My name is Jose Antonio Coleto Calderón and I am an English primary teacher at CEIP Francisco de Quevedo School, in Fuenlabrada, Madrid, Spain. Since 2016, we have been developing an innovative educational chess project with a different way of treating the introduction of chess in the classroom.
I am not aware of any similar project with this philosophy in any school, using chess as a tool. The project was introduced at the London Chess Conference in 2019 and recently at FIDE EDU’s International Chess and Education Conference in December 2021. During the academic year 2019-20, we led a seminar to train teachers to develop the project.
Which is the main philosophy?
The main aim of this project is to give support the principal areas in the Spanish curriculum using educational chess in the classroom from the first grade (6) until the sixth (12) grade of primary education. We mix contents and colours related to mathematics, language and occasionally, in English. The benefits and values that chess has implicit in its practice are the basis of each activity. The following skills are highlighted: decision-making, respect, empathy, mental calculations, resilience, reflection, intellectual development, attention, concentration, discipline and many others.
How could I play?
We have 64 cards related to one specific topic, for instance: sums. Once you have placed all the cards in each square, the only thing you must do is to use the movement of one piece and obtain the cards. The use of this innovative visual, motivational, and manipulative methodology in the classroom engages students while building skills.
What are the aims of the project?
This project pretends to break the barrier to introduce educational chess in the dynamic of the school along primary education. Another goal is to show a different methodology to implement educational chess in the classroom. Finally, students learn the basic rules of this mental sport which are the movement of the pieces and the features of the chessboard at the same time that they are leaning the contents in different areas.
Books published
If you think that chess can be a useful tool in the classroom, there are some books published at amazon.com related to the project that could help you to implement some activities in the classroom.
-Los Colores del Ajedrez. (Spanish)
-Multiplicar es fácil jugando al ajedrez. (Spanish)
-Dividir es fácil jugando al ajedrez. (Spanish)
-El lenguaje es fácil jugando al ajedrez, tomo 1. (Spanish)
-Sumar es fácil jugando al ajedrez. (Spanish)
-Learning English is easy by playing chess, volume 1. (English)
-Learning English is easy by playing chess, volume 2. (English)
-Learning multiplications is easy by playing chess. (English)
-Learning sums is easy by playing chess. (English)
Where could I find more information about this project?
Twitter: @ajedrezquevedo
Instagram: @loscoloresdelajedrez
E-mail: jacocal74@gmail.com
