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Everyone learns in different ways. There are thought to be 5 learning styles:

Visual – Learners with this preference tend to prefer to learn through seeing, using pictures, videos and also body language of the teacher and others.

Auditory – Prefer to learn through hearing, be given verbal instructions, listening to stories and take note of itch, speed and tone of voice.

Kinaestetic – Prefer to learn through doing, through touch and a hands on approach and moving.

Logical – Using mathematics, logic and reasoning.

Linguistic – Prefer to learn through language, both speaking and writing.

People also have a preference for working alone (solitary) or with others in groups or pairs (social). This is something to bear in mind, especially with teenagers who may struggle with the partner work and careful thought needs to be given to how to split them (more on this in the partner work section).

Obviously people don’t fall into just one category they’ll be a mixture of all but may show a preference. Research has also shown that it is not helpful to attempt to categorise learners and teach them to their preferred learning style.

What is important to consider is using a mixture of teaching styles to compliment all of the types of learning styles. So for example, we obviously use movement a lot within a class, but we can also use a range of techniques over a term such as giving verbal instructions, using yoga cards to look at poses and vinyasas (this is covered later on). Also, consider that you may fall into teaching a certain way to suit your preferred learning style so make sure you step out of your own comfort zone as much as you can!

Part of what we do in Minds is to make the young people feel comfortable and create a comfortable atmosphere, but equally we want to push them and challenge them and we can do this by using different teaching and learning styles as well as the content of the session.