[Tango-L] Aus International TangoFest

[Trini y Sean (PATangoS)]

--- On Fri, 6/12/09, Jack Dylan <jackdylan007 at yahoo.com> wrote:
 
> Why no names? I understand it's acceptable on Tango-L to
> critique 
> Tango instructors, good or bad. 
> 
> Jack


Politeness, willing to give teachers the benefit of a doubt.  For those curious, there's google.

In a forum like this, however, it pays to be careful of criticizing teaching couples because it might be unfair.  Perhaps they were having a bad day.  Perhaps someone wasn't feeling that well and it took a lot for them just to get out of bed.  Perhaps they got bad news that morning and their head wasn't in the right place.  Perhaps the problem was the student and not the teacher.

I know of one couple whose first try at teaching in the States did not go well at all.  However, they were open to criticism, improved during the weekend, and I've invited them to teach here multiple times.  Public criticism of their initial workshops would have been unfair, don't you think?

When one offers criticism, though, it should be constructive.  Just saying "they suck" isn't going to tell anyone anything useful.  Was it the lack of details, inability to control the class, indifference to students, imbalance of teaching patterns versus technique?  If the person was standing right in front of you, what would you say to help that person improve?  Wouldn't you want that person to become a better teacher?

Also, the fault lies a lot with the organizer(s), too.  As an organizer myself, I make sure visiting teachers are given the info they need to shine and to make a good match between the teachers and the intended audience.  I've seen what happens with organizers who just let the teacher do his/her own thing.  I mean, what if you knew a new event was being organized by Tom Stermitz or Clay Nelson?   You know what you can expect.

Trini de Pittsburgh