Bully prevention. Bully prevention.

Last week, at the kids class, I asked the question that no child likes. "Is the hokey-pokey really what it's all about?" No. No. "Who here has ever been bullied?"

Not to my surprise, no one raised their hands. "Really? Never in your whole life? You guys must be lucky. I have been bullied, and I have done nothing wrong. Even your parents might've gotten bullied at work."

After having forcingly used examples from previous situations they have confessed before (some month ago), one or two kids finally raised their hands. My intention was to have them tell their situation and discuss as a group what to do next time.

Even after I have gave them some ingredients to use like stick with your friends/strength in numbers, ignore the problem/they'll get bored, or tell the teacher or an adult. Still they were hesitant about participating.

To assure all you-pointing-out-the-negatives, I have went over that it is 100% OK to use the defensive stance and retalliate if attacked and if the school has a problem about them defending themselves I will personally talk to the principal.

I have a class coming up and would like some tips for getting them to participate more. Thanks for replies.

Boy, I miss this gang.

I thought alot of schools have a "no tolerance" policy regarding violence. While I agree with your advice, telling a student that you will "personally talk to the principal"
will calm thier fears about self defense, You may want to call thier principal and ask what he would reccommend for self defense situations as an instructor.
Calling after the fact may be of no help to your students if the principal doesn't agree with your teachings/methods.
Just a thought

As far as parcipitation goes, play acting works great with kids.

i know when i was being bullied at first (before i snapped and sorted it out) I used to visualise the things that I wanted to say/do to the bullies.
Maybe to get them more into it, you could get them to vent their bottled up anger against a junior wavemaster, or striking shield. Let them give it what for, and no reprimand for swearing. You will get a much better idea of where their heads are at from this, and be in a better position to help ensure that they resolve their issues with minimum need of hitting more than a target in class.
Just a thought from an ex victim of bullying.

Dull!!!! Glad to see you back, bro. Been too long!

I agree with Cord's ideas of visualization/role-playing situations for kids. This gives them some understanding of what their reactions might be under different scenarios.

Zero tolerance is the norm where I live no matter who talks to the school. With that said, there is still a need to be able to defend oneself. But the physical defense is only part of it. There is whole bully culture and unfortunately it is up to the schools to address that issue.

As far as helping your students, I agree that role playing is a great way to help. Personally, I would devise a script for them to follow. This allows them to not have to "deal" with any real experiences they have had. It also allows you as the instructor to interject easily with things you want to cover.

Don't neglect verbal self defense. Diffusing the situation is always best. Awareness is important as well.

Here are some sights on bullying that I have used:

http://www.bullying.co.uk/
http://www.bullying.org/public/frameset.cfm
http://www.nobully.org.nz/advicek.htm
http://www.antibullying.net/
http://stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/index.asp?area=main

Dullblade, just a thought, but did it occur to you that their reluctance to open up, may be because their bully(ies) may also be present in the class?
Kids can be very calculating- suck up to you and say and behave correctly in your class, but be very different animals when not on such a tight leash.

Yikes, that's a disturbing thought. You're right, kids are smart and bullies would probably have little trouble blending in.

I advise watching their body language, but I'd rather you listened to a certified child psychologist.

It is proven that buillies are only builles cause they get aboused at their home for no reason.For exmpale.A bully's parents migh beat him up or yell at him/her for absoulte o reason and if they keep doing that usally.Then the kid wants to take his/her "anger on someone else and thus just bully someone smaller then them for no reason.Or cause they just wanna show off.

Don't know if that was usefull but still it might give yo some sort of idea