Regardless of what type, or style, of martial art that you teach when it comes to explaining how a technique works or what type of physical actions you should take in a combat situation the key part of it all is to not only verbally explain but also physically demonstrate what you are on about at the same time. A case of teaching with sound and vision.
These days thanks to the internet there are now two ways of learning the martial arts. The first, and of course the traditional way, is to be taught the combat arts within the Dojo, (or Kwoon as it is called in the Chinese martial arts), or the second method via a prerecorded online video. Needless to say, learning online is nowhere near the same as doing the real thing but it can help a bit when it comes to learning techniques and applications as a study thing. However in both cases some instructors fail to teach both the visual and verbal at the same time. Teaching both at the same time really is the best way to go to be a good teacher, although not all the time of course. Having the instructor just standing there in front of you, be it via video or in the Dojo and talking only without any visual instruction fails to fully cover such instructions if these two ways are done as stand alone methods. The real true way that offers full benefit is to do both at the same time. Of course giving verbal instructions while demonstrating something that is physically demanding will require the instructor to be a master of his breathing skills in addition or he, or she of course, will soon find himself out of breath. A problem that students will not be aware of until the time comes to stand in front of a class of students themselves and start to give instruction and to demonstrate the various fighting methods at the same time. Sadly these days we often see lots of martial arts instructors standing in front of a video camera and just talking about the various applications used, or needed, in a physical combat situation, which is fair enough to a degree, but also somewhat boring to look at, and of course very much lacking that much needed visual aspect to it all. Some martial arts teachers will explain what they are about to visually demonstrate first but I still say that doing both at the same time is the best way to do things. And of course in the Dojo not only will it save on time but it will also save the students having to just stand there while their teacher rattles on endlessly at times. Something that I must admit I have also done in lessons in the past. Just a passing thought to end on. I would compare teaching the verbal and the visual to dancing to music. Would you dance to a song after the song has ended? If you get my drift? For a related article on the subject of teaching the martial arts click >HERE< Comments are closed.
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