Noah's Sword lesson

Today we went to the brown playground with trike, wagon, and sword. A Cardboard sword that I soaked in water and shaped while wet and then let the kids paint them. So it looks like all the colors of the rainbow and black in splotches, on the blade. In the picture posted on Facebook, Noah is holding the sword incorrectly. Snice it isn't a real sword you have to explain which end is "pretend sharp" and which end is the not sharp or "pretend sharp" either.
The sword is a single sided sword or "Do."

Anyway,
Noah was telling everyone that the wagon was his but that they could all use it and that he would pull the wagon for them. He then pulled the sword, and seemingly without anyone asking, proceeded to give a sword lesson.

"This is the blade," he pointed, " and this is the flat part," he gestured, " And you can use your hand to fold this part to block like this HA!" And he demonstrated blocking a downward blow from above.
Then he put the cardboard sword back in the wagon and I think the kids just threw it on the ground.

I was laughing though because they were all standing there listening. Less like little students and more like little followers in his pirate gang. I enjoyed Noah's little lesson because first of all, he obviously was listening to me when I told him about all that, and has retained that information.

Also, maybe I should teach Kung Fu like that. Instead of saying all wonder eyed the way you talk to children, or even work out instructor announcer style, "Hey! Do you want to learn some Kung Fu?"

Maybe I should just randomly, like a child, start showing Kung Fu the way Noah did.
"This is a pow, and you can do it like this, you hit with this part of you hand to strike upward like THIS! Hai!" You know?

I also realized that that is how kids and maybe even adults like to be shown a move, or perhaps how to use a tool. In a non formal manner. In fact all of Sifu's real lessons were done after class in this manner. It was less training and more story telling and then demonstration. Actually a lot like we were all his Pirate Crew. Maybe that' why men liked that style more. (I was always anxious to get back to practicing. Especially since I had to be the translator both ways. Which made it less like a Pirate Crew. Although I enjoy it a lot more when he gives the same lessons to a Chinese Audience. There is no pausing  for translation that way.)


Anyway, I'll give an American example of this. Some neighbor of my grandmother in Philadelphia decided along with my mom, that he would take me around and show me how to be a man, sort of thing. Play catch, and at one point he turned to me while we were driving and said, "You know what to do if you get in a fight? Punch them in the nose. You know how to punch someone in the nose right? If you punch someone in the nose you aim for the back of their head." I have actually, to this day, never punched someone in the nose. Not on purpose anyway. Not full force, and not with an ungloved hand. Well not that I can remember. So the point of this story is actually more about how people tend to tell other people how to fight.

When you teach a Kung Fu class you often start with just the motions and only after seeing kids holding their fists wrong did I start making "how to hold a fist" part of the lesson and even which part of the fist to hit with. This was part of the lesson for Pows and Cups because these aren't "normal" punches. But we forget that for most kids, unless they have been punched and punch other people, or watch a lot of punches on tv etc etc. A punch is a weird motion.

Also if you teach Kung Fu and it's technique after technique after technique, it's a lot to remember. Just one application is good enough. Not just one a day. I mean with three applications among your Pirate crew, plus some drilling but mostly EXPERIENCE, that's all you really need. And if you don't have the experience, then obviously you don't really need the moves for that purpose.

Of course there is still value in the whole drills and led workout thing for group solidarity and stuff like that. In Asia a lot of stores start the day with non combative calisthenic type stuff just to psyche everyone up. Think about Mulan and "Let's get down to Business!"

Even if they don't use those moves in real combat, it doesn't matter. It's important to go through that training to bond with one another. And that's what the whole "class" thing is really for, especially if you are an adult looking for motivation to get in shape as well as an escape into a Pirate Crew world that is different from you daily grind office life.

But in order to learn how to use the moves, it's fun to be hanging out Yo ho ho ing, or just chilling at a playground and having someone who "knows" show you how to use a move. The application can be so basic, just like Noah's lesson. But then you have to do it in a cool and spirited way to drive the point home. And then that should be it. Not another lesson, but just off to other lands (or parts of the playground) in or wagon/pirateship/spaceship.