Kids and tai chi
Posted by Fiona Anderson. on Friday, December 13, 2013
Teaching kids is much more full on than teaching adults. It may look easy, but if you aren't prepared and in authority, it can all go horribly wrong fairly swiftly....
First thing is to establish that you are the instructor, not the friend. I remember going for interview as a teacher and being asked how I felt about children. As they told me afterwards, they were trying to weed out those people who thought children were sweet little angels! Luckily there are ways to establish yourself in this role and in the book I shall go into detail on these. The absolute key is establishing boundaries with rewards and sanctions, that are all impersonal, depending solely on the action that triggers them, not on the kid's personality or whatever, so everyone can see that you are fair.
Then there's the activities - establish a routine right from the start; this will make your life very much easier. When I had to be away for a while, a couple of the tai chi parents stepped in and the children took them through the lesson routine "we always do this, then this, etc". At first, you will need to have a host of 5 minute activities, so you can swiftly ring the changes, according to the kids' attention spans. Over time, these will increase in duration, with the kids' increasing attention span.
Teaching kids is a whole different ball game - adults you can leave to practise whatever, kids you very rarely can do this. You need to have a variety of activities, some which are slow and some which are fast - alternating between these. Have some games ready - of a tai chi nature - and have some teaching stories in your repertoire too.
I have roughed out a draft of chapter headings and lists of possible contents for each.... if there are specific queries or requests, feel free to contact me and I'll do my best to be helpful :)
First thing is to establish that you are the instructor, not the friend. I remember going for interview as a teacher and being asked how I felt about children. As they told me afterwards, they were trying to weed out those people who thought children were sweet little angels! Luckily there are ways to establish yourself in this role and in the book I shall go into detail on these. The absolute key is establishing boundaries with rewards and sanctions, that are all impersonal, depending solely on the action that triggers them, not on the kid's personality or whatever, so everyone can see that you are fair.
Then there's the activities - establish a routine right from the start; this will make your life very much easier. When I had to be away for a while, a couple of the tai chi parents stepped in and the children took them through the lesson routine "we always do this, then this, etc". At first, you will need to have a host of 5 minute activities, so you can swiftly ring the changes, according to the kids' attention spans. Over time, these will increase in duration, with the kids' increasing attention span.
Teaching kids is a whole different ball game - adults you can leave to practise whatever, kids you very rarely can do this. You need to have a variety of activities, some which are slow and some which are fast - alternating between these. Have some games ready - of a tai chi nature - and have some teaching stories in your repertoire too.
I have roughed out a draft of chapter headings and lists of possible contents for each.... if there are specific queries or requests, feel free to contact me and I'll do my best to be helpful :)
Tags: kids
