I never thought I would get certified to teach CPR and first aid training, but then again if you asked me a few years ago if I wanted to be a scuba instructor I would have said no.We got a late start this morning but it was marvelous to be able to sleep in. My roommate made Swedish pancakes for all of us at the house. What an unexpected delight to start off the day! At the shop we started the EFR instructor course by going over the standards and structure of teaching primary and secondary care to students. This course is a requirement for all PADI instructors. After a thorough lecture the real fun of presenting began.
Part of the course is to present and demonstrate the skills that we as instructors will be expected to perform in the future. From sitting in on previous courses I had a pretty good idea of what to expect. We took turns as instructor and student just as we have been doing for all the PADI presentations. It’s always entertaining getting to watch people’s acting skills while they play victim during a presentation. Due to the seriousness behind the training it is nice that everyone is able to lighten the mood and make learning fun. As we learned from the lecture, people learn best when they want to and are ready to learn. When the environment promotes learning people learn better because they are enjoying what they are being taught.
As the days fly by, the I.E. looms in the near future. Tomorrow we are going to finish up EFR training with child CPR and first aid. Thursday is our last confined water presentation. This weekend we head up to Playas del Coco, where the I.E. will take place. Between now and then is crunch-time. I will re-sit the theory exams just for practice, and run though a skill circuit one last time. As the end of the IDC grows near I feel more confident in my abilities, but anxiety still continues to build. Better get studying and rest up. It’s going to be another long day tomorrow.