Instructors Tips

Do you know what age you are going to teach? I'm guessing kids, but teaching 3-5 year olds is pretty different from 7-9 year olds or such.
In general, I'd say the most important thing to do is make sure whoever you're teaching is having fun, then they will want to continue to ski and be able to learn faster.
Good luck!

Probably around the 3-6 year old group. Thank you!

PSIA will tell you teaching is all about getting those kids to master the little techical stuff, cause to them a good skier is someone who skis just like them. Well rhis is good it is more beneficial to focus on fun. Make sure the kids can stop, turn, a d control speed obviously. With beginners your goal should be to teach them the basics but get them excited so that they want to ski on their own and chase their friends around. Seen way to many kids get scared off by ocerly technical instructors.

Source: I'm PSIA level 1 and teach about 150 leasons a year.

r00kiePSIA will tell you teaching is all about getting those kids to master the little techical stuff, cause to them a good skier is someone who skis just like them. Well rhis is good it is more beneficial to focus on fun. Make sure the kids can stop, turn, a d control speed obviously. With beginners your goal should be to teach them the basics but get them excited so that they want to ski on their own and chase their friends around. Seen way to many kids get scared off by ocerly technical instructors.

Source: I'm PSIA level 1 and teach about 150 leasons a year.

Just saw you are from Canada, probably not under PSIA. Advice still applies though. Have fun!

ive taught for 4 years so heres some random tips:
1)get some shiny stickers for the little kids (if your mountain doesnt push bibs, get big ones to identify the kids lol)
2) overreact to kids high fives( put glove on edge of hand, pretend kid slapped your glove off)
3)know everyones name
4)for teens, give them options, ie carving over rollers on a blue or practicing hop turns on another hill + encourage peer interaction ----talk about cool stuff on lift & treat as an equal
5)tired at the end of the lesson? push through and tell the parents everything that happened with a smile; i follow 2 goods and a work on
6)Lift line? start a song/entertain kids--this is where their parents / your supervisor hide

classes teach you most general lesson stuff

feel free to pm if any more questions
edit:
funny you have the same local hill as me
in that case ur 100% fine they tell you everything-- use the bamboo sticks & watch the damn edgie wedgies

**This post was edited on Dec 4th 2019 at 11:37:10pm

The Canadian Ski Instructors Alliance level 1 course will teach you everything you need to know. It will be half about your skiing (for demonstrations) and half about teaching at a beginner level.

If you still have your downhill skis, wear those for the course. It's far easier to complete the skill requirements on directional skis. You will be assessed on form, turning, and other things park rats don't care about. The course conductor will give everyone coaching on their skiing to help them meet the level 1 standard.

Kids 4 and younger might not have the strength and energy to stay on skis for an entire lesson, so having other games, playing in the snow, taking rests and keeping them entertained is important. The resort you work at will probably have some resources somewhere around the beginner area for this kind of thing.

Toddlers almost always cry when their parents leave, so its important to be able to distract them with something fun. It's a good idea to have some snacks on hand too. One kid's mom use to give me raisins to feed him.

You should familiarize yourself with paw patrol and whatever else little children are into because they will enjoy going to lessons way more if they can talk about that stuff with you.

If you have weekly lessons with the same kids, it's good to have a bit of routine to the lessons because that makes kids comfortable as well, it can be unsettling for them if it's super unpredictable. They like to have an idea what's coming next.

Never get to far downhill of anyone in your group. It's the worst having to hike uphill while the rest of the group waits because one kid lost a ski or can't get up. Giving distinct points to stop at, and making a challenge/game out of staying together are ways to stop kids from getting too far ahead.

Use the resources you get from the CSIA. You'll get a manual and your snow school might have additional handouts. Everything is available on the CSIA website too. There is lots of helpful information and techniques available for skill development and assessment, identifying problems, mechanics of skiing, etc. If you study the manual before the course you are way more likely to do well.

**This post was edited on Dec 5th 2019 at 12:08:09am

One word: gummy bears

Have a mattress in the back of your ride to bang the cougars you teach after the lesson.

I always carry a spare pair of gloves, just cheapo ones. Keep them warm in your inner layer.

At least 2 or 3 times a season a kid will drop a glove off a chair, or even fall over and get a bunch of wet snow inside if they're not very well fitting. We all know how horrible cold hands are, imagine how bad it is for the kid. Being stuck ages away from the resort in -20c with a crying kid with cold hands - not a great place to be. A spare pair of gloves can save the day.
That being said, if you're a Level 1 on your rookie season, I'd image you won't often be straying far from the resort with your lessons.

