The other instructor

[eden eyes]

I work at a gym on my campus as a belly dance instructor. I'm not a star-professional that has been dancing for 15 years, but i'm pretty far along and have been dancing for a few years now. i only teach beginner classes though, mainly because my students are all beginners and i feel like i haven't enough material to teach a real advanced class.

however, there is the other instructor that is a REAL beginner. she's been dancing for only a few months. she has bad form, she bounces when she does the hip drop (and she claims to teach egyptian, which i would imagine is a HUGE NO-NO especially for egyptian style). she even decided to teach a more advanced class one day, with walking undulations and lots of layering. she had 3 or 4 girls WALK OUT of her class because they were beginners and felt embarassed. i have gone to her class a few times but I CAN'T DO IT ANY MORE!! it's driving me up the wall! her music is too loud, she doesn't count, the move transitions are sloppy or completely wack! she was so confused when she tried to teach her students the walking undulation and they couldn't get it.

and it's not just me! i had a Brazilian lady come to my class who had been a belly dancer for 10 years and she said she loved my class because i reminded her of her instructor and she thought i was a pretty good teacher and dancer. she said she didn't like the other class because the instructor was so choppy and taught her students bad form and the wrong way of doing moves.

what do i say to her? do i say anything? i don't want to make her mad because i try to be nice and i don't want to make any enemies. she's just a bad teacher...

any tips?
thanks for hearing me rant btw

 

[da Sage]

If she's not as good a teacher as you are, word will get around. Don't say anything locally...you don't want to be seen as a troublemaker. Don't go to her classes if you don't like them...if asked about it, say that you're busy, or taking time to work on your own dance goals at home.

Also, some people might learn better from her than from you (there's no accounting for learning styles). If people ask you about her, say that she's a lovely person, but you have a little different style in dancing and different ideas about how you run your class.

Finally, it IS possible that she might improve. So don't burn any bridges!

 

[eden eyes]

thanks da Sage...i don't say bad things about her, i avoid that at all costs when talking about anyone.

 

[nitewindz]

I would not say anything to her unless she asks for your opinion.

I don't know about your school, but I know at many schools if too many students drop out or leave negative feedback for the instructor, it reflects badly on that instructor. In other words, some problems solve themselves and if she's loosing too many students, or her overall feedback is poor, she may be a problem that solves itself.

I think it's sad when students decide that bellydance is not for them based on a few bad classes with a bad instructor.

 

[maria_harlequin]

From my experience, if the instructor's bad, students tend to leave after a few classes. Those with some experience will realize that there isn't something right about her teaching style and will seek out other instructors. Those with no experience whatsoever but are serious about belly dancing will hopefully find another venue to learn.

 

[sparklyraven]

that's a tricky one. I agree with everyone here that most of these things will work themselves out. Its hard to bite your tongue when someone asks about their style and that style is unhealthy. I tend towards the "that person is very nice and we have totally different teaching styles so it comes down to how you learn best". and it does sort itself out. Does she ever come to your classes?

 

[Oresai]

From a beginner`s point of view, it`d be really difficult for someone like me to tell a good teacher from a bad one...*blushes*.....I`ve never seen a real `live` teacher. I guess if I attended this woman`s class, I`d walk out too, unsure if it was because she was bad at teaching or worse, simply believing I was too dumb to `get it`...

 

[bellydancewear]

From a beginner`s point of view, it`d be really difficult for someone like me to tell a good teacher from a bad one...*blushes*.....I`ve never seen a real `live` teacher. I guess if I attended this woman`s class, I`d walk out too, unsure if it was because she was bad at teaching or worse, simply believing I was too dumb to `get it`...

Yeah I was naive on my first class and was taking it for 1 1/2 years before I got serious and started taking from other people an realized all the bad habits I had learned. I now teach in the same area as my first teacher and when asked about her teaching I am honest and say she does not teach technique she does a follow-me format with no feedback. I don't put her down but am honest about my experience in her class. I recently encouraged one of my students to take classes from her and see how she likes it, because maybe her format had changed. So she did and left after the second class because she said her body would hurt after class and knew she was not learning proper technique and didn't like that she was not getting any feedback in class. So those who are serious will eventually go elsewhere, but yes it is hard to bite your tongue when she could be hurting people in the process of her bad teaching style. So I understand your dilemma and sympathize.