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RepetitionThe value of repetition is so great that any real educator worth his salt would not dispute this. Yet in 1989, one of America's most respected educators wrote: "Repetition has no real value, and should be abandoned as a teaching method, especially in the United States." Wrong!!! When I went to school, we did tons of repetitive work. We had songs of our multiplication tables and we would sing them over and over again. While perhaps a little annoying, the end effect was I never forgot my multiplication tables!! Another thing about repetition is it does NOT have to be boring! One example: Give a (very young) kid a learning exercise, turn it into a song, and they could do it fifty times in a row!! Repetitive exercises could be songs, games, contests, etc. A really intelligent and creative teacher should have no problem grasping this easy and basic fact. (And using it!!) *** One of the best ways that a chess teacher can use this method is teaching a simple mate. Set up - for example - A King and Rook versus a lone King. Teach the beginner how to use both his King and Rook together. The student should be both defender AND be allowed to be the player with the King and Rook! It should be demonstrated - over and over - how the basics repeat themselves. How the noose is drawn tighter and the (lone) King is constantly forced into a smaller and smaller section of the board ... cut off by the Rook. All the while the teacher should be explaining to the student and asking questions. (This - plus maybe one or two other basics, like a back-rank mate - can be an entire lesson for a child ....... say six and under.) ALSO!!! Make sure the beginner knows that the defender in such a mate should try to keep his King near the center!! (More on this topic later.) Copyright (c) A.J. Goldsby I; Copyright (©) A.J. Goldsby, 1998-2008. Copyright © A.J. Goldsby, 2009. All rights reserved.
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