Diary of a ski instructor - teaching beginner kids

Believe it all or not, every week, day and even minute is different for a ski instructor.  Although I spend my winter's 'just skiing', the snow and piste conditions, clients and their moods change everyday.  This week we have seen alternate days of snow and sun, and I have been working with a beginner kids group in the morning, the 'souris' group.

Maxing out at 6 children per group, I still occasionally think this is too many to have in a beginner kids group.  However, when I learnt there were often 12 or 14 in a group, and the first time I taught skiing I was given 10 beginners in one group, so I can't really complain!  And I suppose that every now and then even one person can be one too many if they simply don't want to do anything other than cry.

With beginners you have to put 110% in for the first two days to make the rest of the week easier.  The minute everyone can make a snowplough by themselves a huge weight is lifted, you know they can stop, not all get in a pile up at the top of the lift, avoid people and generally begin to learn a lot more.

The Swiss snow sports 'snowli' cartoon character and friends

So, for those of you wanting to become a ski instructor think about this (similar to a group I had earlier in the ski season):

You have six 3-4 year olds, all of whom might speak a different language, and almost no English or French

• first up, meet them all - remember their names, their parents, check their gear, and get them and their skis on the bus to the nursery slope
• then you have to carry 7 pairs of skis and help them all get up the slope from the road to the baby run
• set up your beginner 'garden' complete with carpet so they can walk up the hill, cones to turn around, teddy's and balls to play with, and edgy-wedgy's for their skis.  
• Ok, phew... 
• Now get all of their skis on and spend the next 15 minutes running around picking up kids, stopping them sliding around backwards towards the trees and other groups!
• Finally, once they are all on the carpet help them walk 10 meters to the top and encourage some sliding and snowploughing action.
• All the while you are smiling, chatting, encouraging and trying to keep calm while keeping some form of order!
• In the middle of the lesson they are all tired so you take off all of their skis and have a break, play games and build a giant snowman.
• Then put all the skis back on and try again.

Then, one starts crying non stop, some of the others join in / fall over / walk backwards off the carpet and start sliding around, one needs the loo, another one manages to shake a ski off, and one is in the splits!  Hmmm, you imagine everyone else is watching and thinking 'thank goodness that's not my class!'

Come day 2 or 3 or sometimes 4 or 5, and most of your group can make a snowplough - ish, some more than others, the crying has calmed a bit, the taller ones can pick themselves up when they fall over and your body aches more than skiing moguls all day.  Finally you manage to do a run with most of them following you, no mass pile ups, and even some turns.  This is the truly amazing point, and quite often takes a few mornings of hard hard work.

An 'edgy wedgy' in action, from www.lockwoods.com

So, my top recommendations for a new ski instructor in this situation:

1) take your touring boots and skis, lighter to carry and easy to walk in - if you don't have the boots by them as soon as you can

2) edgy-wedgys in your pocket for those that are struggling - it makes it sooooo much easier (or controversial depending on who you talk to - you can take it off on alternate runs though!)

3) make sure the parents know what to expect and don't promise too much

4) label all of their skis - they don't know which are their's and you won't remember

5) take your swisssnowsports language ski dictionary with you for the kid that speaks only Russian and you just can't explain anything

6) pack an ikea bag to carry all of the skis up to the slope with you

7) stay calm, stay calm, stay calm.

8) make sure they all go to the toilet before the lesson

9) check they all have gloves, goggles, helmets etc... and refuse to take them if they don't

10) work hard - when they finally follow you down the slope it is amazing, and you won't be teaching them season long.

This past week I taught an older kids group, mostly 6-11 year olds, which makes a big difference.  They learn quickly, have improved co-ordination and muscles, are generally more chatty and all want to learn.  It was a great week, also with ups and downs, but at the end of the week most of them had skied on a blue run and are all following me with super snow plough turns.  With a group of three year olds, the progress is normally 3 or 4 times as slow depending on the kids.

On a different note the pistes conditions in Verbier are excellent at the moment, the snow has been falling today, and it looks like next week will be busy with Swiss holidays and some more snow.