Unfortanitaly for me, there is no short answer to this question.
I teach Modern Arnis and what I call "Combative" Martial Arts. I say "combative" because I do include elements of other systems that I've learned, such as Bando or submission wrestling. As a rule, however, what I teach must be directed towards combat, hence the name "combative." In other words if I am teaching my students how to fight from the "guard position," I'm not teaching them the most effective method of winning a NHB match; I am instead teaching them how to end it quickly so they can survive if ever caught in that position on the "street".
I don't run a large program, and I am not a career martial artist, but I have had quite a few students come to me for different reasons from time to time. Most of my students are there to learn "self-defense," and they don't train with me for a long time. They learn what they need to learn, and then they move on.
Luckily for my self defense students, the class is mostly "Modern Arnis," which (contrary to what many may believe) is NOT a "stick-fighting" system. Modern Arnis was intended to teach "Self-Defense" to anyone; men, women, children, soldiers, civilians, etc. Granted, the base from which Professor Presas created Modern Arnis was from a stick fighting system, but he had many other influences that made Modern Arnis what it is today. So it is important to note that Modern Arnis wasn't originally intended to make you into an "expert stick dueler" or "knife fighter," even though many accomplished Modern Arnis instructors have taken their modern arnis into these directions.
So in using Modern Arnis with elements of other combat systems, I am able to effectively facilitate the needs of my students. I accomplish this in a method that is very unique from other Modern Arnis instructors.
I start off by teaching the student to strip away from what they have been conditioned by their environment; to get them to tap into their primal instincts. In civilized society, people are conditioned by television, peers, and things that are around them that tell them that this is how you "fight." Think back to high school (everyones watched a fight when they were in high school before). One kid puts his hands up in tight little fists, squares off his stance, and rigidly punches. This is what he "thinks" he is "supposed" to do in a fight. Then if he is fighting against another kid who is on the wrestling team, the wrestler tries a double led takedown because that is what he's been conditioned to do. Or perhaps he's up against a larger football player who tries to tackle him, as he has been conditioned. Lets say the tackle doesn't take the rigid punching kid down, so the kid decides to pull the football players shirt over his head (because he watched that on the hockey game last week).
The list of examples go on, and we've all seen these examples. High school brawls are usually not life or death situations, however. The person who is going to survive a life or death situation by a means other then sheer luck or Gods grace isn't going to be the person who relies on enviromental conditioning, unless that person has had years of training and is an expert martial artist (and even then that is questionable). The person who is most likely to survive will be the person who can empty their heads, and react using their primal instincts.
I instill the idea of stripping environmental conditioning away through the basic modern arnis excersises and drills in class. It's not the drills that are important, it is the method in which they are taught. Most martial arts instructors want to teach there students the "correct" way, which is the way they feel is the most effective way of defense. I want my students to find there own way. I strip them down to nothing except what they where born with, and I get them thinking in terms of "this way may be more effective for me then that way" instead of "this way is correct, and the only way." They find their own way and learn to use their instincts first.
I also have some drills of my own that I incorporate, as well as exercises that they can do to help better their abilities to use instinct. An example of such a drill is "the ball drill" to teach them how to block and parry. I have all the newer students stand in a line, and I have a soccor ball. The rules are that they have to prevent the ball from hitting their head or body WITHOUT CATCHING THE BALL (environmental conditioning says that when a ball is thrown at you, you catch it). Then I bean the soccor ball at them, and try to catch them off guard. Their reactions are ruff, but usually identical to how they will have to move to parry an attack. They are able to hone their instincts because I am catching them off guard, and because they aren't allowed to do what they would be enviromentally conditioned to do which is "catch." From that drill we maybe go to block and counter, and from there the student can improve there methods. You get some interesting developements from drills like these; once I had a student pick up a bag and use it as a shield. Picking up an object to use as a deflector would be highly effective against an edged weapon.
As I have said, Most martial arts classes try to teach you the best way of doing a technique. People who only need to defend themselves don't have (or want to spend) the years it takes to learn the "best way". By teaching them how to strip themselves of their environmental conditioning, then allowing them to build from there, they can take it as far as they want to go.
When the instincts are developed, and they decide that they want to learn Modern Arnis as a system; then I start taking them through the WMAA curriculum. I find the curriculum to be the best way to take a student through the entire system.
In terms of what they start off with; "it's all da same' (to quote Professor Presas). Obviously there are differences with each weapon, and the empty hand, but most of the concepts are fundamentally the same. So it does not matter whether a student starts off with the stick, knife, sword, soft weapon, or empty hand first. If they hang around, they will eventually come full circle as they continue to hone their natural abilities.
In a ruff manner, this is how a I organize my teaching.
PAUL