Being a Swimming Instructor
Earlier this year, I enrolled myself in a Water Lifesaving Refresher Course at a Swimming Pool in my locality. I, together with a bunch of students and applicants were reeducated on the basic swimming strokes. We were taught how to swim the front crawl, breast stroke and side stroke. Perhaps I will talk about my experience some other time. Anyways, my point is that I got accepted to work part-time in Cebu City Sports Center as a Swimming Coach.
We were given students according to the number of students who enrolled in a class. We would handle one student for one hour each day for two weeks, not including weekdays. A total of 10 days were allotted for each student to complete either Basic, Intermediate or Advanced course.
In my case, I mostly handled students in the Basic course. This means that I teach students who have no background with swimming, roughly around the ages of 4 -10 years old (although some students aged 14 above still take the basic course, in some cases). I would like to say that being a swimming instructor was a really positive experience for me.
Seeing your student have fun
Children are naturally afraid of strangers. It is of their nature not to trust immediately people they have only met. It is a natural mechanism to protect themselves. As such, it is hard to teach someone who is not comfortable with you. Much more, the pool seems like a scary place for them, especially those who are unfamiliar with the waters.
This creates a rift between the teacher-student relationship. This is why establishing trust and rapport is vital in the early stages of teaching. And the best way to do this is through play. It is one of the most satisfying experiences ever to see your student have fun with your presence. It is so fulfilling to feel the level of comfort a student has on you. It pushes you forward to do more. The smiles I saw underwater made the difficulty of the job so worthwhile. I find it extremely important to allow a child to have fun and be the agent for his enjoyment.
Seeing your student learn and succeed
This has got to be the primary motivation for me as an instructor. The idea of your student learning from you is like hitting the target with a bull's eye. There is nothing more fulfilling than watching the seed you planted grow into its potential.
I have here a screenshot of my personal progress report for one student. The photo shows my notes for one student and includes my plans for the next lessons (with asterisks). I came across this one as I was looking at my notes and it was very satisfying to see my student's progress. It made me feel like I really have a purpose, a mission or a sense of obligation for my student.
After weeks of lessons, a culminating activity was held just for the fun of it. I think it was also a means to motivate the students. Children of these ages are often very competitive and strive towards excellence. That was also a great way to give those with potential a chance to have exposure.
I was the proudest instructor to see one of my students win the competition! I have been with her for 2 weeks and I have seen how much she has grown. And I could only stand in awe seeing her on that pedestal as she wore the gold medal around her neck. It was very much inspiring to see her grow and succeed. Much more, it melts my heart o come to a deep realization that I was a stepping stone for her. Being a teacher is such a great experience.
