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| Teaching assistants | ||
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classes taijiquan self defence qigong tai chi for health about us reviews a-z
Assistants
Teaching assistants work with Rachel to teach
the tai chi for health and
tai chi
for fitness curriculum.
They are all enthusiastic, friendly and enjoy
training tai chi.
Despite being conscientious and keen, nobody takes themselves too
seriously.
Who are they?
Assistant teacher - Chris Young, Dr Ben Beattie and
Karen Laws.
Helper - Marc Boivin and Julia Pattison.
Volunteer coordinator: Chris Young.
Social secretary: Maria Valassia Peppa.
Chris
Chris
possesses terrific people skills and is a 'natural' when it comes to
teaching students. He is an versatile mentor;
offering a zero-pressure approach to the cultivation of the desired
skills.
With an extensive background in
martial arts
(including karate black belts) Chris brings a lot of insight and
martial experience to his taijiquan.
Chris endeavours to attend additional
training opportunities.
Hardy and robust, Chris has no fear and is always eager to try new things.
He became an 'indoor
student of taijiquan' in 2019.
His adventurous, experimental attitude makes Chris open-minded and
receptive.
As Volunteer Coordinator, Chris ensures that all teaching
assistants have an equal opportunity to engage with students and deliver the
material in an appropriate way.
Ben
Ben works directly with Sifu Waller and is
making strong progress through the qigong and taijiquan material. In addition to attending evening classes, Ben takes every opportunity for
additional practice.
He became an 'indoor
student of taijiquan' in 2018. Ben likes to go to boot camp,
workshops and private lessons.
Ben shares Rachel's interest in Asian teas.
As a medical doctor, he is fascinated by the taijiquan
use of the
human body.
Karen
Karen has been with the school for over 7 years. Her main interests
are taijiquan, women's self defence, qigong, Taoist Yoga, massage, core
strength and psoas exercises.
When Karen first came to class she had very stiff elbows and really bad
back/shoulder ache from her job as a screenwriter.
After working with Sifu Waller (and taking responsibility by practicing
every day) Karen was able to release the tension from her elbows entirely
and rid herself of the back/shoulder pain.
As a consequence of her enthusiasm, Karen has significantly increased her
strength, suppleness, flexibility, balance, as well as improving her poise
and mobility. Karen is our social secretary.
Marc
Marc
has over 10 years practice behind him. He likes to attend boot camp, workshops and
private lessons with
Sifu Waller.
By
gently, patiently,
moderately working on his taijiquan over many
years, Marc has succeeded in developing a considerable amount of whole-body
strength.
In class, Marc likes to help beginners work through their form
pattern and partner work.
Easygoing and modest, Marc is very approachable and fun to work with.
Julia
Julia is very involved with the running of the school and became an 'indoor
student of taijiquan' in 2020. She is a highly disciplined student with
a comprehensive daily training routine.
Her progress through the syllabus has been strong and her fighting spirit is
formidable. Julia has an impressive professional career and observes a
sensible work/home life balance.
Typically the first person to volunteer (for anything), Julia is an
extremely nice
lady to work with and shows her enthusiasm at all times.
Maria
Maria is our social secretary. She is a very keen, athletic lady with
a highly sociable, friendly personality. Maria is extremely approachable and
enjoys interacting with other people.
Her background in dance furnished Maria with an interest in
physical movement, and she is fascinated by the
biomechanics featured in the syllabus.
Well grounded in science, Maria likes to know how things work. Her
enthusiasm for combat becomes evident during self
defence opportunities; when Maria proves herself to be extremely strong,
resolute and formidable.
Suitability
Assistants all possess qualities necessary for tai chi instruction:
Friendly and personable
Interested in other people
Caring
Reliable
Earnest
Committed
Trustworthy
Genuine
Punctual
Motivated
Expressing the teaching
Being an assistant is a challenge; it requires the student to articulate skills and
ideas in a way that makes sense to other people.
This requires considerable effort. Expressing
the teaching to somebody else is not easy.
Dismantling
In order to explain, you must dismantle things, give examples, illustrate
and demonstrate.
You need to answer questions and to re-consider your own perceptions.
Taijiquan assistant?
Sifu Waller has never had a teaching assistant.
Only Rachel has teaching assistants. Not
Sifu Waller.
Mark is an extremely successful high school mathematics teacher. When we
asked him when he really learned calculus, he said, "When I first taught it.
There is no better way to learn anything than to actually
teach it. When I
teach something, I have to confront many fundamental questions: What is the
motivation to learn this topic? What are the basic examples? On what aspects
of this material should I focus? What are the underlying themes? What ties
the ideas together? What is the global structure? What are the important
details? These questions force me to discover the heart of the matter, and
see exactly what I truly understand and what I still need to work on."
(Edward B Burger & Michael Starbird)
contact details Sifu Waller rachel waller assistants
Page created 2 March 1995
Last updated
20 December 2020