Taijiquan Teacher’s Training - A Primer

written by Nick Gudge – around 2006

About this piece

I wrote this article at the behest of a student of mine, Niall O’Floinn, to whom I had given the school I had created in Galway. He was interested in starting a program for teachers and I wrote this for him to try and open his eyes to some of the broader aspects of teaching and teaching teachers.

Introduction

There are some basic facts that are perhaps best acknowledged upfront.

1. Currently no one needs any qualification or certification to teach taijiquan.

2. Almost all taijiquan teachers are not very good teachers, regardless of the quality of their taijiquan.

3. Historically the performance of taijiquan teachers in producing skills in their students has been poor as a consequence of both poor teaching skills and insufficient taijiquan understanding.

These are not very palatable facts for taijiquan teachers to face but until we do face them, understand how to change them and then set about changing them, the situation is unlikely to improve much.

Why do people want Teacher Training.

There are several common reasons.

1. They might want to teach and to improve their teaching skills.

2. They might lack confidence in their teaching ability.

3. Teaching is the ‘next step’ in their teacher’s (the person who teaches them’s) curriculum

(There are certainly more reasons and teasing these out is probably worth doing.)

Why do people want Certification?

Again, there are several common reasons.

1. The first might be that they would like to “prove” their ability with a certificate.

2. The second might be that teaching certification is the ‘next step’ in their teacher’s curriculum.

3. There may be a status element in certification that people want to achieve.

4. Achievement of Certification can be a motivation. It is usually an award for performance at some level, be it attendance, performance and/or skill.

Again, there are probably more reasons that are worth teasing out.

Why would someone provide Certification?

Again, there are likely to be several significant reasons.

1. Perhaps the most positive would be to maintain and improve standards of tuition.

2. It might be a simple money making proposition, as in many belt systems in the other martial arts, and the recent attempt at creating duan gradings in taijiquan.

3. There may be a status element in providing certification where certifiers want to “prove” their place in a hierarchy by providing those below with certificates.

4. It may have to do with organisational creation and/or control.

Again, there are probably more reasons that are worth teasing out.

A Personal Note 

For myself, the reason for undertaking teacher’s training (something I have been doing for almost 20 years now) is that it improves my teaching ability and that in turn improves the likelihood of my students gaining putative taijiquan skill. Certification I see little personal value in, though I can see why it would be appropriate to acknowledge achievement, particularly for a dispersed organisation.

Teaching is a Vocation

There is no doubt in my mind that good teaching is a vocation. However, many people teach simply for financial reasons (and there is nothing wrong with financial reasons.) There are other reasons e.g. the desire to help others, the desire to disseminate information, the desire to be the teacher etc. Someone’s reasons for teaching largely dictate the type of teacher that they are.

I have drafted an outline of what I would see as the minimal elements of a Teacher’s training program. This program would reflect (although not equal,) the level of an excellent teacher’s teaching skills and taijiquan ability in such a way that teacher could feel pleased to put their name to it.

In brief these can be simplified to:

• Set a baseline ( a minimum) understanding of the physical principles of movement

• Set a baseline understanding of choreography

• Set systematic approach (or approaches) to teaching,

• Set a regular schedule of self-checks and independent checks, so that teachers can refresh their training/understanding.

• Setup a network of teachers, able to share knowledge and teaching approaches

Outline for a Certified Taijiquan Teacher’s Training Program

1. Objectives of Taijiquan Teachers Training

   1. Participant has a suitable level of comprehension of

      1. Taijiquan theory

      2. Taijiquan practice

   2. Understands what the goals of teaching are i.e.

      1. Body mechanics and their components

      2. The mechanisms of Practice

      3. The process of correction

      4. Core Skills

      5. The Importance of Conditioning/Flexibility/Power

   3. Understand the relevant methodologies available to achieve these goals

      1. Rote learning

      2. Individualised learning / multiple intelligences require multiple approaches

      3. Differentiating between rote and individualised training

      4. Correction methodologies

2. Aptitude for teaching: character traits and skills required

   1. Courtesy e. Humour i. Caring m. Self Awareness

   2. Integrity f. Patience j. Understanding n. Listening

   3. Perseverance g. Selflessness k. Empathy o. Communication

   4. Self Control h. Leadership l. Morality

3. Skills of Teaching

1. Understanding where the student is

2. Understanding where the student wants or needs to get to

3. Understanding how to get the students from 3a. to 3b.

4. Ability to communicate in such a way that the student grasps what to do

5. Multiple redundancies in teaching approaches

6. Understanding the process of learning

7. Group teaching methodologies and their adaptation

8. Observation

9. Communication

10. Individual Correction (Hands on – Physical correction)

11. Group Correction

12. Motivation

13. Dealing with Pre-existing Injury

14. Sports first aid

15. Understanding of Motor Skills Formation

4. Taijiquan Curriculum

   1. Understanding of the curriculum

   2. Understand how the curriculum is used to meets the goals of 1b. above

5. Teaching Practice

   1. Time spent observing 3. above

   2. Time spent practicing 3. above with feedback as necessary

6. Mechanisms for checking to see these 5 objectives are reached and the degree to which they are fulfilled

7. Ongoing teaching improvement

   1. Feedback

      1. The need for feedback

      2. How to solicit it both vertically and horizontally

      3. How to accept feedback, positive and negative

   2. Development – an on going process (Continuous Improvement vs stop/start)

      
      

      Nick Gudge is a student of Wang Hai Jun and teaches Chen style taijiquan (tai chi) classes in Limerick.