All,

I have been giving a lot of thought recently to coaching and in particular the pedagogical methodologies most effective for communicating the principals of fencing. Hopefully some of this will help you in working with your students.

The interaction between two fencers, during a bout, is a form of communication. Participants are constantly communicating information to their opponents. Actions, reactions, movements, breathing, posture, somatotype, etc can all act either independently or in combination as indicators of both ability and intent. Sometimes this communication is intentional (deceptive), and sometimes communication is unintentional (either sub-conscious, or in natural course). It is the ability of a competitor to identify and interpret these signs (read communications) that enable them to assemble a mental plan of action. The validity of this plan, combined with the physical ability of implementation dictates a competitor’s success.

It is from this interaction that some have derived the concept of “the language of fencing.”

The sport of fencing is a form of creative _expression. Every encounter can be viewed as an opportunity to artistically utilize and manipulate a physical environment using distance, timing and position, under a set of rules, better than your opponent. The more physically, or mentally, advantaged/capable an individual is, the more colors are on their palette.

A distinct effort must be made during the instructional process not to quash the creative possibilities available to a student. There are rules in fencing, but individual technique should be seen as defined by guidelines and not by rules. There are many technically superior fencers who perform far below their abilities, because their technique was developed at the expense of their creative process.

Every student must be able to develop their own understanding of how fencing works. This can be considered the process of “internalization.”

It is very important to avoid giving the impression that you're more concerned with seeing your ideas put into practice rather than helping the student improve. If you are biased towards or against a particular type of fencing then that is probably best kept to yourself. You may be causing a student to miss out on the opportunity that is best for them.

I am including the following article that was written about teaching English as a second language. I defined earlier that fencing is a form communication, and it’s interesting how appropriate this article is in defining an appropriate methodology for instruction. This is very similar to the Berlitz Method.

Enjoy



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Errors and Error Correction
Andrew Littlejohn and Diana Hicks
Copyright Cambridge University Press

What and why?

Making errors is an inevitable and necessary part of language learning. It is only through making errors, and hearing the correct forms, that students can develop their own understanding of how English works. It is thus important that students have as much opportunity as possible to produce language and, with the focus on using English creatively (rather than simply repeating language); the number of errors that students make will inevitably rise. Teachers thus need to think carefully about how they will respond to these errors.

The process of absorbing a new language structure takes considerable time. Teachers can not, therefore, expect that simply correcting an error will produce immediate results. Some errors can remain even up to very advanced levels (such as the 's' in she lives, he goes, etc.). A strong emphasis on error correction cannot be expected to produce students who make few errors. In fact, an over-emphasis on error correction is likely to be counter-productive as students become deterred from using - and experimenting - with new language and vocabulary. But students do need to have their errors pointed out to them. The key is to limit correction to a small number of points at a time and to judge when the right moment for correction is.

Practical Ideas

· Correcting students when they are in the middle of saying something may produce students who are afraid to talk. You can make a note of the errors students make and go through them at the end of the discussion/lesson.

· Limit yourself to only correcting a few errors in written work or after the students speak.