A little late to the party... but in an established class, my first class set of lessons is our bow (how we open class), warm-ups, 3 blocks, 3 punches (there's a bunch of underlying/overlapping elements that go along with blocks and punches), a very brief intro to fighting stance, and some drills. That's a lot to fit in an hour though, so I might trim the number of blocks and punches.
For a brand new class, I would modify that. I'd teach the bow. Do some warm-ups. How to make a fist. Then introduce a defensive combination (stance, step, block, punch). Drill it for a while. Then let them practice that in pairs, with close supervision.
There was a stretch where I made the mistake of trying to teach too much detail to new students, and they'd be lucky if they walked out of the first class with a single block or punch. I was trying to teach them to my level -- and not remembering that it took time to get there. This pace drove some students away... The trick is to balance teaching enough to keep their interest without sacrificing too much quality at any given time.
My typical class structure is opening (bow, warm-ups including basic drills), lesson, some sparring/reaction exercise (maybe partner work, free sparring, or sparring the bat), a brief talk (safety principles, history, Q&A, etc) sometimes, often a power/precision test (for fun), and closing out.
For a brand new class, I would modify that. I'd teach the bow. Do some warm-ups. How to make a fist. Then introduce a defensive combination (stance, step, block, punch). Drill it for a while. Then let them practice that in pairs, with close supervision.
There was a stretch where I made the mistake of trying to teach too much detail to new students, and they'd be lucky if they walked out of the first class with a single block or punch. I was trying to teach them to my level -- and not remembering that it took time to get there. This pace drove some students away... The trick is to balance teaching enough to keep their interest without sacrificing too much quality at any given time.
My typical class structure is opening (bow, warm-ups including basic drills), lesson, some sparring/reaction exercise (maybe partner work, free sparring, or sparring the bat), a brief talk (safety principles, history, Q&A, etc) sometimes, often a power/precision test (for fun), and closing out.