[Tango-L] Technical vs Sensual - Where are the Engineers from?

[Euroking@aol.com]

Again, the central position.   I can relate only to teaching  skiing (16 
years) and will only comment about teaching and learning styles.  I have been 
learning Tango for about two plus years.
 
First, a good teacher knows their students, which includes their  
backgrounds, other interests etc. (this takes time and can't be done in one  class, too 
much time)
Second, a good teacher adapts their teaching methods to the their client  
base and the learning styles of that base.
Three, a good teacher can teach privates to a group (size of group will  
definitely affect the how).
 
This comes over time. It took me 5 years of teaching to understand these  
principles. Much was by trial and error. It was not that I taught poorly IMHO  
during those first years, but I was not getting through to the maximum. Largely  
because I would have a plan for a particular class and I would stick to it. I 
 was teaching the plan, I was not totally understanding the student and the  
student's needs.
 
The breakthrough occurred when during my first class of one year [I teach 2  
hour classes, once a week for eight weeks and they are the same group], I gave 
7  or 8 different explanations for the same skill set I was trying to instill 
 in my class.  I did not tell them anything other than I was going to feed  
them a lot of information and it was unlikely they would remember it all of it  
nor was it important that they remembered it all.  What was important was  
that at the end of class I asked each what ONE point they remembered.   Their 
answer gave me their learning style, that gave me the insight  I  needed to feed 
information to them that from which they would be able to process  and 
progress.  Over the years, I have learned there are at least three  different 
learning styles in each class. So I adapt my lesson plan to those  styles and to the 
individuals.  
 
The nice thing is that some are visual learners, some are technically  
oriented and if you are successful with the techies, their improvement will help  
the visual learner's.  I think others have presented the learning styles  were 
nicely so I won't rehash them. 
 
The major difference with Tango lessons from skiing is, you have couples  
with different learning styles that learn together and you have a larger group  
to deal with. So it is best to assume that you will have all learning styles 
and  you should look for the couple of dominant styles in the group.
 
The key is make it fun and to do this good teachers adapt.  I would  like to 
add, I did not take any of the comments on teaching ( dealing with  engineers) 
as being exclusive methods of teaching only a way of dealing with  that 
learning style.
 
Just some thoughts,
 
Bill in Seattle
 
In a message dated 5/11/2006 9:27:05 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
burlq7 at yahoo.com writes:

The kind  of teaching where they tell you to walk like a cat or sink into the 
floor is  never 
very useful.  A good teacher should be able to tell you  exactly what to do 
without 
resorting to analogy.  Your leg  does go someplace specific (to within a half 
inch) and
your  shoulders or embrace shift quatifiable amounts.  The best teachers can  
spot 
what you're doing wrong and say--"you need to put your left  shoulder a few 
inches farther forward in this turn, so your partner feels the  lead...etc"


If you tell someone to  walk like a cat they may easily think that means 
slinking around your hips  latin-style or coming down on your toes first or 
forcing your head 
forward like a duck.  Just because you can dance it doesn't mean you can  
teach.  It is 
not enough to demonstrate how things are done by  example.  A good teacher 
corrects 
minute details, and not by  saying "A slightly smaller cat" rather by saying, 
"2 inches 
to the  right with your Knee bent slighty more."  If you can't be very 
specific  you either
don't know what you want or don't have the skill to see  how to correct your 
student.

Sloppy teaching tends  to propate myths--for example, how many times have we 
heard
one  beginner say to another:

"Don't use your arms, you  lead with your shoulders."  

Now does this  mean I have my arms at my side?  Does it mean I can't apply 
any  
preasure with my arms?  Do I just kind of leave my arms behind  when I turn my
shoulders?  A good teacher can tell me exacactly  what to do, a bad one just
gives me more platitudes to repeat.   I will just go around saying, "Listen 
to the music"
and "it is all  in the connection" and "You can dance a whole dance and only
move 2  feet down the dancefloor if you really feel the music." (which you 
can  do
but is sure plays havoc with the line of  dance).

yours
Burleigh


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