THE TRAINING METHOD

This is a type of course focused on the martial arts vocabulary learning, as well as on the correct performance of the movements in order for the students to be able to fight while understanding what they’re asked to do on the ring or on the cage. It is an intensive ESP course based on a high intensity training camp in which the students will stay during the duration of the course – which will be from 3 to 6 months long depending on the desired result –. This course is directed to those students who wish to learn the full martial arts experience, as well as those who want to learn the specific English terminology of the fighting sphere. The students eager to take this course will be able to fight at the end, and they will have experienced English in the purest environment possible, it is a complete immersion.

This path depends on each and every one of the students and their motivation, as well as their personality. The students selected must be able to leave their egos at the door, and they will be requested to give their full potential every day and on every session of training. Attendance will be mandatory, therefore, the teacher will be rigorously attentive to catch those who miss training without any fair justification. The camp in which the students will be settled down will provide everything to make the stay as comfortable as possible. Nevertheless, no alcohol will be permitted, and neither will be drugs or cigarettes. The macro skills will be used but not in their natural order, as it is a physical course with demonstrations, students will be requested to listen and speak before they are able to write and read, making them create an essay at the end of their stay to summarize their experience and assess their English improvement. The contents of the course will be divided into six different stages of development that the teacher/trainer will teach to his or her convenience, those six topics will be: boxing, kickboxing, Thai boxing, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, and MMA. Taking this into account, students will be taught the vocabulary of each and every of the units, as well as the complete movements and actions requested to perform the martial art. Moreover, students will learn nutrition and physiotherapy, as well as high intensity training and the official rules of MMA during the theoretical classes in which they will be taught to read and write in English. However, those classes will be introduced after the first half of the course.

The structure of the classes will be based on a training session, combining English conversation with physical exercises for them to feel comfortable while learning a foreign language. The beginning of the class will be a 20 minute stretching part in which the coach will ask quick questions to the students to warm up their minds and set the brain language to English. Afterwards, the physical warm up will help students learn the vocabulary for the muscles and why it is important to warm them up before training with them. The second activity will be the technical one, in which the students work in pairs and repeat the exercises shown by the coach at the beginning of each technique. Each technical exercise will last three to five minutes, giving the students one minute between rounds. After 30 minutes of technical exercises, students will feel comfortable with the language, and will be ready to follow instructions under pressure. The high intensity training will begin, a mixture of sprints, quick reactions, jumps, and evasions will be requested, and the students will have to react as quickly as possible for them to achieve the desired physical resilience. Once they have done a 30 minute exercise, those who are still alive will pass onto the following and last quest: sparring time. This last exercise is a mixture of following instructions under pressure, and try and repeat the technical exercises done in class without being hit by the partner. This is not a mandatory exercise, it is only for those who would like to fight after the course, or for those eager to hit and get hit just for the pleasure of it. Those who do not want to do sparring time will have to stretch again for 10-15 minutes while talking to each other about the class, trying to solve any possible doubts among them. The teacher/coach must be paying attention to the sparring students, and let the rest of them solve their doubts on their own – a bit like the silent method –. After the sparring rounds (3-5) the students will be requested to do a critical review on their performance, as well as on their partner’s as a rapport.  The assessment will be based on their in-class performance, and also on their final essay taking into account all they have learned during the intensive course.

The training course will follow a booklet, provided by the designer of the course that will establish all the topics to be taught during the course. Nevertheless, each coach will be free to teach them in whichever the order he wants. But he must teach them all and make sure the concepts have been learned properly. In addition, the language spoken will always be the target language, and the pairing of the students will always be from different countries so they feel obligated to speak in the target language. The course will be divided into English levels, not into martial arts levels. There will be a test at the beginning of the course to determine in which level the student should go. In case any student does not have enough knowledge to understand an advanced class, he or she will be directed to the beginners’ class. Students will have a timetable that will set the training sessions and the free sessions in which those who have an extensive martial arts knowledge but a low English level may train together with those who have an extensive martial arts training as well as a high English level. Training will be mandatory in the morning and in the afternoon, free hours will be from 12-16, in which students may explore the territory, or even train together. However, schedules will be strict in terms of training and eating, but Sundays are entirely free:

It is obviously a very strict method in which students manage to learn English and martial arts at the same time, but only those who truly sacrifice themselves will be able to fight at the end. The end of the course will be celebrated by a competition in which the students will fight amongst each other in order to achieve the title and the official belt of the organisation that created the course. Apart from the title and the official belt, students will be given a three months course for them and a partner of their choice. Effort, perseverance, sacrifice and cheerfulness are the requirements for a student to be accepted into this course, anyone not eager to live the full experience of the training method will not feel comfortable into the camp, and will eventually leave it. That is precisely what we do not want, we do not want quitters, we want fighters. That is why students have a free week to try the experience before deciding what to do. But, in my humble opinion, who wouldn’t like to be in a camp where you learn without even realizing it?

Marian Cecere Gispert