[CW] teaching cw

[Cecil Bayona]

You can G4FON software, and use your preferred letter order. You select on the main page to use all the characters, then on the setup page you can  select which characters are enabled so if you only enable the "A E R N T" letters then only those letters are used in the practice, as you progress you can enable any other letters you want.


> 
> From: "Alan W." <n5lf at qsl.net>
> Date: 2005/01/13 Thu PM 01:35:41 EST> To: cw at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [CW] teaching cw> 
> 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"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
> 
> 
> 
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Cecil
KD5NWA