Teaching Kids

SloMo · Orange Belt

This post was originally published as an article in a dedicated KarateForums.com Articles section, which is no longer online. After the section was closed, this article was most to the most appropriate forum in our community.

More and more children are starting martial arts. This is great in promoting the art and parents like the discipline and respect that their children learn. However, teaching martial arts to children is not like teaching adults, as any instructor who has done both will tell you!

You are not teaching tiny adults!!!

I cannot stress this one enough. Repeat it to yourself whenever you get frustrated. You are teaching kids. Their motivations for coming to class are not the same as an adult. I have broken down the reasons into three categories. I know that there are other reasons but these seem to be the major one's that I see most often.

The "How Hard Can it be?" Group:
I saw a Jackie Chan (or Jet Li) movie and I want to learn to do that!

Okay, these kids quickly learn that it's going to take hard work and years to learn. The trick with them is to show them what they will attain. Have some of your advanced students show off a little to them. Let them see what they will really learn. Either you will hook them right off or they will decide that it isn't what they want. The sooner you do it the better!

The "My Parents Are Making Me do This" Group:
My child is hyper, inattentive, disrespectful, doing bad in school, etc... fix them!

Here you have a double problem, an unmotivated student and parents who expect miracles. First, get the student hooked. Don't talk or focus on the problems the kid may be having. Instead, talk to them like their parents are not even there. Ask them what they might want to get out of coming to class. Show them how much you love the art and they will start to think that this could be a good thing. Show them what they will learn and make sure that they leave that first class having learned something. Teach them a kick, a block, a stance, something that will allow them to feel like they accomplished something.

Now you need to manage the parent's expectations. If you have any good parents (they are worth their weight in gold) have them talk to the prospective student's parents. They will regale them with talks about how great their kid is doing and how much they love it, etc. You also need to spend some time with the parents yourself. Find out what they expect and help them understand that it's not a quick fix. Talk to them about some of your other students and the ways they have improved. You might turn them into another one of your great parents!

The "My Best Friend is Doing it and I Want to Try it" Group:
Joe/Jane talks about this place all the time. I want to see what's up!

You almost feel you can't lose with a new student like this. They have a general idea of what goes on. They have a friend already in class. What could go wrong?

Lots!

Competition between friends – sometimes the new student will compare themselves with their friend. This can lead to the person getting discouraged. You need to teach that student that they have an identity in the class other than "friend of Joe". You'll know that you succeeded in this when they show up for class even when the friend that got them into class doesn't. I try to have them do the warm ups next to their friend to help them get over that initial nervousness but then I separate them for the rest of class. That way, they each leave that first class with a different experience that they can share with each other.

Friend does better than the student that brought him to class – this happens more often than I thought it would. Here you need to focus on your original student. We all have to deal with students getting passed by other students but it is different when it's a friend that you brought to class that is doing it! It's not an easy one to handle but you need to boost the original student's morale more often so they don't feel like they are a loser.

I know that I'm just touching on some much larger issues, but hopefully this helps some of you.

Patrick · KF Administrator

Thank you for the submission.

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jnpnshr411 · Orange Belt

I have seen competition between friends to be great. Usually it drives the students to work harder to get ahead.
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Menjo · Black Belt

A. Orstrom · Orange Belt

This applies to adults as well.
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The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence,
but in the mastery of his passions.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Ben Martin · Green Belt

nice read, thanks
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Lasz · White Belt

I deal with the kids' group sometimes, it can get really frustrating, good read, thanks

jkeeling · White Belt

A small sample from an article I wrote 4 years ago about teaching different general types of students:

Children

Children generally have shorter attention spans than adults and this is more obvious the younger the student is. If possible, children's classes should be broken down into different age groups. Sometimes, boys and girls should be separated as well. Generally speaking, children under the age of about 13 are usually not mentally or emotionally mature enough (although they may be sufficiently physically mature) to join an adult class. Teachers of children must be able to tolerate less structure to the class at times, as younger students (particularly boys) may have a tendency to be disruptive. Mixing in physical games (including running or jumping) with their regular martial arts training may be a good idea, especially for the younger ones. Classes for younger children often have to be shorter, as these students cannot retain as much information and the instructors get tired faster while dealing with the potential for disruption and wandering attention of their students. Corrections should usually be more general than for adults, working on improvements in stages, over a longer period of time.
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Why_Worry · Blue Belt

Yeah, i kidna wish i had a friend in one of my classes that i could kidna be liek a friendly rival with and we could liek train together or jsut work to become betters. I knwo i shouldnt need a motivation to train, but it would help to have a motivation. I should be motivated enough as it is, but still, we all could be a little bit more motivated. (But yeah, if they kids are rather 'stuck up', it could result in the two people being mean to each other)
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Focus

gojupralgo · Yellow Belt

We will not accept any children under 6 years of age. They just don't have a real understanding of what MA is all about. They don't have the attention span, need to know their left from right etc....

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