The chess video series from Germany, from the German School Chess Foundation, is the work of a wonderful team of two brilliant scriptwriters, Laura Schalkhäuser and IM Harald Schneider-Zinner, internet specialist, Elias Pfann, adviser Julian Groetzbach and the great film team in Belgrad.
Produced by Walter Rädler, these videos promote chess in a unique way and show the game from various viewpoints.
Chairman I German School Chess Foundation
Councillor I ECU Education Commission
Ambassador I ECU CiE Ambassador for Germany
We want to encourage educators to use these videos in the classroom to enrich their lessons and stimulate discussions among students.
Whether these stories introduce the history of chess or make you think about women’s chess, there is always food for thought, which adds many educational values to these videos.
Did you know that Walter produced our ECU EDU promo video “We Make Europe Smarter!” back in 2019, our flagship initiative to promote Chess in Education?
Chess history
Famous chess players from the past
See a collection of silent videos below, dedicated to Women’s chess
The good thing about silent videos is that everyone can follow the story, no matter what language you speak. Even though silent videos don’t use words, they open up space for students to observe, think, imagine and speak their own ideas. All students can understand them, no matter what their language proficiency is or what language they speak at home. This makes them perfect for mixed-ability or multilingual classrooms.
The key is that silence makes room for thinking. These silent videos create space for students to think before being told what to think.
With no dialogue or narration, these silent videos can be super useful in teaching. They actually help students learn in deeper and more creative ways. Students have to pay much closer attention to understand what’s going on. They start noticing small details like facial expressions, body language and small details they might miss otherwise.
You can use these silent videos to start conversations about real-life situations and emotions. A lot of these stories show feelings and relationships in a way that is easy to connect with. They give you a chance to talk about big topics like kindness, empathy, decision-making, conflict or consequences. After watching, students can describe what happened using their own words.
It’s a fun way to develop speaking skills. Prepare a bunch of questions and start the discussion!
- What is the story about?
- Who are the main characters?
- How do they feel during the story?
- How did you decide what a character was feeling without words?
- What do you think the characters would say if they could talk?
- Why do you think that character made that choice?
- Was there any problem or conflict in the story?
Try it out in your classroom. I’m sure your student will have a lot to say and you’ll be amazed by their imagination, interpretation and might surprise you with how much they noticed in these videos!
Dedicated stories for Women’s chess
You can find all the videos in German on the German School Chess Foundation’s YouTube channel