School Teacher Preparation Course in French

School Teacher Preparation Course in French

The FIDE “Chess in Education” Commission, in collaboration with the Association Internationale des Echecs Francophones, organized from December 10 to 12, 2021 via the ZOOM platform, the first preparation course for school teachers in French.

This training of 15 hours spread over 3 days was mainly intended for teachers who already had some experience of working with children of different age groups and some knowledge of the basics of chess.

It allowed participants to develop their knowledge and skills in educational chess, to discover new digital tools and platforms for online learning and to get ideas on the application of existing pedagogical approaches in the Chess basics teaching process.

A total of 16 candidates from 6 countries (France, Benin, Belgium, Senegal, Djibouti, Niger) participated in the training provided by Denis LEMOUTON, FIDE School Instructor, animator at the FFE (DAFFE) and school teacher in Lycée Français Louis Pasteur in Lagos – Nigeria, assisted by Patrick VAN HOOLANDT, FIDE master, FIDE trainer and president of AIDEF.

The last hour of the training was devoted to an exam with a pass mark of 65%, as a result of which 15 successful candidates obtained the FIDE title of “School Instructor”.

FIDE Vice-President Bachar KOUATLY, and the African Chess Confederation President Lewis NCUBE, took turns briefly joining the session to encourage the participants and congratulate the speakers.

The atmosphere was excellent throughout these 3 days, the exchange was interesting and constructive. The participants particularly appreciated the quality of the teaching materials, the facilitation of the training by the speakers which generally met their initial expectations and made them want to develop a project.

Here is some inspirational feedback from the participants:

“The training went well. Good atmosphere. Good group dynamics. Captivating training. Good trainers.”

“Very enriching training, good experience sharing with the participants.”

“I learned a lot about new methods that will further enrich my courses and projects.”

“It is a very high-level training, rich, and of excellent quality. The content changes the man.”

These positive results can only encourage us to prepare for a second session that we would like to see held in early 2022.