When it comes to swimming lessons, identify the different learning style for different learners usually helps students to pick up swimming fast.
There are 8 types of learning styles :
Active Learners : learn more from the group class, they prefer to hands-on rather than visualize. Lots of hands-on swimming practice will actually benefit the students more instead of demonstrating or over correcting their techniques.
Reflective Learners : like to reflect and think, a small group or 1-on-1 lesson will be more suitable for these learners. Reflective Learners spend more time "doing nothing", it may seem like they are not doing or pausing for too long, yet it's important to their learning process. Give them a little more time, and they will improve fast if coaches can give them a little more time to think.
Visual Learners : are better to remember images, they learn fast with the material of videos, pictures, charts, graphs, etc. This type of learners requires more demonstration from the instructor. This is the most common teaching style that coaches must possess and one of the most effective way to teach children.
Verbal Learners : are better to remember what the coach said and wrote. Verbal Learners require clear instruction from the coach to better improve their swim. Some of the adult learners will prefer precise verbal instructions from coaches. It's important to identify such learning habit to boost their learning and performance.
Sensing Learners : are very detailed, they prefer to learn from theories and practical techniques that they are able to apply in the real situation.
Sensing Learners are particular at applying theories to practice, they prefer to learn from coaches that can explain the concepts behind and to demonstrate techniques precisely. Coaches working with sensing learners need to be technical and address the reason and purpose of each drill at all time.
Intuitive Learners : have a creative mindset, they prefer to learn without much memorization. This is what we called the "YOLO Swimmer" where you don't have to talk much or explain the theories behind. Just demonstrate it and let the learners learn naturally. They prefer to learn with their feel and without feeling any pressure.
Sequential Learners : learn to swim logically, follow the steps, they need an instructor that is clearly on the lesson plan and lesson structure. Coaches have to take a step back and plan the sessions really well, prepare their lesson structure and focus on just one or two techniques at each session. They learn fast by having a step-by-step structured lesson plan.
Global Learners : learn randomly by fitting everything together in a bigger picture. Global Learners will be another "YOLO Swimmer" type we encounter.
Coaches with more experiences can feed them content randomly, sharing knowledge or techniques without following the steps, and they are able to improve faster by such teaching style.
Most learners learn to swim using 3 or 4 of the learning styles to enhance their learning. Yet, many people have their preferred learning styles that help them learn fast . Our objective is to teach you to swim, hence, using your preferred learning styles will help achieve your goal and our objective fast.
As an Educational Therapist of SwimRay, I observe our coaching sessions frequently, to identify learners preference and also help coaches to identify their learning difficulties as well as stronger learning styles. Our coaches are aware of the above qualities, and we are able to use the right method to teach when engaging to the different type of learners.
Find out more about our Swimming Lesson and sign up for an One-Off Session to try it out !
If you are more particular about the learning experiences or have any questions regarding adults learn to swim, Contact Jay to find out more about our Adult Swimming Lesson.
Jay : +65 9067 5460