When do you teach students their first pattern?

[andyjeffries]

It would have to be TaeGu Il Chung since this is the first pattern learned. Even if a student only stays for a couple of weeks and quits, he/she should have gone through the pattern at least once.

This was posted in another thread, but I didn't want to hijack it.

Beginner students are 10th Kup in our clubs. After they are promoted to 9th Kup (anywhere from 10 weeks to 6 months) they learn Taegeuk Il Jang. They then learn one poomsae each grade so that 1st Kup students know Koryo which is what we test 1st Dans on (along with random other patterns). This is one poomsae above Kukkiwon promotion regulations.

Teaching someone Il Jang (properly) within two weeks of starting seems CRAZY soon for me (and in my experience students are still trying to get to grips with basic starting positions for each action and the movement during blocks and punching).

So, throwing this out there, when you do you teach students their first poomsae? Ignoring any four-directional block/basic type stuff, I mean the first proper poomsae in your system (Il-Jang, Chon-Ji, etc).

 

[ralphmcpherson]

On the first night we would start teching it to them, and it would depend on the student how far we go with it. Once they memorize the basic pattern we start refining techniques so no bad habits can form early. Typically an adult or teenager would probably go home after the first night stumbling through the form but being able to get from start to finish, but with lots of faults all through it. A child would probably learn the first bar, maybe the 2nd, but we'd usually leave it at that for the first night. By the end of the second lesson we'd be hoping they can at least stumble through it from start to finish. Then the tuning up begins.

 

[Dirty Dog]

We start teaching Kicho Il Jang on day 1. Students perform this form to earn their dobak and white belt. They perform it again (to a higher standard) when they test for 9th geup. At 9th geup they learn Palgwe Il Jang and continue with one poomsae per rank (or two, if the choose to learn the taegeuks). Koryo is learned at 1st Geup.

 

[Earl Weiss]

As far as rank progression goes, they learn the "$ direction" funadamental exercises for promotion to 9th Gup. They learn Chon Ji for promotion to 8th Gup.

As far as practicality goes, the student learns the pattern after they learn how to (and are able to perform with reasonable accuracy) the fundamental movements (Stances, Strikes, blocks, kicks) contained in the pattern.

 

[dancingalone]

First day where they learn the basic stance and a down block which is part of any beginning pattern.

 

[ETinCYQX]

Basic 1 and 2 (Shotokan kata modified lightly, thank you Martialtalk as I didn't know this) for the yellow stripe, 9th kup, and yellow belt, 8th kup. Taeguek Il-Jang is learned for the green stripe, 7th kup, and students perform it to get their stripe.

I just started Taegeuks with my only 2 students that have only learned from me and I'm quite proud of them to be honest

 

[Manny]

In the dojang I teach, students star with kichos, the first one (Kicho Shodan) 3 or 4 classes before the student enter the dojang for the fisrt time, Kicho 1 is tested in 9 kup test, kicho 2 is a require to test at yellow belt, then kicho 4 to test yellow one strip, then kicho 4 for green belt.

We start teaching taeguks at green belt students and when the student get's advanced red belt (red belt one strip) the must know all 8 taeguks, for fisrt dan test the student must do taegunk 5 to koryo or if the mastrer wants taeguk 1 to koryo or any taeguk at random plus koryo.

Manny

 

[ATC]

We teach beginners what we call the "9" form. It is a simple 9 movement form with no stance transitions. They stay in a horse stance and perform 9 basic blocks and strikes.
1. Low block
2. Face block (high over head block)
3. Outside middle block
4. Inside middle block
5. Inside middle knife hand strike
6. Outside neck knife hand strike
7. Single side outside knife hand block
8. Double knife hand block middle
9. Double knife hand block low

Start with left hand and alternate hands per techniques. Then start with right hand and do the same.

You must know this form to get promoted to 9th kup and then learn il jang. Takes about 3 month to grade up from 10th kup.

 

[RobinTKD]

Interesting thread Andy.

