Senpai?

[aurik]

At our dojo, a student above a certain rank can ask to serve as an assistant instructor for a class. Generally if the class is intended for a given set of ranks, the assistant instructor should be at least one grade above that. (e.g, a beginner's class is typically 10th kyu - 8th kyu. The assistant instructor should be at least 7th kyu). In such a situation, the students will refer to the assistant instructor as "Sempai" (as opposed to sensei).

We also have a certain set of classes that are all ranks (and sometimes all ages). In this case, our sensei will break us up into groups to work on rank-specific drills, and he'll often ask a senior student to work with his/her juniors on their techniques. For example, last weekend he asked me to work with a couple of different groups of junior students on their rank material. He then rotated through the different groups of students to answer questions and offer corrections. Towards the end of class, he worked with me on my own rank material, so in the end, I got to help teach (and reinforce my learning of) most of the white/yellow belt material as well as my own rank material.