Teaching Kids Kung Fu

We often say that teaching the pre-k kung fu classes are the most fun and yesterday was no exception. But one of our adult students began teaching for the first time yesterday and it reminded me of some wonderful benefits. I won’t say his name, but I will paraphrase what he said to me at the end of class, which was something like, “I think they are going to teach me a lot more than I am teaching them!” He was referring to patience, looking at things from the child’s perspective and that of their parents watching from the sidelines. Many of us speak to our children, teach our own children very differently from the way we would teach other kids. Often we expect more from our children than from others, but when placed in a roomful of youngsters of varying abilities and cognizance, we realize that as every child is different, we must often alter the way we teach each one and the way we interact with them. One child might throw a beautiful side-kick from the onset, while another appears to have a twitchy foot. The day that twitchy foot rises up an inch or two and has a tiny snap to it, the teacher recognizes that THAT is the best side-kick that child has thrown yet and yells “Alright! Way to go!” And this is one of the pleasures of teaching the little ones – seeing them grow in ability and self-esteem. Seeing that huge grin explode over their faces as you yell “That’s it!” and high-five them.

Our teachers volunteer their time and skill to teach and while the teachers of the older kids and adult students get the chance to really hone the material and know it inside and out, the pre-k teachers don’t get that particular benefit. The pre-k material only gets through about yellow belt before the kids are old enough to join the next class, so pre-k teachers only focus on the junior techniques and white and yellow belt material. BUT we have the chance, as that new adult teacher pointed out, to really develop our personal patience, joy of the moment and perpetual experience of childhood as seen through the eyes of the pre-k students. We get to be involved in helping young ones learn a sense of self, get comfortable with new things like material, balance, left and right, all of which lead to a child with confidence and self-pride. We become very observant as well, noting the child’s attention and interest levels, whether they are feeling frustrated or empowered, and if they are ready to take that twitchy foot to the next level. The kids are incredible, the parents are incredible to commit to bringing their children so regularly to class – as regular attendance helps them feel confident in their material (and therefore confident in class) and moving forward. Our volunteer teachers work jobs all day and come flying in at 4:45 to teach pre-k and most stay another hour or more to help teach the older kids too! That’s incredible!! And Saturday mornings when they could be sleeping in or outside, they are there at the school by 10:30 am to teach. Obviously they’ve realized what I paraphrased at the beginning, “the kids teach us a lot more than we teach them”.