Dive into the UK as a Scuba Instructor – Tip #3
Clare Dutton, of Duttons Divers and Vivian Dive Centre, is back with her series of tips for UK Dive Instructors!
Scuba diving isn’t exactly the most talkative hobby under the water. For most of us, it is the reason that we do it… to escape! However, when teaching, communication is one of the most important factors.
When teaching the basics, we need to remember that our students have never done this before – think back to doing your course, it is completely new, so don’t scare them off! A lot of diving is in the way we speak. Comparatively a lot like how someone follows a leader, because they are calm, confident and collected. This is the same. Our students want us to make it fun. Explain the basics in a manner that they understand and don’t freak them out. Use positive words…
The prime example of explaining is the mask removal and replace skill. We do this because someone is going to kick your mask off your face, or regulator recovery when someone kicks the regulator out of your mouth…No! Anything like this does not fill your student with confidence, and if they are already apprehensive, they are now even more unlikely to want to do it and you have just cost yourself an extra half hour in the water going up and down through panic!
Change the way that you ‘sell’ it to them… We need to do this skill, so that when we take that awesome selfie at the end for you profile picture, you don’t have a reg in your mouth – makes for a better picture! For the 10 year old wanting to learn, we can teach you a magic trick – how about clearing your mask whilst under the water… all we do is put a little bit of water in and blow out through our nose! Lets see if you can become a scuba magician!
Tip number 3: It’s all in the way you talk!
Check back for Tip #4 soon. Find out more at www.duttonsdivers.com.
