Visiting a School

TIPS ON CHOOSING A SCHOOL

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BEGINNING THE SEARCH

DETERMINING THE STYLE YOU WISH TO LEARN

VISITING A SCHOOL

TALK TO THE TEACHER

STAFF

TALK TO THE STUDENTS

TEACHER’S EXPERIENCE AND ABILITIES

EXAMINE THE PROGRAM & SCHEDULE

SAFETY ISSUES

BUSINESS ASPECTS

TUITION

- Visiting a school -

Visit as many schools as you need to, and visit promising schools more than once if need be in order to find the one you desire.

A few qualities all good schools should have is an adequate-sized training area, a clean and well-lit and well-ventilated environment, changing rooms and washrooms, appropriate equipment in good working order, a diverse student body, and an instructor that maintains a sense of order and efficiency to the school all the while fostering a positive learning and working environment among students.

Make sure when you visit you are seeing a fair representation of a typical class.
When you make an appointment to observe a class, often an instructor will prepare his best students to be in attendance. Because the instructor is expecting you, you may not be given a fair representation of what a typical class structure consists of at that given class-time. Take, for example, you attend an introductory session and there are lots of experienced students there to assist and train you. You may consider this a strong selling point and enroll based on that single experience because there were so many other experienced students setting an example. The very next day you arrive at that same class-time and none of the veteran students are there; in which case, you later discover that all of them happen to train at different times. This circumstance is something you may like to have known to expect ahead of time.

When watching, observe the way students and the instructor conduct themselves. Does the instructor explain and physically demonstrate techniques skillfully? When you watch a class in progress look to see if the teacher is “guiding” the class and not just “drilling” the class. For example, does the teacher demonstrate, explain, and then move about the room monitoring and ensuring proper technique among the students? Or does the teacher stand at the front of the class and simply shout out commands?

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