[CW] teaching cw

[Alan W.]

I have taught code on & off for 25 years, and have taught the characters 
in several different orders. I teach about 5 or 6 characters at a time - 
but by guaging the students, I have sometimes taught 10 characters on 
the first night.  Two 20 to 30 minute sessions with a 5 minute break 
works well in a classroom situation.

My goal is to use some of the most common letters first - so they can 
spell words as early as possible, and to avoid teaching too many new 
"sound-alikes" at the same session.

Right now, my radio club uses the order of the letter-orders found in 
the software Morse Academy:

A E R N T    (AR)
I O S D H C
U Y L M P G  period (.)
F W B J   slash(/) comma(.)  BT
K Q X U Z  question(?)   sk
Numbers 1-0

The software Koch, by G4FON uses an order that does not allow as many 
English words in the 1st two lessones, but it does mix in the 
punctuation and numbers better.:

KMRSUA
PTLOWI period (.)
NEIF 0 (zero) YV
comma (,) G5 slash(/) Q9
ZH38B question (?)
427C1D
6X [AR]  [BT]  [SK]

A modified version of the traditional ARRL order (see any copy of their 
"Learning the Radiotelegraph Code" - now out of print), which I have 
used is:

ETOANIS [period]
RHDUCML  [AR]
(Review previous two lessons)
PFWYGB [comma]
JKQXZV [question mark]
12345  [BT]  / 
67890  [SK]

Now, I don't like teaching the numbers all together, since it encourages 
counting dits & dahs, so I may mix them in with letters.  For practice, 
I do a mixture of plain text and 5-letter groups.  If teaching 
one-on-one, I also like a "flash" drill, where I send a letter and the 
student (without writing) says it back as fast as they can.

I don't call on students to read back unlerss I am pretty assured they 
aren't self-conscious about missing characters.  Some students are 
really put off being put "on the spot"  if they are already suffering 
frustration or perfectionism.

Try to teach them to send early on too - after they have had 2 or 3 
lessons.  I have about 5 keys with oscillators that I loan out (get the 
borrowers' names & phone numbers!!) at the 1st or 2nd lesson.  I will 
help them with sending after class - you must show them the proper 
handhold for the straight key - arm on table, arched wrist (and no 
paddle slappers!)  in the American style, or the European style - either 
of which use the larger muscles of the forearm behind the wrist, and not 
rely on the muscles of wrist or fingers.

Between classes encourage them to practice by sending text to themselves 
in verbalized dits & dahs from the newspaper, street signs, billboards 
etc., as they go about their day.

Good luck with your class.  In our last one, 8 people took the CW exam 
and 8 people passed!  But usually we have 50-75% pass rate on the first try.

dit dit
Alan N5LF