Help teaching kids to swim

I’m working on getting myself certified as a swim instructor for kids.  I like the Y where my son takes lessons, but they have a shortage of swim instructors, so I decided to try to help out.

 Maybe if you can’t afford lessons for all the kids, it would be more economical for you to take lessons yourself and learn how to teach your kids? 

I worked as a lifeguard and swim instructor in high school and college.  It was a long time ago, but the group lessons started about age 4-5.  I taught some private lessons 2 summers and the 2-year-old nearly gave me a heart attack when, after not doing anything but hang on me during the "lesson" jumped off the diving board (home pool) and then got himself over to the side...I did basic instruction on my own boys.  

As a YMCA instructor, I could often get young day-campers from not putting their face in the water to jumping off the diving board and SWIMMING to the side within the 2-week camp.  

Do you have access to a therapy pool?  Lap pools are often a few degrees cooler(80-82°F) than general fitness (83-86°F) pools and therapy pools may be >90°F.  My oldest son took his first lessons (from someone else) in a lap pool and we spent 6 weeks with him just chattering on the side.  I started taking them to another facility with a therapy pool, and we'd spend 1-2 hours in the water.  

First:  Go to the pool often (check).  

Second:  Encourage familiarity and comfort in the water.  Underwater tea parties, superman (gliding with a good body position), even "spider walks" (clinging to the pool edge).  

Third:  Refine technique and build endurance.  

For the day campers, it started the first day with a quick assessment of their skills and then we played games in the shallow end.  Games that encouraged them to put their face in the water, float (front & back), glide (front & back).  

Then we'd add kicking (flutter kick) and play more games where the glide+kick was reinforced.  Including swimming underwater, underwater summersaults and handstands.  Gliding and glide+kick was usually 1-2 lane WIDTHS (maybe half the pool width).  

We'd bob, first in shallower water and then in deeper water.  

We'd spider-walk to water over their head (even all the way down to the deep end).  

We'd add arms (windmill) back in the shallow end and glide+kick in the deep end.  (half the pool width)

We'd start flipping onto our backs to get a breath.  

We'd start a "corkscrew" rolling to the right or left, combining windmill with breathing.  

We'd repeat these in the deep end.  

We'd jump off the side, first in the shallow end, then the deep end, swimming to another side rather than just returning to where others were waiting to jump.  

We'd jump off the diving board.  

It almost always was a matter of showing the kids they *could* do something new and overcoming their anxiety.  A common dialog:
C:  Can I touch the bottom?
M:  Sure, but you can't breathe while you're down there!  (So of course, this became the goal...jump in progressively deeper water with the goal of touching the bottom...)

Honestly, about half the "lesson" was "free time" with constant reminders/challenges to "do it right."  They'll get 200 yards in jumping off the diving board and swimming to the side by the time they've done it 25 times!  

Some of this is easier when teaching a group of peers.  You'll have effectively 2 peer groups, the 5/8/10 who can't swim and the 13/16 who can but need to improve.  

Psst...for your 16-year old runner...probably a very dense body and any lifting of the head will send his legs straight down.  For him, reinforce technique (rotating the body/head rather than lifting) and kicking will be necessary.  You'll probably also need to encourage him to swim like he's going for a jog, not a run.  

I was also a lifeguard and instructor, so much of what McFuzz said I agree with.

We generally started the little kids (4-5) off with simple things.  Head bobs while holding the wall to blow bubbles.  Get them used to getting their face wet.  We'd then work on floating on their backs while kicking.

From there, we'd go off the wall, face down while kicking.  Then show them how to roll over to their back when they need to breathe.  Roll back to the front again, etc.  This gets that body roll ingrained in them before working on crawlstroke at all.

I usually took a few minutes with them sitting on the wall and kicking, and worked them on keeping the knees straight and toes pointed.  Just get those habits started early.

The biggest thing for that age is to keep it fun so they are excited to come back.  We usually let them jump (one at a time, feet first) off the wall towards the end of the session.  Fun for them, but also once again - it gets them comfortable having their head underwater.

Moving up from there, I might do kickboard drills (board ahead, face down in the water) with 1 arm stroke and breathing to the side.  If I felt like they had that rhythm down, then they're ready for crawl.  I spent nearly equal time with them on backstroke and crawlstroke.

With the older kids (10+) I found it better to get them into a small group of similar ability.  They respond better when they're keeping up with their peers. 

I teach swim lessons to neighborhood children at my home during the summer. I have had American Red Cross Swim instructor training course so I use their progression but I find the videos from uSwim to be very helpful too. 

https://www.redcross.org/images/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m3240085_SwimmingWaterSafety.pdf

http://www.wellfleet-ma.gov/sites/wellfleetma/files/file/file/red-cross-swim-level-information.pdf

https://uswim.com/program/

Except I don't think the OP will be checking back anytime soon for all of this helpful information since this post was started in 2010 . 

I have been rather enjoying the detailed responses, though.  

Long ago and far away, I taught 3-5 year olds how to swim.

I'd start with getting them used to putting their face in the water while blowing out their nose. I had them focus on getting their whole face in the water, getting forehead wet. Lots of praise for any attempt or the slightest accomplishment.

Then we'd move onto holding onto the wall while extending the body outward, then kicking. I would stand to their side, push up on their tummies and tell them to hold the position, then kick. Some got it right away, others took multiple tries. After they could hold onto the wall and kick, we'd move to putting their face in the water, blowing bubbles out of their nose, and kicking. Again, lots of praise for every goal achieved.

Then they would line up at the wall in the pool, I would stand 3-5 feet away (depended on their size) and have them kick towards me, face in the water.

We stood on pool deck and practiced freestyle stroke and turning the head to breath. Then I had them get in the pool and (one at a time) swim to me. Lots of positive encouragement and praise. It's okay if they're awkward. They're learning many things simultaneously.

The kids were great, eager to please, and so happy when they could put it all together. I absolutely loved this job.

HAH!