Your Sensei’s Teaching approach

[kawa]

I love to travel to various dojos and I’ve found at least 3 types of Sensei out there.

1. Very strict likes an authoritarian that wants total control of every aspect of dojo. One that seldom praises anyone but they are quick to point out your mistake with sarcastic remark like “Who teach you that!” “Who give you permission to do that”..Etc. I see many visiting kendo-ka quickly lost interest of going back to this kind of dojo.

“Strict” meaning his way or HIGHWAY!.

2. Very strict and confident of their kendo skills, however they respect other visiting kendo-ka’s differences training background. Make you feel like home away from home kind of dojo.

3. Win Win and MUST WIN. 100% competition minded Sensei. Focus 70% contest only techniques and 30% traditional kendo techniques.

I like to know what is your Sensei’s teaching approach and how you feel about it and other students in your club feel about it. Does that affect the number of membership? Does your dojo have high drop out rate? Same old students? Slowly decline in numbers? Internal criticism to the way your Sensei’s approach but no one dare to challenge? Very curious.

[kendokamax]

My sensei teaching aproach is very different from what I have seen in other dojo. Our club motto is happy kendo!

Which means we are trying to enjoy ourselves doing kendo. We have a very relaxed atmosphere. My sensei doesnt want to be a star in the dojo, so he tries to take himself the less seriously possible. He would never make any negative remarks about our kendo, sometimes it's like he is praising us too much!

I think the thing he likes the most about being a sensei is to see how people starting kendo evolve. At the beginning nobody knows what the hell they are doing, so he really like seeing the beginners so confused and being so "natural". Example of this is when I started puting bogu for the first times. When I was fighting him he would totaly kick my ass sometimes and I really didnt know what to do! So sometimes I took his shinai with my hand as to say : "Enough please!". He would laugh and say : "It's a sword you are holding with your hand, you cant do that without cuting it!"

I really like the way he teaches kendo, never gives useless pressure about how good you have to do things. It teached me how to look at someone's kendo without being too severe and to try learning things from everyone.


As for when a visitor comes to our dojo, he would always ask to the person visiting three of their kendo secrets. 3 techniques they would show and that we would try after.

I really like my sensei and my dojo!
please come visit us guys :)

[nodachi]

My sensei's teaching approach is almost schizophrenic.

Some moments he will be smiley and friendly. Crack a joke or two. Teach you, but point out your mistakes in humorous ways, but without embarrassing anyone. And he does it to everyone, beginner or not, so we are all equal.

Then next moment, he will turn suddenly serious. He will say that such and such that you are doing is bad, do it like this, have you do it, and if you do it well, then he will nod or grunt approvingly. And if you do it badly, he will demonstrate again, but look at you in a strange/confused/maybe angry expression. He will make you keep trying until you get get it reasonably correct once or twice before he lets you go. He does this to everyone, beginner or not. Once again, equal playing field.

Whichever mood he chooses depends on who he is talking to, kid or adult, beginner or expert, and the severity of the mistake. If you should know better then he is strict. If it is something you don't know yet he is very kind and patient.

I don't know his dan level, but he is high up there and has corrections for everyone. Beginners aren't the only ones getting picked on for their sloppy technique. Even the 20 year kendo veterans get their share of corrections. The others may have years of kendo experience, but everyone gets equal treatment at our club.

He keeps things fun, but serious at the same time. Very kind, blunt, but honest, and he shows everyone when they are doing well at one point or another with little bits of praise to keep our spirits up.

Strangers to the club hop right in and participate and are taught with the kind teaching approach, but still with the same patient but teaching mentality of correcting mistakes.

[nodachi]

Practice consists of about 40% of the time spent on techniques being done with the correct form and style. 30% on kata. And the remaining 30% is shiai kendo.

[alexpollijr]

Down here it's just like Nodachi described.
Maybe because we both have old japanese sensei around.

Focus is on beautiful execution of waza, which is a pain for me, a Win, Win and MUST WIN-kind of guy :D

[kendoka_ca]

Sweat. By the end of practice, if your keiko-gi doesn't look like it was dunked in a bucket of water something went wrong.