Comments on: FICA Women’s Conference 2008 cont’d on Mandingueira!

By: Korlinda

Korlinda — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 02:30:09 +0000

Love your site. check out our website

By: Joaninha

Joaninha — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 04:59:44 +0000

Oh, well I meant ones like Angoleiro said, “look at your opponent even if he’s sore on the eyes like this guy here”, or other joking-insulting things teachers say to lighten the class (as opposed to seriously/insensitive insulting because they’re just like that)—but actually yeah, that would hurt except for the fact Angoleiro doesn’t care and they all know it, so I guess the bottom line really is just dependent on each student.

Angoleiro, what do you mean go to another teacher? You mean actually switch groups?

By: angoleiro

angoleiro — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:56:02 +0000

the “if you dont like it, go” attitude is a kind of grumpy attitude and those teachers who have this one tend to have not too many students (out of obvious reasons…). anyway, if you can take it and the teacher is otherwise quite good in his teachings (and if I would not have an alternative) I would stay. And if it works out for everybody, there is in theory no reason to frown too much about such teachers.
But as I said. When I have the alternative I’d go to another teacher (even if he might be “less qualified”)

By: cenoura

cenoura — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:33:22 +0000

I’d be curious for some examples of comments that don’t really help, but don’t harm either. I do consider pointing out weaknesses to be in the help category, though I agree with you that there should be some level of sensitivity about what a particular student will respond to in the way the teacher wants(which I think should always be to improve them).

By: Joaninha

Joaninha — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:57:12 +0000

Lol, sorry Angoleiro. It is a pretty broad topic, and it could’ve gotten a lot broader if I’d had the time!

Yeah, everything you say makes sense, I think in the end it really does all come down to the individual student and individual teacher.

That’s something I wonder about too though, the “if you don’t like it you can leave” mentality…since they do have a right to say that I guess if it’s their overall style for everyone, and if it’s in a big city the student probably does have a few options for academies, with different styles and varying levels of strictness/harshness…but at the same time, there should be some flexibility/sensitivity on teachers’ parts, right? Like you said, that’s what diffrentiates a really good teacher from just an okay or even bad one, that they help each student learn and grow the best they can, in their own way…on the other hand, maybe it works that way anyway, with the students who can’t take it leaving, and the ones who can or who are learning toughening up, so in the end it works out for everyone?

By: Joaninha

Joaninha — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:51:32 +0000

Hey Cenoura,

Haha, that’s actually really good though that they make a point to “customize” the movements for smaller people! A lot of my vingativas fall short thanks to my length-challenged legs. =\

And that’s a good point about whether it helps or not, too. Although, there are a lot of comments that don’t necessarily help, but also don’t really matter or do particular harm, so where/how do we draw a line?

By: angoleiro

angoleiro — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:43:10 +0000

woah! you know this whole topic is veeery broad. I already forgot the first questions of your post by the time I was reading the last ones. this whole teasing and harrassing topic does have much more layers than the simple “what a teacher is allowed to do an what not”. I think it is very important for a teacher to leave out sexual harrassment and hitting on students. Of course, everybody knows that that happens all the time and in many groups, but it does in fact lead to problems in classes and to people leaving classes and so on. On the other side, I know for myself that I am quite tolerant to teasing, due to the fact that I do tease myself when giving lessons (not much though, I kind of try to keep everybody happy) and that I was teased a lot of times (my teacher did know that I do not take things personally, that was the reason why he did tease me a lot). People had there fun, I was being teased but did not care and my teacher was usually able to make everybody understand what he was talking about.
Example: one of the favourite lessons my teacher gave to beginners was taking me and doing a ginga together with me and playing around, always looking at me. To lighten things up he said “and DO always watch the other person and look into his eyes, even although the person might look ugly like this guy does”(meaning me). I think some of the beginners felt more ashamed on that than I did
but there are others who can’t take teasings or even direct criticism (even if meant non-teasing). this is an area where a good teacher does come out compared to a bad one. a good teacher knows how to teach every one of his students personally, pushing the one who needs and being nicer to more…errrr…sensitive people (on the other side some just do say “eat or die”, live with a harsh reality/teasings by your teacher or leave the class if it is too hard for you…)

By: Cenoura

Cenoura — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 22:26:09 +0000

wow, that comment amazes me just in the sheer utter “what makes that seem like a good idea?” sense. I’ve been called out(all the fricken time) as an example of what you might have to do with a particular move if you’re smaller, but never anything that personal-it can be exasperating, but suggestions for what to do if you don’t have the reach help my capoeira, someone commenting on the size of a butt doesn’t. Which is really where I’d draw the line-does it help? and I know what you mean about the criticism-I’ve felt worse when I wasn’t criticized and knew I did something wrong than when I was-it’s exactly as you say “does he really think that’s the best I can do?” and even if there is a cultural context, I do think that it should be acceptable to say “that isn’t something to say”. which I realize is intimidating to say to a teacher. so maybe that’s just an ideal to work towards.