for dealing with behavioral problems and other situations that arise commonly in and out of the classroom. In one example, the book describes an exercise useful for demonstrating the importance of abiding by the law. In individual play with a student who has difficulty following rules, the very structured game of chess provides a forum for the counselor herself to break some of the rules. If the student becomes frustrated or angry at the counselor for not playing fairly, the counselor then has the opportunity to point out the student's behavior in the classroom and how this affects the teacher and the other students. In this and other exercises, Mr. Moreno demonstrates how playing and thinking about chess in the classroom provides new avenues for tackling familiar problems.
The connections Mr. Moreno draws between chess and life resonate with many of our ESOL students. For instance, in chess, a student can control only her own pieces, while her opponent's pieces represent the environment beyond her control. Yet, as the game demonstrates, if the student plays well, thinks about the future, and plans her path, she still has a chance to win. In this way, Mr. Moreno's lessons allow students to realize their potential to succeed at real-life challenges by applying skills learned through chess. Students can gain another important insight by learning about the pawn. Although a pawn initially does not have great power, this minor piece can be instrumental in winning the game or prolonging play, and can even be promoted to Queen with skillful playing. As they learn to use the pawn, students also learn that even those who do not start with much power indeed have tremendous choice in how they exercise what they have and tremendous opportunity to make a difference.
These lessons become apparent to students in very real ways while playing, discussing, and thinking about chess. Mr. Moreno backs up his theories with citations to research linking chess with improved social and cognitive skills in children, and he describes schools where such transformations have occurred. In our present-day focus on test scores and strong academic skills, Mr. Moreno shows the reader how to address social and behavioral issues while maintaining the academic content that is inherent in chess.
In an accessible style, Mr. Moreno's book provides user-ready charts, tables, and diagrams to help the reader understand, plan, and apply the lessons chess can teach our students. A "Skills Table"correlates emotional, cognitive, and behavioral skills our students need to be successful citizens with how chess can help them meet these goals. The book charts a class-by-class approach to teaching chess, matching social development objectives with comments and tasks, chess objectives, and follow-up activities. Diagrams outline specific chess plays and how they can be used to teach life skills such as decision-making, conflict resolution, and taking risks. All of these helpful tools enable counselors and teachers to set up their own chess programs with their students.
For those counselors and teachers who do not know how to play chess, Mr. Moreno gives sound advice. He explains that educators need not be experts in chess to teach it. In fact, as he demonstrates through examples, the teacher can be a role model for the dynamics of learning by processing her discovery of the game in front of the class, providing several more important lessons to young students.
Ample testimony from teachers and students recounted in the book, along with teacher and student evaluations, are evidence that chess can be a valuable medium for teaching important lessons about meeting real-life challenges. Thanks to this book, we can see how the game of chess, taught with an eye to real-life situations, has enabled students to succeed. Teaching Life Skills Through Chess is an important and practical book for educators and counselors who seek positive methods for instilling life skills in our young people. Mr. Moreno has done an excellent job at making these ideas and lessons accessible to every educator and student.

For ordering informaion call 1-800-873-2003 or e-mail amerlit@erols.com