Well, I shall now call upon this forum of distinguished HDGD black belts to aid in my current predicament.
My Grandmaster just opened a new campus and out of our HDGD Instructors, he chose me to head the HDGD program of 6 new students and 10 prospectives. This will be their first time to experience HDGD and I want them to enjoy it and learn a great deal from me.
If you all choose, would you mind giving me some helpful points to focus on during this class?
What would you teach on the first day of a HDGD class to brand new students?

P.S. I have ideas and plenty of them, but I want to see how everyone else would run a class.

that depends on if you will let the new students actually use their sword the first day

At any rate, make them do at least 5 min of Yook Hap Dam Gong.
Tell them to focus on not wanting to kick your ass

Which dan are you? If you're at nearly 2nd dan, you should have had plenty of teaching practice, while helping the head instructor conduct class.

Charles, with all due respect, that doesn't help him. His situation is what it is (and apparently not by his choosing) and he's asking for our assistance. I know you can offer some insight and suggestions based on your own experience.

Tell us more about the situation, Mr. Zabiegala. In what age range are the students you're referring to? Tell us more about your background and the curriculum you were subjected to.

After an introduction and lesson on sword handling, sheathling/unsheathing, etc., I'd teach the Twelve Basic Movements, and, if I had time, Form 1 and Sparring 1. This doesn't mean they'll actually know all of this by the end of class - far from it, but it gives them a good idea of what's involved. I think it's important to show that Sparring is part of the curriculum as well as Forms. Gigong and stance/cutting drills would also be essential - but it really does depend on the class size and time limit (and how quick they learn).

Haidong,
Dean.

I prefer the traditional approach myself. At the opening of class spend a few minutes telling them what the art is for, and what is expected of them as students of it. Then move on to sword nomenclature and a preview of the stances. Give a brief explanation of the material they will be required to learn for their first test and what its purpose is.

Open the class the way it is done formally at your dojang and teach that if necessary. Then warm them up well, introduce gima-sae, and set a target for endurance in that stance that they can reasonably meet within their practice schedule by the end of the month. Next introduce the straight cut and make sure they understand that you yourself are still working on it. Few things are as difficult as the centre cut. Have them do several series of straight cuts in the best gima-sae they can manage - for just a little longer than they can manage, and make sure you do it with them, give pointers and correction during the [short] rest periods between sets.

Near the end of class, give them a demonstration of the basic cuts and two of your favorite forms. Leave them with something memorable and worth working for - beyond all the fancy talk about virtue, concentration, and discipline. Then take them through some light stretching and thank them for coming to class. Then close your class formally and offer correction if necessary.

You can do all of this in an hour. Having an hour and a half allows you to "gift" them with more gima-sae and center cuts. In their second class, it is a good idea to introduce nae ga shin jang if that is a part of your school's curriculum. I suspect we will find quite a few divergences from your school's curriculum and that of the bulk of our membership, bu the idea is the same - begin at the beginning.

Call me a hard***, but when did we start lowering our standards? Would you learn karate, judo, kung fu or any other traditional martial art from a person with only a few months of training, and no experience whatsoever in teaching? No, I doubt you would. I understand that the WHDGDF wants to get the art to spread as quickly as possible, but lower the quality of our instructors should not be allowed.

Poor Matt has been put into the worst situation possible; he has little experience training, even less teaching, and no choice but to obey his teacher. Frankly, it's not fair to both him nor his students. I would encourage you, Matt, to ask you teacher for as much help as possible.

Let me leave you with some pictures to get the point accross even better.

WARNING!! DO NOT CLICK IF YOU ARE SCARED/OFFENDED BY STICHES OR GORE.

http://forums.swordforum.com/showthread ... genumber=2

It's good to see that you have a sense of empathy for Matt. You might want to re-read his introduction [posted above]. Also, it might help to remember that he is not in the WHDGDF.

I've edited my previous post and added some pictures.

Regardless of which federation you belong to, yours will probably have plenty of people looking to make a quick buck by opening as many dojang as possible, while have complete disregard for the quality of their instructors. I know it's disguting that some people are exploiting the art like this, however there is hope...

Some of our members do not currently train on a regulard basis anymore. This is a direct result of their teacher "selling out". In fact, you might be surprised to learn that some forumites have access to thousands of instructors, but chose none. Why? Why would they rather deprive themselves of formal training, before they would train with any of them? The answer is simple; the quality isn't to their standards, and no one can make them lower them.

Matt, Anthony gave some excellent pointers, and I think you won't go wrong if you follow his advice.

On the first day, I aim to have new students able to achieve several goals:
1. Learn the opening and closing ceremonies and some class etiquette (methods of bowing, proper way to carry a sword, and proper respect for and treatment of swords - even the bamboo or wooden ones).
2. Learn correct grip for holding jukdo and correct grip for mokgum
3. Learn basic strike method for jukdo, including single head strike, forward and reverse strike, and bareun tongjak (the running step; please forgive spelling).
4. Learn a basic baldo and chakgum
5. Learn the first five cuts in kimase and (usually) kwangja begi.

For advanced students, or smaller classes where I can give more one-on-one time, I might add daedose, beomse, and cuts and turns in those stances.

I try to have some extra paperwork with me at class, so anytime a new student comes, they will receive a list of the basic cuts/stances, basic terminology (including parts of the sword), and the requirements for advancement for each belt rank.

For follow-on classes, I review these items, then continue through the basic cuts wherever they left off. I will give them specific suggestions on what/how to practice at home, and I will try to get them to put out one candle as soon as possible. The candle part is a total judgement call: I will not let a student know about candle-snuffing until I think they are ready to succeed, but as soon as I think they are ready, I will let them try -- I have found nothing so motivating as seeing the look in a new students eyes the first time they succeed.