Ok Kids!!!!!! Time to please tell how you were taught in Learn to Skate if it's not too personal. I voted for one on one and me and one other. As my coach DID HAVE another skater to start.

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FSWer

My niece (8 years younger) and I took lessons together for the first year or so. I paid for the skates, ice time and the lessons. That's why I'm the favorite auntie.

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I took LtS as a kid in a class. I also had outdoor roller skates and did a lot of learning and practice on my own for many yrs after that.

Kay

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They were group classes - mixed kids and adults and about 20 of us in the class. Basically it was a case of the coach demonstrating a move and everyone copying as best they could and if you got a minute of individual attention during the 30 min class you could count yourself lucky really. The coaches woudl helpout those who were struggling most so if you looked like you were making a good attempt you were mostly ignored.

It wasnt' until over half way through the year and several levels on, that the numbers in the class dropped to a more manageable 8-10.

That's why I dont' really think I started learning to skate until I left the classes and started on private lessons.

After Basic 1 (which I don't really remember, but it was in a class when I was young) I took my basic skills at 3 different rinks. At two of the rinks they were classes of adults (One session of Basic 3/4, one session of Adult 2/3), and then the last rink was in basic skills with kids (Delta, Basic 7/8) where I was the only adult.

Now I take LTS Freestyle lessons in a class of mostly children, but one other adult.

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
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I've been in a class since starting in Adult 1. I went through Adult 1-4 in a small group of adults. There were usually 4-6 of us. Once I entered Freestyle, I joined the kids. I've progressed through Freestyle with 1 other adult, so there is usually 2 adults and 4-5 kids in my Freestyle class.

I picked "in a class" because that's how I started. When I began, our rink offered adult beginning, intermediate, and advanced classes (not the regular US Figure Skating or ISI levels). I started in the beginner class, which had maybe 8 people in it. The next session, I signed up for intermediate, which had maybe 3 or 4. When I took advanced, I was the only person in the class, so I started private lessons after that.

A friend and I took a 6 week LTS class when we were 18 and after that, we skated recreationally. She and I skated regularly when we were rommies and until I got married. I got pregnant and moved and after that, I only skated a few times in 13 yrs. In October, my youngest son started taking skating lessons and we started skating as a family in the last few months. We now skate 3-4 times a week. Today is my last class of my adult 1 class. In 2 weeks, I will start my adult 2 class. My current plan is to continue with the LTS classes. There were 5-6 of us in the last session. I may pick up a few private lessons once I get my new and better fitting skates. :-)

Group Class means....a bunch of classes together,right?

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FSWer

No, in the UK it means a bunch of skaters together. Usually several classes will be going on in the rink at once, though.

We were already skating regularly, and I'd bought my first pair of boots, as our daughter had had group lessons with her school and fallen in love with it, so we were taking her to the rink about twice a week (still on public sessions, though). Then they advertised a new series of classes, and somehow or other we all signed up.... the rest is history!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Group lessons - or classes as in the poll. They were damned good too. Having read about some of the catastrophic experiences people have had with LTS, I'm really please mine turned out the way it did. They were, however, huge classes - I remember there being about 17 in one at one point

In my case both: a group of people in a class and a group of classes in a rink. Space was at something of a premium!

I started in a mother and toddler class when my daughter was 4 (started because I wanted to skate in public sessions without having to hold her up all the time!). As there were hardly any other toddlers (sometimes no others) and she got tired part way through the session and would just like to sit on a sledge, the coach started teaching me. I got through all the LTS levels by the time she started school and then started having private lessons with the coach who had taken the course. Eleven years later we are both still skating - though she is far better than me and training to be a coach herself.

Group lessons up to about Level 7 (of the SkateUK Levels 1-10), upon which the summer holidays happened (and no group lessons available).

I had had the same coach through a few levels of SkateUK and really liked her, so decided to start having private coaching with her.

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Amanda

"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance . . . "

My Skating Journal

So even if your just 1 on 1 with a coach. It's still concidered a class?

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FSWer

Say,can someone please explain a little about how Toddler Classes work? I should think that unless parents who know how to skate hold their Todlers up. It would be awful hard for a Todler to be standing on ice and following a coach.

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FSWer

It depends - if you happen to be the only person in your class, it's still a class as someone else might turn up next week, and you've paid class fees rather than private lesson fees.... but if you have booked 15-30 minutes of a coach's time, either on teaching ice or on a public session, then that is a private lesson.

