OK... serious moment here. Are you trying to teach him self defense, or how to apply kajukenbo dynamically. They are not the same. For self defense, you need to learn how to teach self defense. It's different. I'm not going to go on & on here; you can find plenty of threads and discussions about it around the site. Might even give you some ideals...
This was my first thought as well. You say you are teaching him "self defense," but it sounds like what he wants is to develop basic fighting ability without relying on a training model that is heavily weighted towards pre-arranged patterns. That's fine, and can be done using the material of almost any martial arts style, but it is vastly different from teaching "self defense." Self defense involves discussions about engagement psychology, legalities of personal protection, environmental awareness, and many other concepts and skills. Many of us incorporate those lessons in to our martial arts classes anyway, but if you are not teaching those things you are not teaching "self defense." That isn't really a problem, you can teach whatever you want, but the first step to determining how and what you want to teach is to clearly understand your goals as an instructor and the goals of your students.
When I'm teaching "self defense" I have a basic and intermediate curriculum that I teach which covers many of these aspects. You can find my beginner curriculum, as well as examples of how I incorporate the beginner and intermediate curricula into class plans here on MartialTalk.
Beginner Street Self Defense
Beginner Street Self Defense Class Plans
Intermediate Street Self Defense Class Plans
Those classes also include some kenpo technique training which you could replace with your own material or exclude completely. Understand though, that those classes were for students who had been training in our school for at least a year and were part of a larger martial arts curriculum. I don't really begin to focus on street fighting, or ground fighting, or sparring, until the students have almost a year of regular training in basics and beginner kenpo material.
Rather than go into why I teach what I do, I'll tell you how I go about writing a curriculum for my students. First, I get out a blank sheet of paper and make a list of all the material I want to cover with my students, from the most basic to the most advanced. Then I arrange that material in a progressive fashion so that more advanced skills are evolutions of simpler material. Then I split that material in to classes built around central themes and tied together in such a way as to reinforce both previous material and new material.
You mention that you aren't using class plans. I would suggest you begin. Right now. Start simple. Take a piece of paper and split it into four sections. Label those sections
WARM UP, STATIC DRILLS, NEW MATERIAL, DYNAMIC DRILLS. In the WARM UP section, write down whatever exercises and basics you like to use to get the students ready for training. Start with a stretch, then get them moving around, then have them work some simple strikes in the air and on the pads. Include calisthenics or not depending on how you like to train. In the STATIC DRILLS section, write down some simple drills that the students can do against a non-resisting opponent. Maybe basic blocking drills, or footwork drills, or head movement drills, or striking drills. Take material you worked on in previous classes and have the students drill it during this time to review and develop skills. In the NEW MATERIAL section write down whatever new basics, concepts, techniques, or discussions you are going to work on with the student in that class. This is lab time, you might slow the class down, or work on form, the key is that you are engaging their minds and giving them something new to work on. In the final section, the DYNAMIC DRILLS section, make a list of competitive drills and activities that the students can practice against a resisting opponent. These can be simple drills like working the clinch position against a resisting opponent, or they can be free sparring, or evasion drills. Incorporate the new material in to the static drills from the beginning of class and use this time to get the students working on something that requires them to really apply the lessons you've been teaching them.
That's a basic, simple class plan. You don't have to follow it exactly. But it's a place to start. Personally, I believe that it is extremely important to have a plan going in to a class. You don't have to follow it perfectly, and the more experienced you become the more free you will feel to go off script. But, especially as a beginner instructor, it is so important for you to plan ahead and not just "wing it." What I've written here is just an example, you may decide to do things differently. But do something. You will teach better classes and your students will benefit from you putting in the work ahead of time.
The student you are working on is a complete beginner. A yellow belt in one art? A few months training in another? And nothing in years? He's a beginner. He might not want to believe it, he might not want to hear it, but it is what it is. Start at the start. That doesn't mean you should bore him or belittle him, but he won't benefit from you skipping ahead in an attempt to get him excited about his training. Just work on making the basics exciting. Like Michael said, the basics really are exciting if they are presented in the right way. Take a simple basic, like a jab/cross combination, or a bearhug, or a straight arm bar, and work with the student. Make them apply it in a static environment, make them apply while you push them around, make them apply it while they are defending, or attacking, or circling, or retreating, make them defend against it. You can make a really exciting class out of a simple inward handsword. But if you never take the time to teach them a
proper inward handsword then all their future training will be built on a poor foundation.
I've taught kenpo as a strict series of pre-arranged patterns and I've taught it with no patterns at all. It can be done. Look at your techniques and sets and forms. What are they trying to teach? Take those lessons, isolate them, and teach the lessons without the pre-arranged sequences. For instance, if Delayed Sword is teaching inside defense/lead side counters/hard style blocking, then can you teach the student those lessons without ever teaching him Delayed Sword? Of course you can. You can use spontaneous drills and activities to get him to work on all those concepts without ever having him memorize a technique.
Personally, with new students I have a list of beginner techniques for standing and ground fighting, for grappling and striking, for attacking and defending, for hands and feet, for stances and moving. Regardless of the technique material I intend to teach them, I work on these basic techniques as well in order to develop the beginner skill set. For instance, my beginners learn Clinch, Bearhug, and Arm Hold as the beginner "control positions." We practice and explore each of those techniques in a number of situations so that they can understand and apply them spontaneously. The beginner locks are Hammerlock, Straight Arm Bar, and Headlock. The beginner kicks are front, side, and rear. Etc, etc.
One last thing. You've just started teaching. You will make mistakes. I've lost students because I went too fast, I've lost students because I went to slow. I've lost students because they've gotten hurt, I've lost students because we didn't train hard enough. You are a white belt instructor, and instructing is a completely different skill set from karate. You have a lot of learning ahead of you, and you're doing the right thing by asking questions. Be patient with yourself. Be patient with your students. One of the most important lessons of karate is that we are never done learning. No one here has it all figured out, neither do your instructors or senior black belts. Just keep working and you'll keep getting better. Learn from every old class. Try to do better with every new class. After you finish teaching one, take notes on your lesson plan about what worked and what didn't and what you had to change on the fly and what conversations or drills came up that you hadn't planned. Then study those notes and lesson plans when you go to write your next one. This is part of learning too.
Good luck. This is a good place and you will find a lot of good people here. You will also run into some jerks. Don't let the negativity get you down. Stay focused on getting better and you will. But it will take time. You didn't get your black belt in a day, you won't become a black belt instructor in a day either.
-Rob
A few questions:
