Archive for the 'teaching kata' Category

Kata Mentoring Method

Published on March 13, 2012 in teaching karate and teaching kata. 9 Comments

Have you ever taught a class where you’ve simply had too many students for you to teach effectively? You feel like you’re being pulled in 10 different directions at once? Everyone is crying out for your attention and you’re spread too thin…

Let’s say you have 16 students but you need to work on kata, but you have a mix of grades, black belts, white belts and several colors in between. If you just work on the simple kata as a group, the black belts get bored. If you work on the advanced stuff, the others become overwhelmed. If you start with the simple kata and work your way to the advanced kata, eliminating students as you go… well you’re excluding students, and wasting valuable time in which they could be learning or practicing.

karate kataWhat to do?

When I’m confronted with such a scene I often use a method that makes the higher grades feel important, helps the lower grades gain a different perspective and simultaneously helps everybody learn. It’s kinda like a “big brother” program where an older person volunteers to mentor a younger person. I call it the  Kata Mentoring Method (KMM).

The way I use this method while teaching a karate class is to have the higher grades partner with lower ranked students. I then assign a kata for the less experienced student to learn or refine and make it the higher belt’s job to teach it to them. After all students have paired off, I give them 15 minutes or so to work together to improve their kata. At the end of the time, both “mentor” and “student” will present the kata they’ve been working on for the rest of the class.

Sometimes I have them do the kata in synchronized fashion, and sometimes they might demonstrate the bunkai / application.

This method has so many wonderful benefits.

  1. Lower ranked students learn from someone other than you.
  2. Your higher ranked students (mentors) impart with some of their knowledge, which also helps them learn.
  3. Your higher ranked students are acknowledged and feel significant.
  4. Your higher ranked students learn to develop leadership, communication and teaching skills.
  5. Students work together with each other which forms bonds and friendships.
  6. It takes the pressure off of you as a teacher.

Have you tried this method before?

If not I highly recommend you do… and don’t be concerned if your mentors aren’t perfect. They aren’t. Neither are you or I. The important thing is that something will be learned by both mentor and student, and nobody is excluded during class. You’ll also see an improvement in morale and develop a group that supports each other.

- Jason

 

Amophie

Published on May 18, 2010 in teaching karate to kids and teaching kata. 3 Comments

There’s a exercise I do with my junior students from time to time where I give them 15 minutes to make up a kata…

Basically they pair off and work together to create a short kata of 10-15 moves which they’ll come up and demonstrate in synchronized fashion for the rest of the class. The only guidlines I give them are these:

  • be creative, try to think of something unique yet practical
  • you may take sequences from other kata, so long as it doesn’t exceed 3 concurrent techniques
  • it must make sense application-wise (and I might ask them to demonstrate the bunkai after their performance)

So last year when I asked my class to do this simple exercise, for the most part the boys were horrible at it. They had a hard time getting it together, some completely freaked out about the idea they would be demonstrating for everyone else, and this paralyzed them taking action and creating something.

However, the girls on the other hand got to work. They talked, they practiced and they created. And when they came up to demonstrate they were fast, sharp and crisp.

I chuckled when the winning pair (Amanda and Sophie) announced their kata, while other kids in the class were confused.

Their kata’s name? 

Amophie…

Pretzels and Sticks…

Published on February 2, 2010 in teaching kata. 2 Comments

A few weeks ago I shared with you a simple way to check the geometry of your student’s stances by using a stick, and I promised to share another way you can use a stick to help your students with their kata.

( I know I said I share this with you “next week” all those weeks ago, and now it’s been a month.  It wasn’t intentional to keep you waiting. It simply slipped my mind in all the craziness.)

Anyhow, here is an *extremely* easy way to get your students to get their angles and directions precise for their kata… but before we get to that, let’s talk briefly about the problem.

Let’s say a student has their left leg forward and has just made left oizuki (lunge punch) in zenkutsu dachi (forward stance). Let’s also assume the next move is a 90 degree turn to the left into the same stance with a downward block.

Have you ever noticed that beginners have the problem making the turn all the way? They might step across to their left with their left foot but only go about 75-80 degrees, and try to turn their body the full 90, ending up more twisted than a stale pretzel?

I’m sure you know what I mean, and it doesn’t matter how many times you explain that they must maintain width in their stance and avoid placing one foot in front of the other, some students just don’t get it. They have a hard time joining the dots between what you’re saying and what their body is doing.

So just use your bo staff to help them. Simply lay the staff on the ground at exactly 90 degrees to their first position and tell them that when they step, that their front foot must step to the other side of the stick. This gives your students a visual guide, plus also creates an obstacle to navigate with their step. It will help them pick up their feet and place them correctly.

Have your student practice their stepping for the particular move 10-20 times or however many repetitions it takes for them to get it right. Of course you can use this trick for any angle in any direction in any stance to ensure correct foot placement.

Try it out…

Until next time, keep using sticks on your students.

- Jason