Instructing Tips
Page 10 of 15
- When you are teaching a class of strangers, belt colors will supposedly let you know the proficiency of each student so you will know how to teach the class. Regrettably, in many classes this is not the case. Ideally, all the students could remove their belts and at the end of class after watching each student perform, you should be able match the belts to the students.
- A class may not exist for long without new white belts nor may it exist indefinitely without experienced black belts. An incompetent white belt cannot ruin a class but an incompetent black belt may destroy a class.
- Praise
- Tell them up front that you are going to let them know how they are doing.
- Praise them immediately.
- Tell them what they did right—be specific.
- Tell them how good you feel about what they did right and how it helps the dojang and the other students.
- Stop for a moment of silence to let them "feel" how good you feel.
- Encourage them to do more of the same.
- Shake hands or touch them in away that makes it clear that you appreciate their efforts
- Student Loyalty. Is it disloyal for your students to study another martial art while also studying Taekwondo with you? No!. As long as your students are honoring their contract with you and are not using your teachings in an illegal or immoral manner, it should not matter what they do with their lives. When they are in your dojang, they will do what you teach and how you teach it, and will not deviate except with your permission. Just like a college professor once told me "You may disagree with what I teach but, if you do not answer test questions according to the way I teach, you will fail the course."