Becoming a snowboard instructor - Anwarter course
Originally I was planning to do this course and spend an entire winter in the mountains a couple of years ago, but suddenly I got accepted into art-school and it got postponed.
Until now :)
There are a lot of options when it comes to becoming a ski- or snowboardteacher. Most countries with mountains offer their own course, and surprisingly even Holland has their own version which takes place in a ski-dome for the most part.
I opted for the SBSSV (which stands for Salzburger Berufs Schilehrer und Snowboardlehrer Verband and basically means 'professional ski and snowboardteaching federation of a certain area in Austria'), mainly because I'd heard good stories about it and it takes place on the Kitzsteinhorn-glacier, a 20-min ride from Zell am See where I am going to live this winter.
My biggest concern beforehand was not even about my snowboarding-abilities but about the fact that the whole course would be in German. It seems a lot like Dutch but is different enough to cause serious problems and although I had it in high-school for years, nothing really stuck.
So off I went, first to an introduction evening and then to work: 8 days of training (6 hours practical and 4 hours theory per day) and 2 days of testing.
Subjects:
Learning how to teach
Teaching children
First aid
Snow and avalanche knowledge
Equipment knowledge
Job knowledge
Nature and the environment
Safety
Communication/Presentation
Exams:
Teaching practical Basically teaching your fellow students for 20 mins. The instructor gives an assignment and the age/level of your 'students' for adjustment of exercises.
Written exams Mostly multiple-choice tests on the theory subjects, some open questions.
Ability Carving long and short turns, rhythm change, switch drift turns, freestyle run (minimum 2 different 180s, noseroll, tailroll), freeride run.
We where with a big group of about 80, divided in smaller groups for practical purposes. Met a lot of great people, did some serious training, had plenty of snowy fun and at the end of the course we almost all made it, had a good party and are now ready for 4 months of teaching and living the mountain-life!
Oh and the German wasn't as big of a problem as I initally thought, although it didn't make matters easier. I made it and now have plenty of time to get this weird language into my brain.
If you are considering becoming a teacher, there is only one advice I can give you: do it! The course is awesome and teaches your everything you need to know. And what better than to spend all winter outside, on a mountain, teaching people something that you can do and they'd love to learn and hanging around a cute town in the Alps with all your new friends?
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