Cuing tips for Golden Beats
- Cues can provide the class with motivation as well as instruction or direction!
- Cues do not have to be all verbal – nonverbal cuing includes using hand signals such as pointing and counting down with fingers or pointing to a body part that you will be activating (i.e. which foot will lead out on the next move).
- Nearly 50% of your 75+ participants will have hearing difficulty and approximately an equal number will have visual impairments.
- Verbal cuing needs to be concise and descriptive.
- Time your cuing effectively and select your words carefully.
- Don’t talk constantly – leave space between cues.
- Use descriptive terms such as “step and tap” or “take 2 steps right”.
- Give oral cues when you are facing your participants. Remember that hearing also involves reading lips.
- Use “feeling” terms – “feel the stretch along your rib cage as you reach your arm upwards”.
- Avoid the word “it”. Move it, lift it, push it, bounce it, and hit it. Move what? Lift what? Push what? Rather, say “lift your arms up to shoulder height, now press the palms of your hands forward, away from your body…”.
- Teach your class as though everyone in the class is blind, carefully constructing your cues to be descriptive and complete. “Everyone come to a standing position, now tip your head to the right, taking your ear towards your shoulder. Go just far enough so you feel the stretch down the left side of your neck. Hold this stretch for a few seconds and be sure to breathe as you hold.”
