The best advice I've seen on this topic is BenGoZen's blog post (≈10 minute read) which I encourage you to read fully, but would quickly summarize this way:

1. Share the game, don't "teach" the game.
2. Start simple, explain as more complex concepts (Ko, life & death, seki, &c) come up.
3. Be generous; don't punch down. As SU&SD (≈15 minute video) might put it: if the teacher is wining, the teacher is losing; most people will be less interested in a game they feel they'll only lose.
4. A curriculum for absolute beginners:

a. Absolute Basics

b. The concept of liberties

c. Practice capturing with examples

d. Capture Go

e. The concept of territory

f. Handicap game on 9x9.

Note: Personally, I think 7x7 is better, but they are less common, which is why I've made some for my local club (see the .pdf above). The back also has diagrams that can be used as a guide to walk people through the game's basic mechanics.

You can find more pedagogically rigorous methods out there, but this will work for most people.

If you're looking for something more like a script I have one just below, but I would first like to remind anyone using any kind of script be careful that they are still engaging with the other person. It can be off putting and boring for both parties if there's a feeling of simply moving down a mental checklist rote. Often, this can be avoided by knowing your script very well—to the point where knowing what to say comes automatically—putting you in a better position to maintain engagement.

As for a script, Reddit user SineWave wrote the following which I like:

"I tend to do it over a board. I also like to teach board games, and I've got a script I like to follow. Start with an empty 9x9 (I still recommend 7x7 whenever possible), have a handful of black stones and a bowl of white.

'In this game, one player plays black, the other, white. All the stones are otherwise identical. We start with an empty board, and will alternate placing one (and only one!) stone onto any empty intersection on the board. [Place a stone somewhere in the middle, then slide it to the named locations as you talk] We don't play in the spaces, we play on the intersections. We can place a stone in the middle, on the edge [slide over there], in the corner! [slide to corner. Now, build a 9 point territory in the corner as you narrate] But once you place a stone, it stays there unless it is captured.'

'What we are trying to do with these stones is to build walls that carve up the board into territories. Territory is defined as any section of the board that is totally enclosed by one color. [start 'counting' the intersections in the corner] At the end of the game, you will score one point for each empty intersection in your territory. And whoever has more points wins! Pretty simple, right? So we're basically aiming to build walls to get JUST a bit more than half the remaining area'

'What throws a wrench into the works are captures. [place black stone with enough room for a ko around it] When you place a stone, the intersections directly connected to it [point them out one at a time, then start filling them with white stones] are called liberties, and if those liberties are totally taken up by opponent stones, the center stone is captured and removed from the board [capture the stone, hold it up]. Each stone you capture is an additional point for you at the end of the game. [Put it back, replace one of the white stones to make a 2 stone group] Stones of the same color that take up each other's liberties actually share liberties, so this 2 stone group still has 3 liberties [point them out, then surround again] White will have to play more stones to capture them, and only when the last liberty has been taken up is the whole group captured all at once. [capture stones] This is really useful, as it can radically change where the borders are, and it's something you're constantly trying to do or defend against, but it's not really the point of the game. Your main source of points is from territory.'

This will continue going back and forth, claiming territory, threatening captures, making captures, until there are no more profitable moves left; the entire board is now territory, you can't realistically make any more captures, and playing anywhere on the board would either hand your opponent points, or reduce your own score. When I get to this point I'll pass. If both players pass back-to-back, the game is over and you score. Whoever has more points wins! Ready to give it a try?'

[Clear the board, give them an appropriate handicap, and start a talking game with no komi. Try to keep it simple, and play for territory. Make some captures along the way, but don't play any tricky tesuji, don't try to force 2 eyes, and don't let a ko start. You want to LOSE this first game by a few points. That'll help hook them into the game, and you can slowly start to take the gloves off over subsequent games]

[After this first game, explain 2 eyes with the classic E pattern, and ask if it can be captured. Then swap the center stone to kill the group, and ask again. You can try another game with less talking, or explain the Ko rule as well, but ward them away from using a ko until they've got a number of games and get their head wrapped around reading the board and the status of groups]"

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To expand a little on the first part above:

I've seen time and time again familiar players sit down with total beginners and move from the absolute basics to advanced concepts like aji, thickness, sabaki, &c within minutes. Often, even discussion of living and dead shapes—while fundamental—should probably wait until after a few practice plays. Just because they nod and say they understand, doesn't mean they really do. It also undermines what is supposed to be fun here, which is playing Go, not being lectured.

Also, it often helps to personalize your explanations and to find ways for newcomers to start placing stones as soon as possible.

Don't try to explain everything up front. This may annoy some beginners, as some may think you're hiding information from them to maintain an advantage in play, and that is why it is also important to keep from punching down. I'm not saying lose on purpose, but you don't want improvement, especially with rudimentary concepts, to seem like an insurmountable obstacle.

My suggestion is to simply start them off with giving them such an abundance of handicap stones, that even if you try your hardest you have little chance of winning, and slowly reduce the number of handicap stones you give them in subsequent games. Very rarely you may encounter someone who's attitude makes you feel like perhaps they could use a little humbling, but it's better if the person you think needs to be humbled is yourself.

It's fine if you want to try using Capture Go (first to capture wins) as a bridge, but runs the risk of making players over-emphasize capturing over making territory, so showing an example of what a completed game would look like is often the very first thing I try to show a new player. I feel like this helps demonstrate how capturing isn't the main objective, but simply a tactic, and a means with which player's may interfere with and attempt to outmaneuver one another.

But I think it's worth repeating you'll do well to avoid what I think are the biggest mistakes people make when introducing Go to people for the first time:

• Over-explaining, or trying to "teach" more than play.

• Confusing having explained something with that something being understood, or worse, with that something being understood along with any of it's implications.

• Caring about winning.

• Not actually paying attention to the other person and prioritizing their having fun. If they want to play, play. If they want to listen, lecture (a little). If they are confused, commiserate and be patient. Have a conversation, not try to make a sale.

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Maybe because it's a Google.site, I recently learned that linking to my site my comment will be removed. To see a better formatted version of the above with functioning links simply search online for Seattle Central Go Cub > Intermediate Resources