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Expat-friendly Gymnastics?

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vanyali
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Expat-friendly Gymnastics?

Post by vanyali » Fri, 16 Nov 2012 3:44 pm

My girls wanted to try gymnastics, so I signed them up for a place that operates out of a very impressive looking gym. My girls were very happy to jump on trampolines, walk on balance beams, and practice flips into foam pits.

Now, a few months into it, they hate it, because many of the coaches and children can't speak any English. Often, one or the other of my girls will be in a class where neither the coach nor any of the other children speak any English at all, and it seems that they will laugh at my girls for not understanding Mandarin.

Other places that I tried (especially at my local community center) ignored my girls to focus on training more experienced people, presumably for competitions. That was no good either.

So I promised my daughters that I would look again for a gymnastics class that would:

(1) accept & train beginning-level students,

(2) speak English, and

(3) be friendly to foreigners, like us.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

My girls are 11 and 7, and they are at a beginning level (have had a few months of coaching that they only sometimes understood).

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sundaymorningstaple
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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Fri, 16 Nov 2012 4:49 pm

Move to an English speaking country where English is really the 1st language? Or get Mandarin lessons for you kids. You would really be doing them a favour. ;-) Mine loved it.
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

vanyali
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Post by vanyali » Thu, 22 Nov 2012 5:10 pm

I haven't found a worthwhile way for us to learn Mandarin.

The local tutors just plain suck. They are OK for helping with homework from a class, I guess, but I haven't found a Chinese or Singaporean tutor for any subject who can manage to teach something on their own.

I also haven't been able to find any textbooks here on any subject that actually have any content to them. They're all just cartoons.

If you know some magic place to find a competent tutor, or class for older kids, or a decent textbook, then let me know. Because so far, it's all been a bust.

Anyway, that doesn't solve the other problems with Chinese coaches, like the coaches physically sitting on the kids to force stretches (and tear muscles), ridiculing the kids, and all the rest. The problem is really the coaches' attitudes, not just the language barrier.

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sundaymorningstaple
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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Thu, 22 Nov 2012 5:39 pm

I guess that's why they don't do very well in gymnastics in the Olympics then. :-|
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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