Pecora Nera

True... when my son wanted to learn I went with him and we sat and watched one lesson. I wanted to see if the instructor was ok or not. because as you said some are a bit rough. Also when I learnt there was

No contact: you never actual hit the opponent you stopped the punch just before contact (waste of time in my humble opinion)

Semi contact: punch was controlled and in practise with pads. (good for kids and adults)

Full contact: padded up and learn to punch and block a proper punch. You need a really good teacher.

I practised semi and full.

indiebird

I'll look into Jujitsu.... I'm sure I've heard of that near here somewhere.... I can't help with pressure points.... I thought swear words would be enough....

Pecora Nera

Easypeezie..

1. Behind the earlobe where the jaw hinges.
2. Under the arm pit down about an inch.
3. Opposite the elbow in the join
4. two on the wrists
5 groin
6.where the nose joins the upper lip push up
there are lots and lots

Get him to gently push his thumb on and around the joints and in between certain fingers

Your probably sat there in front of you computer poking and pushing

Good luck with finding a class, there is normally more than one.

indiebird

How did you know what I was doing.....??

He came home all happy today.... apparently Silvia (his walking home companion) had told him some secrets:

1. When they say they will get you outside school they never do, it's just to make you think they are tough.

2. They think they are tough but they are really scared that you might really be better than them.

I'm sure I said the same thing yesterday.........

37100

aw, puppy love.

indiebird

He says not but they walk home every day together and I am banned from going to collect him.....

Pecora Nera

Like I said earlier I used to hang around and chat to the girls when I was at school.. One day I mentioned that two boys were waiting for me outside the school gates. I wasn't too worried as I normally managed to talk my way out of stupid fights. Anyway Joella and Teresa followed me out of school. As the pushing and shoving started ( I was very short when I was at school so the boys were almost a head taller but my age) Joella lost her rag and stormed in. She punched one of the boys in the eye, as he fell over she threatened the other with a bloodied nose.

End of fight
Girls 1
Boys 0

The lad turned up next day with a beautiful shiner.. I always thought girls scratched and slapped but Joella threw a beautiful punch.

indiebird

Girls can be really vicious!! I remember..... I used to go and split up fights when I was in the fifth year of school.... never a fifth year fight between girls though. I had quite a reputation as a pacifist....

Pecora Nera

You have started me thinking about schools. Our school was huge. Each year was made up of 7 classes each with 30 or 32 kids and 5 year groups excluding the sixth form and upper six.

Thats 1050 kids and about 60 in the six form. And across the road was a second school that was almost as big.

The two schools opened and closed twenty mins apart to stop rivalry and to help the buses to cope.

When I hear my OH say that they have trouble with the kids in the school here and they only have class sizes or 20 or under plus sometimes a sustanio teacher I bite my tongue.

indiebird

We had 5 classes per year of at least 30 if not 32 at my school.... No sixth form by the time I got there as you went to sixth form college. The schools where you are sound small. My kids go to the 'tempo pieno' school in the instituto.... 25 in my daughters class which I think is capacity and 23 in my son's class at the media.... they can have up to 27 but this is the first year they've had to form four classes instead of three....

Pecora Nera

The first year that my wife was here she taught at the local village school. None of the classes were bigger than 8 and she had two classes of 3 kids !!!

Lorna at Vicenza

Oh help! Teenagers.

When I was at school I thought we were pretty good - as in well behaved - we were scared of detention though ...... we also had decent enough equipment and grounds and sports fields etc.
In the 6th form we had a lower 6th and an upper 6th common room. In the common room we had a few old armchairs and sofas and a few tables and a fridge, kettle, toaster and radio cassette player. If we had a free hour we were encouraged to go and study in the library. Mostly we went to the common room where some drank tea - some 'chickory shit' coffee (the nickname for really cheap coffee at the time) and sometimes we actually did study or exchange notes.

Now that I am again working with teens here I have seen that nothing changes from one school to another. The liceo is as depressing as the istituto professionale.

Classrooms are bare, blackboards are either too small fixed to the wall like a picture or too small on a stand. There is no clock in any classroom. There is no work or class projects on the walls. No lockers anywhere (I knew that anyway). No coat hooks on any walls. Kids drape or dump anything over chairs or in the middle of the classroom.

One lesson I did with various classes this week (at teacher's request - not my idea) was all about modal verbs. How do you make modal verbs a bit of fun? I told each class that for one day, and one day only they could decide and rewrite the school rules for both students and teachers. It was enlightening at times and predictable.

Predictable was : Students can eat/drink/smoke in school. Teachers will not give marks lower than 8.

Some of them came up with a few things that they'd like and some of which I did have at school and find it very hard to think that the students here think these are such impossible ideas:

Student computer club.
Student dance at end of year.
Student lounge/kitchen.
Library with internet or wifi.

The sad rules were :
teachers must smile more and be less hard.
teachers must not read newspapers in class (some teacher obviously does this).
Teachers cannot text or use mobile phones in class if we cannot.
Teachers must respect we are young and not their age.
Teachers would be better outside the classroom.
Teachers should be kinder.


Yes -it was a bit of fun for them -they know they'll never change the school rules. I found it a bit of fun and highly depressing.

My kids are still in elementary - and I can't promise them that school will get any better than what it is now.... and this is the time when school is supposed to be more fun for them ... if not fun - less bloody rigid.

Oh crap - I've just talked myself into depression. Off to get a drink.

giodafa

hmm.. but you are not Silvia

indiebird

Fricking heck Lorna!! I thought it would get better too..... In H's media class it's the blackboard on a stand.... I was in the queue for the English teacher in H's class on wednesday night looking at the peeling paint and the fact that there is nothing in there and the curtains are falling down and there's nothing on the wall..... and thinking 'jesus, are schools like this in the UK now?' I've got no idea anymore.....

indiebird

yes, I'm beginning to realise this.... and I'm not sure I like it! I'm presuming I will be the last to know when he does finally find a girlfriend...