Teaching Teenage Girls To Swim

I would like advice on teaching teenage girls to swim. I have volunteered to teach some teenage girls at my school how to swim. I am an English teacher...) The problem is that most people in South Africa learn to swim as children, and I am not sure how best to teach teens. Any tips? Thanks!

The most important point to keep in mind at all times is the safety and control of your class. Especially as an English teacher, you probably have limited experience teaching swimming.

If possible, I would strongly recommend having a lifeguard present on the poolside throughout your swimming lessons. If that is not possible, at least have another responsible adult with you as a backup because you will not be able to leave the poolside in an emergency.

If they are non-swimmers, they must be taught in water depth that they can stand in, and the maximum number you should have in one class is about six pupils. That is a safe number to manage and teach.

If they can swim, even with very poor technique, you may get away with a larger number of pupils. Possibly up to 10 in the class, but only if they are swimmers and strong enough to swim out of their depth.

As for the difference between teaching teens and teaching children, it is the same no matter what subject you teach.

It is all down to your language and the words you choose. How you explain things and how you put your teaching points across. You can explain stuff more maturely and with more details to teens compared to the simplified way you teach children. I guess teaching English is very much the same.

My book How To Be A Swimming Teacher contains everything you need from lesson planning, communication skills, and health and safety.

It also contains a reference section for all the basic swimming exercises and practices you could need for teaching your swimming classes.

Each exercise contains a photograph and diagram with all the relevant teaching points you need to communicate to your pupils and ensure they actually learn from what you are teaching them.

You can download it instantly, print out the parts you need, and keep them on the poolside with you to refer to during your lessons.

How To Be A Swimming Teacher

$19.99

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