I teach swim lessons and the kids really don't want to be there...any good suggestions of what to do?

Question

so i probably should have mentioned that they are 12 and 14 year olds so most of those games don't fly anymore...

Answer 1

Say directly "I know you guys don't want to be here, but you're stuck here for an hour so you better cooperate or I'll drown you." (Just kidding about the drowning part)

Seriously though, make more abstract goals, like today we are working on front floats, and once they achieve that, give them a fun thing to do.

Answer 2

Make up, or research and find, a really scary story about some kids who were on a boat trip.  A storm comes up, the boat capsizes, and . . . .

only the good swimmers make it out alive!

Be very dramatic, give details about one particular kid who just didn't want to be at the swim lesson, and how he perished screaming and yelling, "O teacher, can you teach me to swim right now real fast!"

Answer 3

Make it fun!

When I was learning how to swim, there was this crab toy I really liked to play with in the pool. The teacher would use that as a prize for me. Then, when I joined a swim team, the coaches had things like "Fun Fridays" where we'd practice for 45 minutes and then have 15 or so minutes to jump off the diving boards.

Research fun games to play. Sharks and Minnows is a great one to get kids moving in the water and even kids my age love to play it! When they get better, you can play Duck, Duck, Goose, too. (My high school team started doing this last season, haha. It's quite fun.) Just pepper the lesson with games. Make things imaginative. Are you pulling a kid along doing freestyle kick? Make it tug boat. Make floating fun by calling it "upside down" pancake and "face down" pancake.

There are countless ways of making swimming fun; you just need to find the games/techniques that work best for you and your students. Good luck!

Answer 4

I am a lifeguard and am actually teaching lessons this week.  Here are a list of games we play that the kids love:

1. "Chop-Chop-Timber"  Have the kids stand on the side of the pool.  Use your hands to "chop" them down and say timber when it's time to jump in.  So you say....Chop, Chop, Timber, and they jump in.  

2.  Humpty Dumpty- Have the kids stand on the side and say "Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall" and then they jump in.

3.  Motor Boat-  Get in a big circle and move in a circle saying "Motor boat, motor boat go so slow (moving slow)  Motor boat, motor boat go so fast (moving fast), motor boat, motor boat step on the gas! (have them dunk their heads, or for younger kids have them blow bubbles.)

4.  Mr. Shark- line up the kids on the wall and have one kid go out about 12 ft. ahead (The Shark)  Then everyone at the wall says, "Mr. Shark, Mr. Shark WHat time is it?" The the "Shark" holds up a number.  The other kids now have to do that number of arm strokes toward the shark.  You then Say "Mr. Shark, Mr. Shark WHat time is it?" Again until you get near the shark.  WHen you get really close you repeat it again, but now the kid says DINNERTIME and tries to tag another kid to be the shark.

4.  For kids 6 and down have them "make a pizza"

Mix up the dough: pretend to be mixing in the water.

Roll out the dough: Pretend to be rolling out the dough.

Scoop on the sauce:  Do your arm strokes

Blow on the cheese: Blow on the cheese with bubbles.

Ask the kids what toppings they like and then have them do things for every topping.  (ex.  Pepperoni- have them dunk there heads)

You can also make a ice cream sundae.

5.  Marco Polo

6.  To practice opening their eyes under water: Hold up a number under the water and have them dunk their heads and tell you the number when they get back up.

7.  To practice dunking heads:  For the Smaller kids have them look under water for fishes.

8.  Have the kids blow bubbles (talk to the fish) and then have them stick their ears in to see if the fish are talking to them.  

Hope this helped! These are the games we play with the kids and they are fun and help them get comfortable in the water!