Flying Crane
Sr. Grandmaster
While I have occasionally thought about teaching the martial arts in a small, non-commercial way, I have always been too busy being a student to pursue the idea. I have done some "substitute" teaching in the past, specifically in my capoeira school when the head instructor was unavailable, but I have never branched out on my own to be a teacher in any of the arts that I have studied. In the last couple years I have had some people ask if I teach anywhere, and expressed an interest in studying with me, but the circumstances have never worked out to make it happen.
Lately, my sifu has been asking me to help teach in the Tai Chi class. There is a group of people who have been studying with him for a while in the Tai Chi hand sets, and he is now introducing them to the basics of the Tai Chi sword. A few years ago he taught myself and a few others a series of short "mini-forms", that are an intermediate step between basics and the full-length forms. I am the only one who continues to practice them, and the only one who still remembers them. For the past few weeks he has asked me to teach them to the group of newbies. It's been kind of fun, and the students have given me a very positive response to my teaching style. He has left for a few weeks to study with his teachers in Beijing, and he wants me to continue to work with them while he is away.
Last week, in a discussion with another student he referred to me as one of his "in-door" students. I've been with him for about 8 or 9 years now and I guess I have known this intuitively, but it has never been explicitly stated. It was a nice thing to hear, since all I usually hear from him is "needs more work".
I don't really have a point to all this. It's just not what I expected to do but I think it's good and wanted to share.
Lately, my sifu has been asking me to help teach in the Tai Chi class. There is a group of people who have been studying with him for a while in the Tai Chi hand sets, and he is now introducing them to the basics of the Tai Chi sword. A few years ago he taught myself and a few others a series of short "mini-forms", that are an intermediate step between basics and the full-length forms. I am the only one who continues to practice them, and the only one who still remembers them. For the past few weeks he has asked me to teach them to the group of newbies. It's been kind of fun, and the students have given me a very positive response to my teaching style. He has left for a few weeks to study with his teachers in Beijing, and he wants me to continue to work with them while he is away.
Last week, in a discussion with another student he referred to me as one of his "in-door" students. I've been with him for about 8 or 9 years now and I guess I have known this intuitively, but it has never been explicitly stated. It was a nice thing to hear, since all I usually hear from him is "needs more work".
I don't really have a point to all this. It's just not what I expected to do but I think it's good and wanted to share.