Also kids love their music, if I have a full day lesson I'll ask what type of music they like whilst we're on the chair. Then at lunchtime I'll download their favourite songs onto my phone and surprise them the next time we're on the chair in the afternoon, always goes down well.

Try and engage people, make it fun, give good feedback and some positive moral support if they're struggling.

Some of the best lessons I ever taught were people who were terrible. I've also taught some shitty lessons tmwith people that weren't that bad.

Some lessons are good, some make you want to move someplace tropical. Try to have fun, and in turn keep it fun for the guests. If you aren't having fun you'll burn out.

You'll get better as you do it. Learning how much to push people while kepeong it fun and keeping them safe. Ending up in different situations and where to go from there.

I enjoyed the 3 seasons I taught. Ill never do it again but I had some great times and I believe it was my first official job.

Good luck!

A lot of great advice here, good luck homie and go have fun teaching the next generation of skiers.

Best age to teach is like 6-12. The kids are bulletproof and eager to learn how to ski. They also improve the quickest and you can follow formatted lessons and drills pretty easily.

14 and up can suck. They have a lot more athletic ability so you’ll spend a lot more time working on there attitudes rather than the skiing.

College age people can be fun to teach, although it can be a weird social thing to be teaching your peers. They also tend to be a little too cautious when confidence is key.

I’m really not a fan of teaching people quite a bit older than me. I’ve done a few lessons with people in there 40s and 50s and they can either be really cool, or have a poor attitude about being taught by someone who could be their child.

Be patient and give people respect. Don’t be afraid to crack down on someone being an idiot. Your number one goal is to prevent people from hurting themselves. At my home ski resort there was a young girl that died in a crash during a lesson. You don’t want to have to live that down.


Also, learn about the people you’re teaching. Their other hobbies, where they work, etc. It will make the lift rides much less awkward and you may be able to provide analogies related to skiing based on other parts of their lives

LonelyBest age to teach is like 6-12.

This^^

Especially kids you can have some banter with, loved telling them they were the worst skiers I'd ever seen

**This post was edited on Dec 5th 2019 at 12:03:17pm

TheMailManThis^^

Especially kids you can have some banter with, loved telling them they were the worst skiers I'd ever seen

**This post was edited on Dec 5th 2019 at 12:03:17pm

The banter is great. I also want to say that PSIA can take things a little to seriously; especially for young kids. Skiing has the lowest return rate of any sport. So keep things light hearted with the kids. It's okay if they can't do direct to parallel. Have some fun. It's better to keep them skiing than to push them away from the sport because they can't do parallel turns in three lessons. They might not improve at all over the season, but if they are having fun they will want to come back next year.

I've met a few instructors with little to no patience who adhere to PSIA way to strictly. I think that's a big reason why only 13% ( I think thats the number- I'll check and edit later when I find it.) of people trying skiing ever come back. You are the person who plays a big part in whether or not our sport continues exist. So keep it light but try your best to help them learn. Skiing is a difficult sport and people get easily frustrated. Be patient and don't give up on them.




ALSO: Make sure they are warm. IDK how cold it gets where you live but it gets real cold here. You have to remember that these kids are 1/3 of your size and will get cold/fatigued way quicker than you will. Take breaks for hot chocolate and everyone will be better off.

skiP.E.I.Never get to far downhill of anyone in your group. It's the worst having to hike uphill while the rest of the group waits because one kid lost a ski or can't get up. Giving distinct points to stop at, and making a challenge/game out of staying together are ways to stop kids from getting too far ahead.

I got unlucky with this one last season. I was teaching a group from the local school, all put down as solid blue run skiers. I don't believe them ofc, ask some questions like "What's your favourite run?", "How many times you been skiing this year" "Have you done x before?". They all sound like decent enough skiers so we head out. Take em down a cat track, then I was going to go split the group on this short blue run. So me and my mate who were taking the lesson ski down to the bottom, and split the first 14; last kid is too scared to go down the run on his own.

Fuck me, why even do that? You waste everyones time, and you wont have as good a time then if you were in an actual group appropriate for your level. Anyway, I hike up, and take him down the cat track to the lift, trying to pretend I wasn't even a little bit pissed. Moral of the story, idek I thought I took my due diligence and asked the right questions. Next time keep an instructor at the top?

Don't be afraid to sell private lessons, build a client base of weekend warriors.
Make yourself business cards and hand that shit out loke candy.

Once you get people confident on the bunny slope, make sure they can turn to stop with a good amount of power. So you feel like they can turn easily on the next piece of terrain in the progression.

If you can get a child to enjoy the presence of snow on their first day, thats already really good.

Build trust

I just liked my own post, call me what you will