Cues for motor skill learning

A little while ago a student came to my office to ask me what he could do to help his students learn the correct "stances" for martial arts. I don't know anything about martial arts, but I know a little about how children learn skills. So I ask him to show me what he was talking about. Basically, he showed me a couple positions that were not difficult (for an adult), but were also not symmetric or made a lot of sense. He said he had a lot of problems with feet placement - while he would fix one child's foot, the other foot moved out of the correct position, and so on. I told him to use two color tapes (one for the front and another for the back foot) and tape them on the ground exactly in the position that the child should be, so they would have to step on the tapes instead to think of the stances. He doubted a bit but said he'd try. In a week, he came back to tell me the "miracle"- he didn't have to waste any more time on the stances, they all got it!

I wish I was the one performing "miracles" all around, but unfortunately, I only used a very old technique to help with skill learning: The use of cues (or labels). Cues are cognitive strategies that describe a particular aspect of a concept or skill (usually the key aspect) and enable children's performance by enhancing attentional focus, facilitating information processing, and assisting with retention and retrieval of information. It's an extremely easy and even fun concept to use with children, and the benefits are gigantic. But to my surprise, very few people use them or even know the benefits. I've seen countless of therapists and instructors describe movements with a lot of detail and demonstrate skills without even specify what the child should be paying attention to or simplifying the concept (imagine creating a cue!).

The most commonly used cues are of the verbal type, but in motor skill learning we can use visual and kinesthetic cues. In my classes, every time students have to propose an activity, I ask them to 1) identify the critical aspects of the movement  and 2) create different types of cues for each aspect. It helps them understand the movement and to think of what is meaningful for a child, too. Here is a simple example of using hula hoops so the kids now where their feet go. Easy, huh?

What about you? Do you use cues for learning? What are some that work?