After we returned to the La Palma Community Center (LPCC), revising our entire program; we gained an immediate increase in student enrollment. Master Amsell knew that we were not well prepared to handle a large increase in students. As our classes grew, we needed to work much harder to retain students and provide our continuing students with more training breadth. Master Amsell asked Master Lisa to schedule an Instructor Training Class as soon as possible, but we just could not allocate a time that would work for all of our instructors. The reality was that the classes kept growing, and it had become critical to give our instructors the knowledge and tools to keep the classes moving forwards. Therefore, we selected August 28 to have our class.

The class had to include subject matter ranging from class leading skills to an understanding of philosophies to group dynamics. It had to be a comprehensive class, and it had to be a day-long event. The class needed to include not only theoretical understanding, but practical exercises. Based on all these needs, we established the following agenda:

> Introduction

> Martial Arts Basis

> Curriculum

> Class Leading Exercise

> Modern Teaching Skills

> Instructors

> Black Belts

> Activities

> Special Situations

> Summary, Q&A, and Concluding Comments

We started our session at 8 AM with quick introductions of special visitors from Contra Costa College TKD Club in northern California. Immediately, we started with a series of slides showing a photo montage of Master Amsell’s history beginning in 1962, continuing on to his TKD training in Vietnam, his 15 years at the Oriental Moo-Do School (OMS), his various programs at the Fullerton YMCA, at commercial schools in Anaheim and La Habra, the various employee clubs at Hewlett-Packard, Hughes, Boeing, and Raytheon, and his current program for the City of La Palma. One final memory slide featured the close working relationship between Masters Jack and Lisa Amsell. One of the interesting points noted was that, of all the hundreds of students who have passed through the AMK’s doors, there are some who are still active, even after 38 years of AMK history.

After the quick introductory segment, Master Amsell described the next segment, which was to be a practical exercise in class leading. He described the conditions for the exercise. It would be focused on teaching the beginner classes, which would be focused on Saturday’s first two classes—Kids, under 8 years of age and Regular, which is composed of those who are 8 years and older. The objective was to pay attention to technical content, to ensure that material was covered correctly, completely cover each assigned topic, and cover each topic in the allotted time frame. Each instructor was to pay attention to important people skills, such as keeping the class motivated, controlling the class, and handling any issues that arose. After the classes were completed, the participants would receive feedback from the senior instructors, who were acting as monitors, on both technical and people skills. Each of the participants was enthusiastic to show his or her best teaching skills.

Unfortunately for the participants, unknown to them, they were being manipulated. What was advertised as a demonstration of teaching skill was actually something else altogether. From our days of teaching referee classes, we borrowed a technique called “scenario training”. As being a referee is far different in practice than what is learned in formal classes, we developed a technique of clandestinely simulating challenging and problem filled “scenarios”. That technique turns normal practical situations into confusing and frustrating exercises.

Master Lisa prepared several of the students in the Tuesday/Thursday classes to become actors. They were taught to be confused, disruptive, disobedient, and scatterbrained. Several of the parents also volunteered to assist by distracting students, acting as “helicopter parents”, and being generally annoying. In addition, both Masters Amsell, added to the confusion and disruption. The best part was that it worked beautifully. Not one of the participants could figure out what was happening, even though some of the behavior was so outrageous. Each instructor valiantly tried to handle each situation even while getting more and more bogged down in the scenarios. By the end of the session, no instructor realized what he or she had been through.

Immediately following the scenario session, all participants were lead the through in-depth discussion and training of relevant teaching skills, focused on psychological, physical and technical subject matters. The very first topic covered was to introduce the participants to an overview of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It is a very popular system of personal growth training that easily lends itself to teaching and personal improvement. The participants discovered just how much of the “7 Habits” principles have been applied to the AMK program. Each found the training to be very insightful and helpful.

Throughout the remainder of the teaching skills session, information was presented that demonstrated how to integrate in the basic direction of our AMK program with the experiences encountered during the scenario session. Discussions focused on how each level of instructor—from Blue Belts through Black Belt—could handle the task of teaching classes. During this session, the value of the scenario session became clear to all. That proved to be very similar to the success that we discovered by using that technique during the referee training.

We also discussed the importance of Poomsae, breaking, and testing techniques. Grandmasters (GM) Nam-Ku Yun and Chan-Yong Kim, both 9^th Degree Black Belts, joined in on this section to either lecture or add comments where appropriate to help the participants understand historical, philosophical, or technical information rarely covered in any forum or book. Quite a bit of time was focused on some of the more esoteric concepts that have been addressed recently in the AMK program such as “finding the elephant in the room”, the roles of seniors in motivating students, or the importance of connecting to the Grandmasters.

Once we completed the section on Black Belts, GM Kim took the floor to lecture the participants on the values of tradition, interpersonal relationships, the value of being a teacher, and way to become effective at teaching. The lecture was followed by a lengthy question and answer sessions that included all participants. All joined in with enthusiasm and asked some very provocative questions faced by all martial art instructors. As anyone who knows GM Kim can attest, he has an easygoing, focused approach to speaking, and he did not shy away from the most pointed questions involving problems such as handling the problem of bullies. He dedicated nearly an hour and a half of his valuable time—a very special meaning indeed!

The following section addressed the use of activities in the training environment. That included tournaments, demonstrations, outdoor training, and even the use of movies. All participants were lead through a segment that demonstrated how thesis writing, and test essays could be used to evaluate the true understanding of the less obvious qualities of students and instructors. Two class papers on the same topic were handed out to the participants, and then they were discussed to ascertain how much the participants could deduce about the character, knowledge and the rank of the writers. It was an intriguing exercise and very effective.

The final session focused on “special” situations and problems. In that section, participants discussed, and learned how to handle, issues like probation, students/instructors quitting, or students/instructors wanting to return to classes. It was a very frank and candid discussion on topics that can prove to be very difficult to address in classes. All of the participants seemed to find this subject very important to be discussed. Usually, these subjects are not openly discussed, and all appreciated having the GMs and Masters on hand to clarify understanding.

A special feature of the class was having GMs Yun and Kim present Kukkiwon certificates to Arnoldo Bolanos, for 6^th Dan, Jade Cheng, for 3^rd Dan, and Riley Sullivan, for 2^nd Dan. The AMK believes that it is very special to be able to receive Kukkiwon from most senior ranked TKD leaders. We believe that such a procedure elevates the receipt of rank certification to its most meaningful significance, and it helps to reinforce our traditional legacy.

At the conclusion of the training, most of the participants were able to join us for a wonderful banquet at our favorite, the A’Roma Restaurante. We were all able to enjoy a final opportunity to collaborate and enjoy a time together before heading for home. Each participant was eager to move forward with new skills and an appreciation of the complex world of martial art instruction. We had a wonderful day that included the excellent support of our supporting parents and those students who helped out with the scenario training.-JLA

Addendum: If you would like a copy of GM Kim's lecture in it's entirety, please let me know and I will give you a DVD of it. It is too large to put up on our website. -LSA