Tempermental Instructor

[aaronyeo]

Hello,
Thanks for reading this, I would really appreciate any comments or suggestions.

Here's my prediciment.

1. Tempermental Taekwondo instructor who is very prone to mood swings.
He sometimes takes it out on the younger kids who don't really have the motor skills to co-ordinate or execute patterns. This leads to no.2

2. My club has about 20 students (mainly kids 5-11) and there's only one instructor so there is a very big difference in age and ability. So why isn't the class seperated into adults and kids? This leads to no.3

3. There are NO black belts or co-instructors in the class. Those who have reached blackbelt leave, because maybe they don't want to teach kids or maybe they're sick of the instuctor's attitude. So, what's wrong with the instructor's attitude? Refer to no.1 (haha!)

Are there some strategies that are employed to teach a class with mixes ages and abilities? My instructor is a 5 degree Black belt, but while he may be technically competent, I think he's got problems teaching, especially the younger kids. IMO it takes a very special person to be able to teach young kids who are not really interested to learn.

[SomeGuy]

When I was in Muay Thai a few years ago I was wondering the samething about not having a beginners and advanced class. At first it didn make much sense to me, but to tell you the truth if theres people for u to spar with ( not kids, but older adults who are at least as good as you) then its not really a problem.

I did however attend a muay thai class at a new school and they have beginner and advanced classes of muay thai. I think this is good because if u just want to take it easy, or hone up on the basic skills then u can attend the beginner class over and over.

As far as the attitude, I personally couldnt see myself learning easily from someone who has an attitude. And if he gets to the point that hes actually making fun of your skills, or telling u that u suck then get out now. Martial arts is all about learning, having fun and discipline. Ridiculing your own students is just outragous.

[scorpiousmac]

Absolutly no excuses for an instructor to take anything out on his students.I train in a big mixed class in karate.My sensei is also a fith dan but has a very good rapour with the younger students as well as the old.He always keeps his focus on the older students primarily allowing the younger students to develop at their own pace and pick up bits and pieces as they go.As soon as they get to a reasonable age and are actually ready to learn some dicipline they fall back a row.If they lark about too much however they will be called to heal and almost all of them responds well to a little telling off(better than they do with their parents),a few push ups usually sorts it out.
I find your lack of high grades disturbing and suggest that there is a good reason why they are thin on the ground.The high grades at our school can prove invaluable especially when it is busy.I find it almost comforting to go to class early and see the high grades already there practicing their kata,it shows that they still have the enthusiasm instilled by their teacher and ultimatly that they still enjoy and belive in what they are doing

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by aaronyeo

3. There are NO black belts or co-instructors in the class. Those who have reached blackbelt leave, because maybe they don't want to teach kids or maybe they're sick of the instuctor's attitude. So, what's wrong with the instructor's attitude? Refer to no.1 (haha!)

I know nothing about your school but think the points you bring up are very good. #3 is one of the most telling in my opinion... a 5th dan instructor who can't retain his black belts is a warning sign to me. It also sounds like you really have no one to bring your concerns to.

My advice: take a look around other nearby schools and give them a trial. If the senior students (black belts) are fleeing... the writing is on the wall...

[Kwajman]

THats an explosion waiting to happen. Hope he's got insurance for when he gets sued.

[GetNtheGame]

Sounds like what this guy needs to do is:

1. Get another instructor to do a separate kids program FOR him,
2. Turn the class completely over to someone else, or
3. Just don't accept students under a certain age (maybe 13-15) in the class

[aaronyeo]

I've read thru, the comments and suggestions here and I'm pretty sure that there are some inherient problems with the instructor's attitude and how the class is structured. (Smells like McDojo!!)

I'm tempted to take off and go to another school, but i think I'll stay and get my black belt and lead the club in a whole new direction. If my instructor refuses to co-operate or if he abuses my good intentions then i'll leave... or maybe challenge him to a deathmatch. ha!

Thanks everybody and I'm sorry if I'm not able to respond to everybody individually but I've printed out this thread and kept it for future referance.

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by aaronyeo

I'm tempted to take off and go to another school, but i think I'll stay and get my black belt and lead the club in a whole new direction. If my instructor refuses to co-operate or if he abuses my good intentions then i'll leave... or maybe challenge him to a deathmatch. ha!

