Project Description

Go Workbooks is a series of exercise books for children. Each book contains a large number of exercises (go problems), grouped by topic and arranged from easy to more difficult. The books explain theory and give examples, but the emphasis is on exercises.

 

The series start with an explanation of the rules of the game, in volume 1, and continues step by step with topics that are relevant for a specific playing level. Each subsequent book is the next step in learning to master go. Students can mark the solutions of the problems in the books. Experience shows that children like to learn by making exercises (puzzles). With the step by step approach we can guarantee that no gaps will occur in their playing skills.

Teachers can use the books at school or at clubs for group courses or individual teaching. Children can also use the books at home for home work or self-tuition. Solutions can be made available on Internet. The books have an attractive design with a full colour cover. At this moment (spring 2007) 5 volumes are available. The complete set will consist of 10-15 volumes. Each volume is a 40 page A4-size work book. The first two volumes are for players up to 30 kyu, the next two for players up to 20 kyu. Volume 5 is for players from 20 to 15 kyu.

• Powerpoint presentation
• Workbook 1 pages 1-18
• Workbook 4 pages 24-25

Objectives

Objective of the project is to develop a complete course consisting of exercise books, for beginning players up to 1 kyu level. The main target group is youth from 6 to 14 years. The books must enable students to learn and understand the game. The books must support teachers in teaching the game.

Realisation

The objectives have been realised for children up to 20-15 kyu (Volume 1-5). The books have been used throughout the Netherlands, in schools, clubs and at home. The largest group that used the books is a group of 160 primary school pupils.

Resources

Human resources: More than 1000 working hours by the author. Also many hours by a group of reviewers.
Financial resources: Low volume printing costs are 2-3 euros for a 40 page book. The printing costs can be reduced substantially with high volume offset printing.

Possibilities to Copy this Project

I have made an English translation of volume 1. This was a minor effort. The amount of text in the books is low. Most of the pages contain 12 diagrams and one or two lines of text. The books are made using Adobe InDesign, a desktop publishing software tool. This enables an easy replacement of text objects. So translation in other European languages will be fairly easy and quick. The books can be printed and distributed locally in the countries. The Internet site with solutions can be translated and copied to the sites of the local Go Associations without much effort.

Some of the workbooks can be still bought here!