Too many kids in HK spend their time playing video games or shopping
in malls and not making a relationship with the natural world, so I
convinced my superiors that a tremendous contribution to the future of
these kids, and the urban jungle in general, would be to take 17 of
them fly fishing in New Zealand and give them some reason to want to
preserve healthy, green natural places for life. So I get to take 17
kids to the North Island in March for a 5-day canoe/fly fishing trip
next March. :-)

They will all be newbies to ff...some will have done some spincast or
deep sea fishing, but I get to provide training from the ground up.
They all will be provided 5-wt travel rods, with good quality WF line
and all the basic acoutrements, courtesy of a good discount at LL Bean
(anyone know of a company that might _donate_ eqiopment?) I will be
meeting with them for 4 separate 1-hour sessions until mid February,
when we get to spend 4 hours together in one big block. After that, we
fly to NZ and to the river.

My question: what would be a good pace of ff lessons that would fit
into this timeframe? Its got to be the basics....just enough to get
them on the water, but not so much to overwhelm them.

I am thinking of the following:
Mtg 1) Introduce the gear, how to assemble and care for it, learn
basic knots (Imporoved Fisherman's for securing the fly, and Surgeon's
for replacing the tippet). Differentiate between types of flies
(dries, streamers, 'others'). Talk about C&R, pinch down some barbs.
Mtg 2) Brief demonstration of casting and nymphing, practice roll
casting (I think they will be more successful with this as beginners,
and it will work with nymphing better)
Mtg 3) Housekeeping meeting about what gear to pack.
Mtg 4) Brief lesson on how to read structure, introduce the phases of
growth of mayflies and stoneflies, have them look at some basic flies
(WB, GRHE, PT, copper john, upwing dry). Practice casting with meter
sticks and yarn.
Big meeting) Practice casting in the gym.

What do you guys think? And can anyone recommend any excellent online
resources I can show and link to on our trip webpage?

--riverman