Best of luck and success. It really shows dedication and strength of purpose to try to change some thing instead of leave. I wish you the best (keep us updated if you can!)

[julesgrant22]

I agree - Good luck for the future.

I have a slightly different situation about my school :-
My school has only been going 18 months so its mainly full of kids - theres 4 adults on average including myself.
There are no Black belts to assist my instructor but we do have a Black Tag who helps out a lot.
I dont mind - whenever I need to get an adult class, I attend another school that my instructor has - im lucky as he has classes over 7 towns!

As a sports coach myself - if you cant learn from the person you have now, find another one as you will suffer. I didnt get along with my instructor at first but realised communication was a major factor so once we sorted that, we get along really well and I have progressed dramatically.

Good Luck!
Jules x

[slamdunc]

Hello,
Thanks for reading this, I would really appreciate any comments or suggestions.

Advice is only offered, not given. My advice is in three steps.

1. Go to your school, clean out your locker and empty all contents into a gym bag.

2. Go to your instructor and kindly thank him for the time he has spent training you, thus far.

3. Take your gym bag and go to a real martial arts school, one with good instructors, who care about the growth and development of the martial artists they train.

[hatsie]

i agree with the above post, while i admire your choice to stay and try to clean up 'dodge', lol, if the teacher is not your friend etc. his problems are his own and not yours. you are spending your money and more importantly your time to learn your chosen art, why spend most of it trying to sort things out or being a p.t. teacher, probably leading to fullish time hence the lack of dan grades.

find a good school with a good teacher, with no 'little bundles of joy' ahhhhrrrrrrrr!! allowed in your class, lol.

good luck.

[TheCount]

Originally Posted by aaronyeo

Hello,
Thanks for reading this, I would really appreciate any comments or suggestions.

Here's my prediciment.

1. Tempermental Taekwondo instructor who is very prone to mood swings.
He sometimes takes it out on the younger kids who don't really have the motor skills to co-ordinate or execute patterns. This leads to no.2

2. My club has about 20 students (mainly kids 5-11) and there's only one instructor so there is a very big difference in age and ability. So why isn't the class seperated into adults and kids? This leads to no.3

3. There are NO black belts or co-instructors in the class. Those who have reached blackbelt leave, because maybe they don't want to teach kids or maybe they're sick of the instuctor's attitude. So, what's wrong with the instructor's attitude? Refer to no.1 (haha!)

Are there some strategies that are employed to teach a class with mixes ages and abilities? My instructor is a 5 degree Black belt, but while he may be technically competent, I think he's got problems teaching, especially the younger kids. IMO it takes a very special person to be able to teach young kids who are not really interested to learn.

Just tell the instructor to shut his pus and get it together.

[Melanie]

I'm not quite sure this was the kind of "help" he was looking for but its an opinion I guess

[Dr.Quinn]

What does he actually do when he gets angry? If he's bad enough for u to post about, it may be worth looking into another school. His TKD teachings arent going to be any better then other TKD instuctors, infact, if he's a pain to be around then the others will be BETTER and you will probably end up learning much more, thus becoming a better martial artist.

No one can decide what to do but you,
good luck,
-DocQ!

[aaronyeo]

Thanks for the resposes.
Here's an update/discovery of what's happening.

1. Last week, he gave out certificates to those who were promoted (6 months overdue) and I realized that it no longer had the Signature of Grandmaster Sabree Salleh, the president of Malaysian GTF who we were supposed to be under.

2. Since I'm the oldest around in his class he would ask me help to coordinate. However this "coordination" sometimes involves me having to meet the involved parties and bringing them there and bring them back. Much like a chaperone.

3. For the past two grading exercises, I have been the one conducting the grading, arranging tables, calling out names, giving out commands and such.

On the grading exercise last Sunday was more chaotic than usual, but I managed to organize the large masses of kids running around and get on with the program.

I took my grading only after everybody had left. Surprise surprise. He gave me a double promotion. I'm now a 2nd Gup Red belt from a 4th Gup Blue. I suspect there's a hidden agenda for the double promotion. I've only been learning TKD for one year or so and I even I know that my technique isn't the best around.

4. I decided to take the advice from offered here and search from another TKD instructor. I found out from a 6th Dun ITF instructor from another school that my instructor was fired from ITF. That explains why my class is the only GTF TKD around.

So this friday, I'm going over to the ITF school that the 6th Dun Instructor is from to have a look at things there.