What We Share - Words (1/3)
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What a great job. We get paid to share the very things that make us happy. People come to us asking for us to explain the things we love to talk about, to show them how to do the things we love to do, and to be excited about the things we enjoy doing. We choose how we will share those things. In some cases, we may opt to share new vocabulary words. Other times we may share physical sensations associated with skiing. If we don't pay attention, we may only share the things that make sense to us, the movements that work for us, and the experiences we've had with skiing. No wonder that some of our guests leave unsatisfied.
The Accuracy of What You Say
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word n. A speech sound, or series of sounds, serving to communicate meaning
In your ski lessons, the majority of what you present to students is what you say - your words. Yes, you’ll demonstrate skiing and movements to your students - but you may use words to guide what they watch. Yes, you’ll have the students practice - but you’re likely to use words to tell them what to practice. You’ll give the students feedback on their performance - in words. Imagine giving a lesson in complete silence - wouldn’t that be a challenge? How you speak and the words you use create your lesson presentation. Thus, it’s critical to your lesson’s success to be accurate in what you say.
Reducing the Leap of Faith in Ski Instruction
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How many of you have seen the movie, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"? If you have, think back to the scene where Indy is approaching the secluded and well guarded cave housing the holy grail. After defying death in several traps, he finds himself at a seeming impasse: a bottomless chasm separates him from the grail. The instructions from Indy’s father were to take a "leap of faith". Indy hesitates for a moment, and then, trusting his faith, he steps out into the chasm. Miraculously, a camouflaged pathway is revealed, leading Indy to the cave with the grail.
The Wants and Needs of Students
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Service suggests more than a minimal commitment to fulfilling skiers’ desires. Our success as an industry depends on our ability to not only teach what they want to learn, but also to teach them to want the things they don’t even know yet. For example: a new student may have the fundamental desire of skiing safely. In the process of teaching them to fall, to ski slowly, to put on their equipment, and to negotiate the chairlift, couldn’t we also teach them to want to ski parallel, to want to ski more difficult runs, to want to take another lesson?