Kids these days... Question for instructors.

[Curlykarateka]

as a "kid these days" I think my advice here could be helpful. Well, you could get them to teach each other, maybe not useful in this particular scenario but teaching lower grades how to perform kata/bunkai is not only a fantastic way to cement your understanding but also to improve your confidence, it works for me. I think focusing on an individual and talking them through the form one by one is a good way for me to learn too. Unfortunately, as mentioned above you won't keep many of those pupils, I know I'll leave for uni in a few years, likely never to return, so as the first instructor it's important to get them really interested, so we keep it up afterwards.

 

[MikeBielat]

We have some of the same issues in our dojo. I would ask you this. Does the watering down of your karate for kids effect the way they do karate when they get older? Would it be more advantageous to teach them the same as the adults( with less focus, speed and contact, perhaps that is all you are doing now)? However I think our biggest issue is that some kids are there because their parents want them to be there. We have 3 brothers ages 10 - 14 that have been in the dojo for about 3 years. All of them have had their moments of greatness and moments where it seems like it is painful for them to be in class. If they don't want to be there, but their parents are making them go, I don't know what you can do to change their minds. We also can only hope that they come around. Just out of curiosity, how old are the kids in the junior black belt program you are speaking of?

Sorry for the delayed response. Recently had our third baby back in March and I haven't had as much time (or energy) to hang out on the forums.

We have jr. black belts who are anywhere from 8-14(ish). When a child gets to those teen years then our master decides whether or not to put them into the adult program. So the kids (with a watered down curriculum) have to catch up to the adults so they keep whatever belt they have now for a long, long time until they are up to par.

 

[JonWal]

Sorry for the delayed response. Recently had our third baby back in March and I haven't had as much time (or energy) to hang out on the forums.

We have jr. black belts who are anywhere from 8-14(ish). When a child gets to those teen years then our master decides whether or not to put them into the adult program. So the kids (with a watered down curriculum) have to catch up to the adults so they keep whatever belt they have now for a long, long time until they are up to par.

I see it with several of the younger kids in our dojo. You can tell the ones that want to be there and trying hard and likewise you can see the ones that are walking through the kihon and kata as if learning a new dance. Poor stance, poor application of technique and no interest in improving.

As only a student its not my responsibility, although if there was something I could do to change their mindset I would certainly do it as their actions reflect on us students and potential students in the future.

 

[Cho, Yeonsoo]

I tried finding a proper thread for this to go into but couldn't find one so please forgive me if this is in the wrong place.

I am back into Isshin-Ryu karate after 7-8 year hiatus. Still know my forms, still can defend myself. Just out of shape and rusty around the edges. I'm training as hard as I can to remove that rust. Now before I stopped, I was an instructor at my dojo for a good 4 years. I am now back to the same dojo and assisting as much as I can until I get back into the swing of things and memorize the student's curriculum and whatnot.

Yesterday, I was helping out at our Junior Black Belt classes (children have watered down curriculum at our dojo requiring a jr. black belt system where they learn what the adults know). Now this class had 5-6 students. We spent the whole day on form. One or two kids has their stuff locked down while the others were just way out in left field. Their stances were for the birds and they barely even knew their forms.

I started this thread because I want to get some feedback on how to ramp these kids up. It is never too late to learn things the right way or improve on one's technique. What is done is done and I cannot strip them of their belts obviously lol. I just want to get them on par and giving it their all. I don't want to write these kids off but we need to change things up a bit so that these kids moving up the ranks learn the right way from the start as well.

Do you instructors have any feedback that you can share on what you do to keep your students interested and being the best they can? Any fun ways to pass the knowledge down while keeping the kids interest?

Karate is just as much an outward thing as it is inward and should be altering these kid's sense of self-pride in what they do. They should "want" to be the best without us having to enforce that as much as I feel we are doing. Karate has made me more self-driven, self-disciplined and self-motivated to be the best that I can but I took things seriously. Any feedback would be much appreciated.

I only assist, but my instructor has a good system (TKD) he get's all the students that performed well to sit, then, he gets the not quite acceptable students to stand, then, he will request for them to do it again, one by one, makes them concentrate more. shows them embarrassment. It's how I straightened out and it seems to work most of the time. I mean, who wants to be publicly embarrassed?

 

[K-man]

I only assist, but my instructor has a good system (TKD) he get's all the students that performed well to sit, then, he gets the not quite acceptable students to stand, then, he will request for them to do it again, one by one, makes them concentrate more. shows them embarrassment. It's how I straightened out and it seems to work most of the time. I mean, who wants to be publicly embarrassed?

Nobody likes to be embarrassed in front of their peers, but I think it is a really bad policy. People learn at different rates and in different ways. You may have picked up your game when put out in front of the class but I would suggest that a fair number of students would actually be inclined to give up.
:asian:

 

[Cho, Yeonsoo]

Nobody likes to be embarrassed in front of their peers, but I think it is a really bad policy. People learn at different rates and in different ways. You may have picked up your game when put out in front of the class but I would suggest that a fair number of students would actually be inclined to give up.
:asian:

didn't think of that... but the thing is, my instructor will only use this method for students who are not prepared to go to grading when the time comes... I will have to come up with a different method when I one on one the slower kids... :disgust:

 

[Badger1777]

Sorry, I can't advise from an instructors point of view because I've never been one, but I once was a kid at a karate school, so I can tell you what made me work hard.

Our school tended to deviate a bit from the standard pattern of bow in, warm up, stretch, regimentally stomp up and down in unison performing the same kick/punch, sparring, warm down, bow out. We did all those things, but lots of other stuff was mixed in. One of my personal favourites (and the rest of the class as far as I could tell) was the 'last man standing kumite'. Basically, after a bit of sparring, we'd have a brief free for all. Then after a few minutes the instructors would pick out a few people at random. Those few would then have to fight one of those that weren't picked. Winner (2 points for win) stays on. The instructors never decided who was the overall winner, that's was for us to decide. Was it the person left when we ran out of time? Or was it the person that defeated the most opponents overall? Perhaps it was whoever had the most attempts. The point is everyone had their own definition of victory, and everyone wanted to be the victor, so everybody tried really hard. And it was tremendous fun.

 

[Limasogobudo]

Kids learn from their past. we did the same but it was those that taught us to correct it so it would work for us. You have to do the same for them so they can learn to do that. When i teach kids this is how i do it. Take the youngest kids lets say 6. spend 6 minutes on a teaching. So I would teach lets say the first two steps of seisan. Then let them run or work em out. then come back to it. Kids minds change quicker then the channels on youtube.

Also great way of team building.....

get some boxes, have the two teams make a castle, then play dodge-ball but the thing is they can only block the ball using their blocks from the kata, they can not catch it.

Well enjoy and have fun! Oss!