This is a follow-on article to the article I posted two years ago with the same title “Tailoring Taiji Classes to Audience.” In this new article, I elaborate more on three types of Taiji students: Those with mobility handicaps, those with memory handicaps, and children. The key concept is how to teach Taiji to each of these groups so that they can keep their interest and concentration, and at the same time what they learn to do in class is beneficial to them. It turns out that a subset of the stretching and Qigong exercises that we usually do as warm up exercises to prepare the students’ bodies and minds to do Taiji are good exercises for these types of students, especially for the mobility-handicapped and memory-handicapped students. The challenge to attract children requires some additional tailoring and creativity.
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Tailoring Taiji Classes to Audience – II
“A Teacher’s Reflection: 2017 Peace and Reconciliation Asia Study Tour” by Lisa Wiater, English Teacher at Ridgewood High School, Ridgewood, NJ*
The 2017 Peace and Reconciliation Asia Study Tour [1] was a two-week immersion program created to learn about WWII history in Asia. It allowed me to gain knowledge that I could have never obtained by reading a book. As a public high school teacher, I firmly believe that study tours are an invaluable way to educate teachers, for the knowledge that is gained is spread to family, friends, colleagues, and of course, students. Read More »
Stages of Learning Taijiquan As a Martial Art
Taiji is both a martial art and a good health exercise for people of all ages. As a matter of fact, when it was first invented several hundred years ago, it was even more used as a martial art, e.g., to protect villages from bandits or as body guards for transporting people and goods. That is why Taiji is also known as Taijiquan, the fist of Taiji.
Just like learning everything else, be it learning to read, write, mathematics, riding a bicycle, cooking, drawing, playing a musical instrument, or playing soccer, there are several stages in the learning process, i.e., there are several skill sets one needs to learn. When one has learned a particular skill set, then one can proceed to learn a more advanced skill set, and it takes repeated practice to learn and retain a skill set. For example, in mathematics, one first learns the basic skill set of arithmetic, composing of skills of adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing. Then one learns the skill set of algebra, composing of skills of using variables, equations, and solving the equations. Then one learns the skill set of geometry, composing of skills of learning the relations between lines, shapes or figures, space and their various properties such as area and volume. Then one learns the skill set of calculus, composing of skills of learning to divide things into smaller and smaller parts (differential calculus) or adding smaller parts into larger parts (integral calculus). The learning continues to other skill sets, perhaps leading even to inventing new skill sets. Furthermore, the learning is not necessarily linear, i.e., one doesn’t have to finish learning one skill set before proceeding to learning another skill set.
This article describes the stages of learning Taijiquan as a martial art in terms of its basic skill sets.
Highlights of the 2017 Peace and Reconciliation Asia Study Tour
On July 14-27, 2017, a group of 17 people participated in a two-week immersion program to study WWII history in Asia. Ten are from the U.S., six are from Canada, and one is a Canadian citizen currently living in Hong Kong. WWII history in Asia is seldom taught in American or Canadian high schools with the result that Americans and Canadians in general know very little about that part of WWII history. The purpose of the Peace and Reconciliation Asia Study Tour is to increase the knowledge of the participants of WWII history in Asia, especially with respect to the massive and inhumane atrocities committed by the Japanese military on China, Korea, and other countries in Asia. Hopefully upon their return, they would help with the movement to establish peace and reconciliation by seeking justice for these atrocities. The purpose then is to learn about that part of history to help prevent those happenings from occurring again in the future anywhere on earth. The Asia Study Tour is sponsored by the non-profit educational organization New Jersey Alliance for Learning and Preserving the History of WWII in Asia (NJ-ALPHA). This article describes the highlights of the 2017 Asia Study Tour.
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