Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Smelly Kid I guess I am still considered a novice teacher because I have been teaching for four years only. I am an elementary school teacher who teaches in a mostly White suburban setting. Couple of weeks ago a new student joined my classroom. He and his parents recently moved from Eastern Europe. His father works at the local university as a music professor. I am not sure what his mother does. He is a wonderful child. Although he speaks little English, he tries to participate in class activities and to make friends with others in the classroom. Couple days after he arrived, I noticed a strange smell around him. I was sure that it was body odor. The other students in the classroom started noticing it too. They started making fun of him. I learned in my multicultural classes when I was at the university that not all cultures promote taking showers everyday, and that body odor is not considered a problem everywhere in the world. Now I have a big dilemma. If I tell my student about it, I might embarrass him. If I sent a note to his parents, I may appear disrespectful toward their culture. But the way he is treated in the classroom by the other students is becoming a real problem. What should I do? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) I would first research the culture of the student to see if in fact odor is not an issue in that country to make sure I did not offend the student or the parents when I talk with them. If it is a cultural issue I would invite the school nurse to come in and have a lesson on hygiene for all the students. I would also speak to the parents and explain how in our culture body odor is not accepted very well. I find in my classroom that there are usually 2-3 students that have issues with body odor, especially the ones that mature faster, so it would benefit the entire class to hear a lesson. Our nurse is very empathetic and keeps "hygiene goody bags"that she can send home with students once she talks with parents. She makes a touchy subject easier to deal with. I would also invite the school counselor to come in and do a lesson on respect and differences in cultures around the world. I would also suggest the counselor do a little role playing to help the students see how they look and how the one being made fun of feels. I think it would give them a different perspective. Since I have pets in my class, I would use that as a way to talk about what happens when we don't clean the habitat and bathe the animals. We could do a compare and contrast lesson on hygiene of our pets and ourselves. That would be great I think.