Check out my teacher Alan Orr's website for a wealth of articles and information...
I came across this the other day and think its well worth a read.
I always encourage my students to express their understanding of the arts that I teach. This way they learn to be more confident in what they do and also identify what they don’t fully understand. I ask for a lot of feedback to what I teach. If they do not know why they are doing what I have taught them, we will recover it until they do. In order to be functional you need to be able to function. This means you must have a clear idea of your path. Many teach Wing Chun very slowly, under the idea that it takes a long time to master. This is not true. We have the ability to learn very fast, only our minds or other peoples’ minds can hold us back. Wing Chun is a simple art that has much depth. To unlock that depth is the goal of the student. The teacher must be the guide that shortens the path through one’s knowledge and experience.
Therefore, good teachers will be able to make you better quicker and more efficiently than it has taken them to do. What we often see is that arts are passed on slowly, as much of the understanding is missing. It will take a long time before the student becomes aware that they have not developed the skill that they thought they had. This needs to change! Question your own knowledge. I remember one of my close students saying to me that he had learned so much about himself from the training and that I had given him so much. I told him I had not just given him the art. I taught him to understand it, so now the art was his and he had control of his skill. As teachers we must help our students grow and not hold them back. Yes, we may not want to teach everyone, but the ones we choose to teach we have a responsibility to direct them on the path.
This month I asked Rory my student of 8 months to share what he understands of Sil Nim Tao, Wing Chun’s first form.
Sil Nim Tao: More Than A Little Thought? By Rory MacLaren-Jackson WING CHUN ARTICLE CLICK HERE