Alpine Children’s Beginner Lesson Outline

Alpine Children’s Beginner Lesson Outline

 Check rug placement
  • Check to see if the rug area needs adjusted to allow for a straight run to a natural stop. The goal is for the student to naturally stop at the bottom of the carpet area or just below it.

Introduction

  • Get down to your students level
  • Learn groups name by using an interactive game
  • Ask questions about their age, school, family, sports, movie/TV, computer games, favorite color, books etc… throughout the entire lesson when appropriate
  • Allow opportunities for students to get to know one another
  • Give students an idea what the next 1 ½ hours will be like
  • Point out where the lesson will occur
  • Draw their attention to things they may never have seen before (lifts, snow guns, etc.)
  • Point out how you differ from other instructors (color hat, helmet, skis)
  • Play in the snow!

Check Equipment/clothing

  • Be sure boots are buckled snug and pants are not inside boots
  • Are the boots on the right feet?
  • Does your student need mittens adjusted, face covered, helmet tightened, goggles adjusted?
  • Introduce parts of the ski

Boot Activities (optional)

  • Walk around parts of Magic Mountain to explore and move in boots
  • Practice climbing and side stepping in boots
  • Guide toes in, toes straight, toes out (try in seated position with legs extended or on back with legs lifted)
  • Play a game of tag or relay race to work on bending the ankle and having fun!
  • Teach students how to get up (practice gain with one and two ski activities) 

One Ski Activities (very flat terrain)

  • Draw in snow (with edge of ski) and erase (with flats)
  • The clock (stepping in a circle with the ski being the hands of a clock) do in both directions
  • Climbing
  • Scooter turns through a slalom course
  • Getting up

Two Ski Activities (flat terrain)

  • Make different shapes with skis (parallel, wedge, herringbone)
  • Shuffle, hop, flex/extend, hop foot to foot, tap tip and tail
  • The clock        
  • Shuffle skis forward then glide on two skis to a natural stop
  • Skating, skate whenever you can throughout the lesson
  • Climbing
  • Getting up

Straight Run (on the rug)

  • Use a hoola hoop to pull smaller students to rug area if they have difficulty climbing up hill or push them up with your hand in the small of their back
  • Fore/aft
  • Flex/extend
  • Foot to foot
  • Hop
  • Shuffle
  • Introduce small steps at end of straight run to start direction change and to get your student back to the rug   

Wedge

  • Gliding wedge (do movements listed under straight run)
  • Glide in different size of wedges
  • Wedge change ups
  • Stop in a wedge
  • Hour glass (gliding while guiding ski tips in and out)

Turning

  • Guide ski tips back and forth slightly across fall line 
  • Introduce shallow turn to one direction, practice in the other direction
  • When using color to aid in turning, red turn is to students right and blue is to students left emphasizing guiding the inside ski
  • C shaped turn to a stop (end with skis slightly up the hill)
  • Connect turns

Magic Carpet

  • Introduce lift procedure
  • Instructor should have skis off to assist students first time up carpet

Controlling speed by turning

  • Reinforce different turn shapes and speeds
  • Small stepping or shuffling after the fall line to complete turn shape

Explore Discovery Area

Reinforce Safety Code once on Discovery Area