Yesterday, I was offering martial arts classes to around 60 kids as part of the Kids Power Conference 2013. kids power Conference is jointly coordinated by Strathcona Community Centre, Learning Disabilities Association Vancouver and VSB community School Team with Telus being the major sponsor.
There is a major difference between those with intellectual disabilities versus those with learning disabilities. Intellectual disabilities can be medically diagnosed and their sport activities are fully supported by Special Olympics. Those with learning disabilities are often regarded as kids with behavioral problems or those don’t want to learn or those that are loners.
The assumption that everyone learns and makes connections in the same way just isn’t true. People with learning disabilities have problems remembering, understanding and/or communicating in the usual ways. As a result, they can have difficulties at school or at work. They can have problems with their families or in relationships. Their difficulties sometimes make them feel very anxious, discouraged or angry. They may also feel ashamed or embarrassed, or try to hide their frustrations. People with learning disabilities are often misunderstood.
At the conference, the kids aged 11-13 are divided in 5 groups of 10 to 12. Each group have 3 mentors/leaders that came from St George High School. Throughout the day, each of the team go through one-hour sessions of different activities ranging from art, Yoga, hip hop, circus to martial arts. The idea is to get them to socialize, engage and experience.
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Most kids think of martial arts as self defense, most expect me to teach them how to punch and kick. Some were play fighting or doing some ‘karate kid’ or ‘monkey style’ moves before the session even starts.
We don’t hand a knife over to someone we just met is exactly the same reason why I don’t teach them how to punch / kick or attack. Furthermore, some of these kids are from the inner city environment and have seen enough of the street.
My goal was to introduce them to something practical with an expanded view of ‘self defense’. I like to think of it as the “science of movement with a purpose” – martial arts minus all the cultural baggage.
I started the class with simple mobility – the common thread amongst all styles of martial arts. I get them to respond to commands like “freeze” and change of direction. To able to ‘listen and see’ is very important – just like when they cross the road, if someone yells “WATCH OUT”, they can’t keep waddling along at their own tempo, they need to respond right away. Getting the message across sets the tone of the whole class – listening is indeed part of self defense (as well as to learning).
I taught them how they can use their body effectively to find strengths and possibilities that they didn’t realize they have. For dramatic effect to create the learn-able moment, I often pick the smallest person or the biggest person to help demonstrate. Furthermore, I did little experiments to let them see why the brain is so important and why practice / repetitions are so important. I also showed them how relaxing can be a more effective solution at times.
Except for 3-4 kids, I have successfully captured their attention throughout most of the time. The mentors, most taller and more buff than I am, also get to experience the ‘power’ of the gentle way. The biggest compliment afterwards is that I saw some of the kids try to show what they just learned to others.
Exercise
Did you (or do you) have a subject / class / teacher / coworker that you had problems with? How did you deal with it then? If you have to re-live that again, do you think you now have the ability to deal with it differently? How?