KIDS PROGRAM TKD, becoming Universal.
The International Taekwon-Do Federation is honored to present and deliver into your hands a Program developed over several years, which we launch today for the benefit of each of our Instructors over the world.
Since its origins our Taekwon-Do teaching system has become polished and improved like a handcraft. This has given it a special class and promoted it across our society. After achieving popularity among grown-ups, the teaching of TKD has spread onto children, with beginners as implausibly young as …3 years of age!
This new modality required a more professional system, suited to the infants´ demands, so we had to develop a new method of specific characteristics, where to include contents beyond the simple teaching of a self-defense art to the little ´ones.
There may be other overall TKD programs in the world but we deemed it indispensable to create an ad hoc Program that would abide by our technique, by our tenets and our tradition.
Consequently, the contents in this Program substantially express the characteristics of our ITF Taekwon-Do according to our Founder´ s conception, over the same basis and tenets as the adult program. It is easy to carry out for Instructors who are already working with children, so as not to limit themselves to entertaining or amusing, since the instructors´ role is neither that of a game coordinator nor of a kindergarten teacher.
Also, the implementation of our Program will prevent premature grading of children as black belts, because it leads up to the yellow belt grade, from where each child may go on with his/her natural learning cycle, having acquired an excellent technical and mental basis.
I am fully convinced that ITF Taekwon-Do is a wonderful art and one necessary for the community: it is up to us to find the best way to promote it and teach it in every corner of the world and help it become known through increasingly prestigious institutions. Taking school as the center of education, we shall accomplish our goal by putting into practice new and advanced systems such as the one we introduce here today and which sets clear from other martial arts.
However, it is our Instructors´ quality which makes the Difference and will continue to make it! Transcendental changes usually entail difficulties and high demands …but rest reassured, in this case the effort is well worth it!
The high standards set by this Program are the result of an excellent team of professionals who gave their very best to elaborate each of the contents and activities shaped up in this amazing text and who so selflessly worked for the benefit of the whole ITF community, generously relinquishing all copyright. Enjoy the ride!
Pablo Trajtenberg
President
International Taekwon-Do Federation
The Taekwon-Do Kid’s Development Program
(TKD Program) is a teaching program designed to further the physical, cognitive, behavioral, social, and moral development of children as young as 3 or 4 years up to the ages of 6 or 7 years.
It is grounded in the Taekwon-Do system of self-defense. The lessons, lasting anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes consist of activities (e.g., games, role-playing, exercises, discussions, stories) designed to provide young children with opportunities to develop life skills (e.g., independence/autonomy, organization skills, teamwork, leadership, obedience, sense of responsibility), cognitive skills (e.g.,memory, attention, concentration), social skills (e.g., politeness, assertiveness), moral character (e.g., respect and caring for others, integrity, fairness, perseverance, self-control, indomitable spirit), prerequisite skills for learning Taekwon-Do techniques (e.g., balance,body movement, rhythm, hand-eye coordination), and basic Taekwon-Do skills (e.g., stances,blocks, hand attacks, kicks).
The teaching program also provides information and guidance about how to keep physically fit and healthy (exercises, hygiene, nutrition). Another part of the program, which is not part of the main syllabus, provides information to increase the awareness of potential dangers (whether they involve things or people) and teaches children how to respond to emergencies and potentially dangerous situations.The TKD Program has six levels.
The beginner starts as a “level 1” student. Once students have completed the TKD Program, they receive a graduation certificate. Graduates of theTKD Program can enter the mainstream junior Taekwon-Do class as an 8th Kup/yellow belt.2Before taking a grading exam, students must complete various assessments in class and at home. Each time a student completes a segment of assessments, the instructor stamps the student’s “Assessment Record Card.”
Once students have completed all the assessment tasks for their level, they are allowed to take the grading. Grading is conducted by an official TKD Program grading examiner. Once students have successfully passed the grading exam, they are promoted to the next level and receive a new stripe on their white belt.The TKD Program is a powerful teaching program. It uses a structured system of goals and rewards to develop and maintain students’ motivation.
The TKD Program reward system ensures that all students, whatever their ability level, have the opportunity to be rewarded for being involved with the Taekwon-Do development process. The rewards come in the form of awards. What is rewarded is behavior and personal achievement: attending lessons (Attendance Award), trying hard (Good Effort Award), making progress (Good Progress Award), and completing stages of the TKD Program (Grade Awards). Special Award badges are used to reward achievement with respect to the part of the syllabus focusing on the topic of danger(Danger Awareness Award, Stranger Awareness Award, and Bullying Awareness Award). Characters are used in the TKD Program to capture children’s attention and facilitate learning.
There are five of them. Each one represents one of the five Tenets of Taekwon-Do: Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self-Control, and Indomitable Spirit. Each character also has a name and physical features representing a different culture or ethnic group (European or North American, Oriental, Arabic or Indian, Latin, and African). The name of each character has been chosen to have a meaning that is coherent with the tenet it represents. As three of the characters are male and two are female, children of both genders can identify with the TKD Program.
Stories and cartoon strips are used not only to reveal the strength of each character, but also to show that the characters are strongest when they work as a team to help each other. Instructors are provided with everything they need to teach the program: an instructor’s manual, badges, stickers, Student Assessment Record cards (used by students to kept track of their achievements), Student Record cards (used by the instructors as a database to follow the progress of their students), lesson planning models and sheets, and an official stamp (used by instructors to stamp students’ assessment record sheets in their Study Book).
An important feature of the TKD program is the Study Book, which has been written to help students further their learning, and to help parents/guardians understand the contents of the TKD Program. Naturally, as some of the contents may be too difficult for young children to understand by themselves, parents/guardians are encouraged to read the book and explain the contents to their child. The Study Book is exceptionally well-done. Students are provided with everything they need to learn the contents of the TKD Program: instructions, educational information, examples, advices, exercises, stories, cartoons, diagrams, forms, record sheets, and so on.
The material for each lesson or topic is well-organized and easy to find. All the proposed activities (e.g.,games, role-playing, exercises, discussions, stories, cartoon strips) are clearly described and come with easy to follow step-by-step instructions. Illustrations are used to facilitate understanding and learning. Several other elements also make the Study Book both readable and fun to read for young children. Those include the choice of fonts (type and size) for the text, the writing style (clear,specific and adapted to age level), the illustrations (meaningful and colorful), and the overall design and layout of the book.
Students will be eager to read the Study Book and complete all the tasks required for being allowed to take a grading exam and be promoted to the next program level. Be it in terms of content or methods, the TKD Program has all the ingredients and components to yield benefits that will be carried over into home and school or nursery life.The Study Book is an important feature of the TKD Program and deserves high praise for the quality of its content, organization, design, layout, writing style, text and illustrations.
As a psychologist, I consider the Study Book to be appropriate for young children and safe to use with them under the supervision and guidance of an instructor trained to teach the TKD Program.I am very demanding when it comes to teaching programs. I strive for excellence when It each and I expect nothing less from those who prepare today’s children to become tomorrow’s citizens. Honestly speaking, I cannot think of a better programm than the TKD Program to further the physical, cognitive, behavioural, social, and moral development of young children worldwide. It is that good. I highly recommend it with the companion StudyBook.
Doctor Janel Gauthier, Ph.D.Licensed Psychologist Professor of Psychology, Laval University, Canada Secretary-General of the International Association of Applied Psychology ITF Black Belt, 4th degree Former Chair of the ITF Committee on Ethics and Discipline
