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revenaWe're having a rank test today at the dojang. Jimmy's going to be testing for his green belt, and a bunch of my assistant teachers will be testing or pre-testing for one belt or another. There're also plenty of lowerbelt kids who will be testing. One of these is this little boy - I think he's nine? Ten? - named Dominic.
Dominic is one of those kids that you both love and hate to have as a student, because he's so OMGENTHUSIASTIC all the time. He's constantly vibrating with excitement during the middle of a class, waving his hand madly in the air and saying "Miss! Miss Flemings!" until I finally call on him and can answer his extremely important questions. These are usually questions like:
* What do you do if you're fighting one guy, and two other guys jump you?
* Can you actually kill someone by punching them in the head? Because I saw that in a movie, and I didn't know if that was true.
* Can you break your arm doing that? Because I bet if the other guy blocked hard enough, maybe your arm would break.
He's a cute kid, and reasonably skilled. He has a little trouble focusing, especially on the parts of class he finds boring (forms!), but he's no worse than any other student in that regard. My main trouble with teaching Dominic, to date, has been that I have a hard time getting him to just be quiet and do the exercises, much of the time. I can usually bully the other students into paying attention for ten-minute stretches, at least, but Dominic doesn't seem to find me naturally intimidating the way most kids do. When I give him quelling looks or snap out that if he can't focus for ten minutes, he can do push-ups for five, or whatever, it just slides right off him.
Dominic will be testing for his orange belt today, and he's been really worried about the board break. I've been reassuring him that it's quite easy, and that he's definitely strong enough - and he is. There's not a doubt in my mind that this boy will break his board, first try. It came out on Thursday that part of what he was worried about was the idea that he might hurt himself.
"Like, Miss, can you break your hand? Or like hurt your fingers, you know, if you don't do it right?"
"You're not going to break your hand, Dominic," I said. "The worst that can happen is that maybe you'll bruise your pinkie a little. But even that doesn't usually come up... I've only done it once, and that was on a brick break."
There was a pause.
"Miss... You break bricks?" Dominic said, eyes wide, mouth opening into the classic "O" shape of astonishment.
"Yes," I said. "You have to break a brick for your black belt test, and I'm a second degree black belt. You didn't know that?"
He shook his head, silently, still staring at me with wide eyes.
He was oddly well-behaved and focused for the rest of the class. It's too soon to tell, of course, but a small part of me is hoping that maybe the thought of broken bricks will succeed where threats of push-ups have not...
Dominic is one of those kids that you both love and hate to have as a student, because he's so OMGENTHUSIASTIC all the time. He's constantly vibrating with excitement during the middle of a class, waving his hand madly in the air and saying "Miss! Miss Flemings!" until I finally call on him and can answer his extremely important questions. These are usually questions like:
* What do you do if you're fighting one guy, and two other guys jump you?
* Can you actually kill someone by punching them in the head? Because I saw that in a movie, and I didn't know if that was true.
* Can you break your arm doing that? Because I bet if the other guy blocked hard enough, maybe your arm would break.
He's a cute kid, and reasonably skilled. He has a little trouble focusing, especially on the parts of class he finds boring (forms!), but he's no worse than any other student in that regard. My main trouble with teaching Dominic, to date, has been that I have a hard time getting him to just be quiet and do the exercises, much of the time. I can usually bully the other students into paying attention for ten-minute stretches, at least, but Dominic doesn't seem to find me naturally intimidating the way most kids do. When I give him quelling looks or snap out that if he can't focus for ten minutes, he can do push-ups for five, or whatever, it just slides right off him.
Dominic will be testing for his orange belt today, and he's been really worried about the board break. I've been reassuring him that it's quite easy, and that he's definitely strong enough - and he is. There's not a doubt in my mind that this boy will break his board, first try. It came out on Thursday that part of what he was worried about was the idea that he might hurt himself.
"Like, Miss, can you break your hand? Or like hurt your fingers, you know, if you don't do it right?"
"You're not going to break your hand, Dominic," I said. "The worst that can happen is that maybe you'll bruise your pinkie a little. But even that doesn't usually come up... I've only done it once, and that was on a brick break."
There was a pause.
"Miss... You break bricks?" Dominic said, eyes wide, mouth opening into the classic "O" shape of astonishment.
"Yes," I said. "You have to break a brick for your black belt test, and I'm a second degree black belt. You didn't know that?"
He shook his head, silently, still staring at me with wide eyes.
He was oddly well-behaved and focused for the rest of the class. It's too soon to tell, of course, but a small part of me is hoping that maybe the thought of broken bricks will succeed where threats of push-ups have not...
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-12 07:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-12 08:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-12 07:18 pm (UTC)Hey, I'm going to a toga party tonight and pretending to be Greek. I kind of want to wear one of those tunic things you wore to a fancy dress party instead, I should have thought to ask you how to make one earlier (then again, I think a toga is going to give me enough trouble).
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-12 08:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-13 02:19 am (UTC)And what's up with little kids telling me they are black belts in karate or tae kwon do, and I know I could beat them up with my pinky finger? That just seems wrong. Do you think in addition to forms, they ought to make higher ranking belts show some proficiency at defending themselves against a real opponent?
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-13 03:35 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-13 03:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-13 04:02 am (UTC)Of course, in ChaYon Ryu, you really can't get your blackbelt until you're fourteen or fifteen. And I think that makes a bit of a difference, there.