“Mat Chats” at the Michigan Academy of Taekwondo
During every kids’ class at the Michigan Academy of Taekwondo, we take about five minutes right after our warm-up to sit down with the class to talk about an important character or life skill.
Over the past couple decades, parents of our students have come to us and told us “Hey, you know what the best part of your program is? It’s the Mat Chats!”
In fact, one of our instructors was recently at Planet Fitness lifting weights and he ran into the grandfather of one of our students. The grandfather said, “My favorite thing about your classes was when you sit down with the kids and tell stories. They learned so much, and I myself loved hearing you talk about those life lessons.”
The story time he was referring to? The Message of the Week, also known as Mat Chats.
We don’t think there’s a better way than a Mat Chat to convey important life lessons and character skills.
Our typical format involves:…
A brief story
The Boy Who Cried Wolf and The Tortoise and the Hare are some fan favorites…
(Especially when our instructors take the time to embellish the story.)
One of the reasons we tell stories is because it’s one of the most effective ways to get the lesson across.
If we sat down and said, “The message of this week is perseverance. According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, perseverance is defined as…”
Well, we’d lose our students’ attention!
Stories are captivating, and after our young students have had a long day at school, we’ll do anything to capture their attention… including telling fun stories!
A discussion on the story’s moral
Once we’ve told the story, we start talking about the meaning and significance behind it.
We genuinely believe this also helps our students in their language arts classes at school…
And we have a theory it could help our students fall in love with storytelling and reading!
Questions & answers
We want the Mat Chat to be interactive, so we ask questions to our students to give them a chance to respond.
Our instructors are always on the lookout for students who don’t typically raise their hands during the Q&A time…
We want to make sure quiet, shy, and introverted students get a chance to speak just as much as the students who are eager to raise their hands!
A challenge to LIVE the LESSON!
At the very end of the Mat Chat, the instructor will call the students into action…
For instance, if the message of the week is courtesy, the instructor might say: “Alright guys, so this week, I want you guys to find a way to make things easier for the people around you. Hold the door for your mom or dad, carry in the groceries from the car…”
We hope you enjoyed this brief article about Mat Chats at the Michigan Academy of Taekwondo!
If you live in Northville, Novi, Plymouth, Canton, or the surrounding areas and you want to experience the life-changing impact of martial arts training, please fill out our contact form or give us a call at 248.349.6900.
We hope to see you at MAT!