Next two weeks my company is operating a summer school, and I teach young kids group which contains twenty five students of age below ten.
In this course, company members creates short piece for the kids and I have created my two minutes piece based on Welsh castles( Our company is Welsh so theme has to be related to Wales) in last two days.
Young kids have so many energy, which is great. But, I have noticed it is not technical side us dancers struggle teach kids, we struggle to take control of them! Especially young boys are wild! In a good and bad ways. Kids are having so much fun, but often get out of control and very crazy.
Therefore, it is make sense to have five dancers to take control of them.
It is also beneficial for me as I can observe all the dancers strategy towards kids.
I have noticed when kids are crazy, younger members of the company reacts and try to control them by shouting. It does work, for a short while. Then, kids starts to loose the focus again. And, go back to square one. From my point of view, giving a shout works for a short term, but the effect get weaker and weaker as day goes by. How ever, older members reacts differently, some make them quiet and make them sit down and explain why kids need to behave, as it makes our job very difficult. Some members express the disappointment and anger calmly, as a warning. I explain why I do not wish to shout them and I ask them to enjoy in certain rules.
Some strategies works, some does not. However, it is depend on when, where, who, what's kind of mood they, tired or just exited. I have learned that, there are no manual or instruction for teaching young kids. Us teachers and adults need to observe them and must improvise our strategy with how they are.
Four more days to go this week;D
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