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Types of Instructors

Class

Quality of Voice

Some Taekwondo instructors are quiet and soft spoken, while others are loud and yell a lot, while most are somewhere in between the two extremes. It all depends on the personality of the instructor, how his or her instructor taught, and how his or her current instructor wants it to be. Some characteristics of soft spoken and loud instructors are as follows:

Soft-Spoken

  • Often find it difficult to be loud because it strains their voices, while loud instructors often find it difficult to be soft since they have naturally loud voices.
  • Tend to give a lot of detailed instructions, while loud instructors tend to use short commands.
  • May use loudness for emphasis, while loud instructors usually have to use softness for emphasis since they are already loud.
  • May use loudness to show displeasure without expressing anger, while loud instructors must get even louder to express displeasure, which often comes across as anger.
  • Often find it difficult to arouse enthusiasm in a class, while loud instructors tend to keep a class enthused.
  • Tend to relay lots of facts and information, while loud instructors tend to be curt and to the point. Gichin Funakoshi, the father of karate, spend half of his instruction periods giving lectures.

Loud

  • If easy to hear from any position in the class.
  • May be using loud as a way to hide lack of knowledge.
  • May be a bully.
  • May not be conducive to listen to student questions.
  • Some use loudness as a way to keep students under stress so they learn to perform under stressful conditions.

Teach to class or to individuals

Some instructors teach to the class, so when a problem is noticed with one student, the whole class is reminded to check themselves for the same problem. Other instructors concentrate on individual students, spending time pointing out specific problems to each one.

Repetition

Some instructors repeat basically the same information class after class, which may become boring. Other instructors try to introduce new information on a regular basis to keep classes from becoming routine.

Purpose

No matter what type of instructor you have, he or she should have only one purpose—to teach you Taekwondo. If you think this is your instructor's purpose, then you either have to accept your instructor's teaching style and learn to deal with it or find another instructor. If your instructor seems to have another purpose than to teach you Taekwondo, such as being egotistical or power hungry, then you need to find another instructor.

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