I personally was familiar with four directional punch/block before I started in Taekwondo, so I learned Choon Ji on my first lesson. But, it does depend on the student at our club. We have a guy who has only just started training with us, he's in his early 40's and this is the first martial art he's ever done, at the minute, he can't punch particularly straight, and he keeps hitting with the flat of his 2 smaller fingers and has had a few boxing injuries when practising at home. His kicks aren't particularly great either, mainly due to a lack of balance. I was asked to teach him Choon Ji a couple of weeks ago, so we went ahead and did it, and his punches were better in the air than they were against a pad. I believe the reason he can't hit the pad very well is because he's either 1) too scared or 2) overthinking the technique. What i'm trying to say is, it was teaching him the pattern which highlighted the problem, so I can see why it's useful to teach people early on.

I'd like to know, to those of you who primarily teach and practice sport TKD, what kind of emphasis does your club put on Poomsae? Is it an important part? Or is it more just so you can say that you've taught/learned the Kukkiwon curriculum?

 

[RobinTKD]

First day where they learn the basic stance and a down block which is part of any beginning pattern.

I'm interested as to what you will teach at your new Dojang Alex. Will you start teaching Poomsae? Chan Hong forms? I personally like the Goju kata a lot, and if i were to train with you, I'd definitely request that we go through some of it.

 

[dancingalone]

I'm interested as to what you will teach at your new Dojang Alex. Will you start teaching Poomsae? Chan Hong forms? I personally like the Goju kata a lot, and if i were to train with you, I'd definitely request that we go through some of it.

If you want to go into it deeply, we can start a new thread or go to PM to avoid a major digression from the topic.

It's a bit of a weird situation. I'm transitioning my old TKD students from my church class into the commercial studio which teaches the current KKW poomsae. It's a matter of realigning my time wisely, although I suggested the other instructors at the church take over the leadership of the program if they wanted to keep it going as it was. They were learning Chang Hon forms along with my own home brewed curriculum which honestly is a little dense and would need to be reworked for wider appeal. I intend to continue to offer free tuition for these students, and they will help me integrate my older curriculum into the new school as we grow the material there.

I taught my karate students out of my home dojo, and I will still keep a class there since we have Okinawan training tools there that aren't present at the commercial school. I don't particularly like the idea of segregating them though from the TKD students as I think both sets of people could benefit from exposure to each other and the methods they train in. I will need to mull on that more.

 

[mastercole]

A student is first introduced to Poomsae when the Poomsae phase of training cycles around again. That phase is about 6 to 8 weeks, roughly, depending on how I feel it's going. However, students are told that Poomsae is something that you perfect by a lot of practice on your own, with guidance from the dojang/Kukkiwon and that we will not be working on it a lot inside the dojang.

All Poomsae sessions start with a 2 minute silent Poomsae focus time, where students pick a Poomsae and warm up. If they don't know Poomsae they are told to try and mimic what they see during this two minutes. After that the groups follows any students that I call up to lead the group in Taegeuk 1, usually about 3 time. Then they break away in groups, with a group leader and go through reps of Taegeuk 1. I watch. After 5 to 10 minutes we start the same process over from Taegeuk 2, then 3 etc. After a week or two, when the majority of the group is doing well on the early Taegeuk Poomsae, we go quickly through 1,2,3, etc. and get to the higher ones.

I tell beginners to focus on Taegeuk 1 until they are comfortable then move on to the rest. I had one kid who was amazing and could do all 8 Taegeuk Poomsae well by 7 geup. Most however, get to Taegeuk 8 by 1st geup.

Dan Poomsae orientation are taught by me, or other dan holders in annual special classes that are preparation classes for 2nd geup, 1st geup and dan promotion exam. Dan holder must pursue Poomsae training on their own, by asking other Dan holders, consulting the Kukkiwon materials, or attending Kukkiwon courses. Example: one Dan holder from our school is attending the Kukkiwon instructor course in Korea this July when she comes back, she will give a few special Poomsae classes with me to those interested. A few other Dan holders plan to attend a Kukkiwon Poomsae course here in the USA in the future.