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

The first thing we teach the kids (on the floor) is how to stand on skates and how to fall down and get up safely. Then we try moving a bit in place. Once they can do that, we move on to the ice and try it there. I like to do "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" and maybe play Simon Says to get them moving their upper bodies around without moving their feet (yet!) We can usually start marching forward and maybe gliding on the first day, although they might not all be able to do it. The goal for me is to have all the kids smiling, having fun, and able to stand by themselves at the end of the first class, and hopefully to have at least some of them able to march.

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Shae-Lynn and Victor: We knew you were champions, and on 3/28/03 the whole WORLD found out! Thank you for twelve wonderful years!

Well that was never likely to happen. Our learn to skate courses were set up in blocks of 6 or 8 weeks (1/2 an hour lesson per week).

1 level of learn to skate generally took one block of lessons (i.e 3-4 hours of lesson).

You booked for a block of lessons and could be one of up to 20 people with one coach. Unfortunately for me I started just after Christmas when numbers were swelled by all those who saw had just seen the rinks panto on ice and fancied having a go. These days the classes are full due to the impact of 'Dancing on Ice' on the TV.

In principle if you did happen to be the only one signed up for a particular level then you could get a 1 on 1 lesson but in practice you would probably be included in the next nearest class to your level. The fewest I've ever seen in a group learn to skate lesson like that is about 4 - but that was when some participants were away.

Generally there were about 4 different level classes going on in the same half hour so there could be up to 80 or more people on the ice with just 4coaches.

In fact when I started there were over 40 people signed up for beginner 1 and 2 class so we were split into 2 groups of about 20 each. The higher level classes tended to have fewer skaters as peopel dropped out but even my top level class had about 10. Consequently it took a lot longer to learn to skate in group lessons like that, than it would have in private lessons or smaller classes.

It happens quite a lot at our rink- especially for adults. It's rare that the adult class will have more than 2! I've taught 3 6 week sessions that had only 1 adult. It's a great value for them. We've also had only 1 in snowplow sam 1 before, and they did a private the first week and then we grouped the class together with snowplow 2/3 so they could play more games.

And then occasionally on halloween or such, only 1 child will show up for their class. They aren't the only one for the session, but get a private lesson that day.


We still call that a "class" because they pay through LTS, not privately through a coach.

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

At my rink the classes are for parents and toddlers. The parents support the toddlers and help them to do what the coach is showing until they are able to manage on their own. If the parents are beginners too (as I was) then they learn at the same time as the toddler. When I did the classes the group was really small so it was easy for the coach to help and we both made good progress. I have recently seen really large groups and then it is difficult - especially at the start of a new course when all the toddlers are new to the ice. I saw one lesson in which several of the children were really reluctant to skate, were scared and crying. It seemed to me a sure way to put them off skating for life.

Oh how nice it would be to pay for a group lesson and only have 2 or 3 in the group. I always go with my partner so just me and Rach would be purrrrrrrrfect

I only found out later (after I'd started private lessons) that there was actually an adults only class I could have gone to on a weekday morning and those classes were often smaller ( at lest they were then - sometimes only 3 or 4 people but that was before the DOI effect!)

I was a bit miffed that no-one had mentioned them to me when I signed up but on the other hand I enjoyed learning to skate with my kids and even (some of the) other people's kids too despite the huge numbers and the lack of individual attention.

I started in kids classes! Mostly 7-9 year olds and then me, a university student at the time. Basically I wanted to go to group lessons with a smaller group than on Sundays (see below) and they gave me a form for the kids class! I asked them if they were sure I could do this class and they said yes, I even filled in my age on the form. Now I'm in evening classes for adults.

The main LTS group classes were on Sunday mornings. No booking required, just turn up and pay for the one lesson. The whole rink was used for teaching and there were between 6-8 groups, each with an instructor. The number of people in your group was a bit luck of the draw, although most weeks the same people turned up. The beginners classes were always huge and had to be split into two.

I just started learn to skate. I'm in an Adult class that has a limit of 12, but there are only 2 people (me and one other) enrolled. There is Adult Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Freestyle going on at the same time. I'm not sure how those levels correspond to adult 1 2 3 4 etc, but the Intermediate class only has 2 also, and then the Advanced and Freestyle have about 10 each. Having only 2 in my beginner class is great!