Posted by Royal Dragon on September 30, 2003 at 18:30:51:
In Reply to: Re: Yesterday, with Royal Dragon posted by Bac on September 30, 2003 at 10:31:14:
I actually agree with most of that.
I do however take exception to this one
''They are continuously learning. If you are not learning how can you teach? ''
You really don't need to continue learning to teach what you already know. Your own experiance can and does automatically make you a better and better teacher. Personally though, I prefer a continus learning curve. For example, I started my Tai tzu (Emperor's long Fist) Journey with the Southern Tai tzu system originally developed by the Imperial family of the Southern Sung dynasty (Chao family) to rapidly train troops. Then, to continue my education, I took up study of the style they developed for the Imperial guard itself. Now, I am persuing the ultra closed door system develped by the Emperor himself for his family only. Unlike the rest of the system this is a purely internal version of the style. I will probably be persuing this branch for the next 10 years or so, or more excusively.
Also, this one irks me, but mostly because of the termonology.
''Students will feel the influence
and effects of a correct Moo Doe hyung (movement) immediately''
I really don't like the whole ''Moo Doe hyung''. That perticular term is pretty indicative of Chung Moo Quan/OYD system, and we all pretty much know those guys really don't know squat about martial arts period. However, if it had been phrased more like this:
''Students will feel the influence
and effects of a correct training and practice immediately''
it would have been much better. The other way is almost a dig at anyone NOT part of the OYD cult.
See, this way of phrasing it takes the emphisis off of a system that is complete garbage, and opens it up to include ALL correct training, by ANYONE who knows how to teach correctly.
I really agree with the following line though:
''In the event a student
feels like he or she is stuck, or not going forward, it's time to check their practice regime.
They are probably off balance.''
Often, it's not really even a matter of being off balance (although it could be construed that way anyway), but just a matter of changing up the routine a bit. For example, I run classes by teaching holding posture exercises Mondays, and Fridays (When I teach Kung Fu that is, mostly doing the Taiji now) But sometimes, a student will get to a point where they have been holding the set for the same amount of time for months with little improvement. In this case, I will sometimes replace the holding set with a dynamic tension set for a few weeks, and usually by the time I go back to having them hold again, they have gotten through the block.
You really have to be able to look at a student, and not only see where they are weak, but also see what is holding them there, and then be able to prescribe a regime to correct the problem. No two students will have the same problems. Once they get through the basics of the system, each student SHOULD be prescribed their own practice routine based on thier needs.