On last Wednesday we started with our IKO AITC course. As the course was so intense, we didn’t have time to put down our experience and emotions right away, but here we are now…
The course was organized by Surftown surf school which is the only IKO school in Estonia. The course was given by Kristiin Oja and Jane Aluve, who have been IKO instructors for the past 9 years and are the only Assistant Instructor Trainers in Estonia. Not much of a choice there 🙂
First we had a warm greeting by Kristiin and Jane that was followed by a short introduction about ourselves – where we are from, our kiteboarding experience, locations where we’ve kiteboarded, other sports background, kiteboarding teaching experience, our goal for AITC and for the future. Besides us we had two guys in our course. We were all from Tallinn and had kiting experience from 2-5 years. Very roughly told – we were all at the same level. There weren’t super experienced nor totally newbies in our course.
We have explained what was our aim in attending the course – become IKO instructors and AITC was the first step in that. Unfortunately IKO is not that valued in Estonia and you can see a lot of kiters teaching on the basis of their knowledge and experience. We wanted to do it right, if at all, to be eligible to give courses (one day!) also abroad.
The TC was divided into 5 days (9.00-18.00) and each day had a theoretical and practical part. Morning was for theory and afternoon for practical knowledge, although it all actually depended on the wind. If there was wind the main goal was to get as much practical experience in teaching kiteboarding as possible and theoretical part could be learnt at home. For our surprise (honestly we weren’t expecting so intense course) after such long hours we had homework and tests to fill in, plus additional reading. After a day of trying to fit the training into our everyday life, we started feeling what the course actually did to us – we were mentally so tired!
Against our luck, the wind prognosis for this week was not so promising, therefore lots of theory seemed to be waiting for us. Yet we were eager for action!
DAY 1
- Prerequisites
- Assistant Instructor Qualifications and the manual
- AITC training procedure (theoretical and practical knowledge, daily quiz and homework, self-evaluation and final evaluation)
The first morning was for introduction about IKO, our schedule, prerequisites and qualifications, AICT training procedure, etc. During that part we didn’t face anything impossible and were feeling very good. Excitement and smiles to the max!
For the afternoon session we headed to Paljassaare to have our first practical part. Jane had one student coming for her first session, so we had the opportunity to observe Jane doing the Basic 1 session. Our job was to observe and take notes, because afterwards we had to do the same to one another. As we both had had our IKO basic course years ago, we actually didn’t remember what and how we were taught, so this was something new to us. We had been in the role of a student and never in teacher’s – what to teach and in which order?
The first part of the B1 lesson is making a contact, getting to know the student and his/her aim, doing the SEA assesment, introducing and choosing the right equipment for the student, teaching how to set up the gear, explaining the safety systems and packing down the gear. While we watched Jane, we realised that there are so many things to show and explain to our future students. It took roughly 1h 30 minutes just to go over kiting basics in theory (where and how), explain equipment and how safety systems work. We never have actually thought about it in this way. As a rider you do all of the mentioned by your muscle memory and it doesn’t take a lot of time. But for totally beginner you have to describe everything that we do, why we do it and at same time be able to evaluate if the student got it right or not. This was actually the hardest part, because the student was mainly saying “mhmh” or “yes”, so figure it out if she understood or was afraid to ask questions.
As it wasn’t that windy, we only could go as far as setting up the gear and had to make another appoinment for the student to go further with the basic 1, meaning flying the kite. We had some time to ask Jane for some clarifying questions and then it was our turn for a demo session. This thing just got serious!
We were divided into pairs and switched the teacher in between when Jane/Kristiin told us to. The first thing that was really tricky – terminology. If you listen, you understand everything, but to teach in another language (course is held in English) you start to mess up. It was rather funny as at point our mouths were so dry and we were explaining the simplest things in a very complicated way, because we’re constantly looking for the right wording in our minds. Also it didn’t help that we had to switch the teacher every 20 minutes, meaning one second you had to play a student and you know nothing about kiting and the next you were skilled trainer. It was quite challenging to gather your thoughts and cover all necessary topics.
All in all we all were pretty critical about our teaching and felt that there are so many things that we could do better. Jane’s and Kristiin’s feedback wasn’t actually that bad as we felt, they encouraged us and gave us some guidelines to keep in mind for the next time, but we were still having mixed feelings. Yes, we were happy we had our first experience, but at the same time felt we had so many things to learn. And as our coaches said – no worries, it all comes with experience. It was easy for them to gives us feedback as it as been their job for the past 9 years, but they still reminded how they started and it wasn’t a piece of cake either.
DAY 2
- Homework correction
- School Discovery
- Safety skills (self-launching, self-landing, self-rescue and pack down)
The next day we started our morning in Surftown. First, we corrected our homework and then Kristiin showed us around. She explained how surf school works – opening the school, working hours, who makes the appointments, how many instructors do they have, where is the gear and how it is kept, how often do they change their equipment, etc.. She talked about everything …literally!
On the afternoon we had another teaching demonstration as we had some wind! Kristiin showed us on the student how to continue with Basic 1 – going into the water, walking with the kite, kite clock, etc. We tried to observe and take notes although we were already terrified about our real students! We were prepared to give another demo lesson to one another, but we were surprised with real students. Like real paying customers who wanted to learn how to kitesurf! Scary!
From us Anne-Mai got to try out first as we were placed in different pairs. Triin had to observe how the lesson was given in the other pair, make notes and assist if needed. But back to Anne-Mai. Her face when she found out she had to give a real lesson was rather funny because she wasn’t ready at all. Triin offered that she could do it for her if she wanted, but there was no need. They together went through what should be covered and Anne-Mai decided to give it a go! As soon as she cleared her head and decided to give a lesson as she would give it to one of her close friends, it was rather easy.
Of course she forgot some little details and explained maybe things in different order (compared what she saw Jane do) but overall it was a success. The scariest part for her was flying the kite while it was hooked to somebody else. This you don’t get to do everyday and it is a bit intimidating at first. Also her student wasn’t a sporty type and was really scared of the kite’s pull, so to get this pupil to loosen up (earn the trust) was quite a challenge. Especially to explain the hands work on the bar (how you should have piano players’ fingers compared to heavyweight lifters’ grip). Jane’s tip over here was that as soon as you can see that your student is able to fly the kite, you let him/her do the same thing with one hand or even clap to loosen up the arms 🙂 Something to remember for next time! As the wind wasn’t that good either, it was quite a struggle for the student to hold the kite up, so Anne-Mai had lots of practice in re-launching. But Anne-Mai managed to give her student a nice 1h30min session. Hooray!
The session ended with a feedback round from the students, the observers and Jane. Anne-Mai’s students admitted she was afraid of the kite, but still happy she tried it out. Her observer also gave positive feedback, brining out only minor adjustments. And finally Jane giving us all some remarks and tips for future lessons. The biggest takeaway was the part how to loosen up a student who is tense or afraid and that it actually doesn’t matter in which order you do the excercises. For some students something comes more easily, so you dedicate less time for it and move on faster. For others it’s the other way around. The most important part is that you go through everything you need at the pace suitable for the student.
This was the end of day 2, 3 to go! Another homework and quiz was already waiting for us. When we got home, we both felt so exhausted already. How to survive the following days?
One quote what we found the other day which really suits to our journey.
“We can’t change the direction of the wind, but we can adjust our sails to reach our destination!” J. Dean
Next days already in the next post….stay tuned!
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