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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!) If you talk to the parents in the right manner, I can not understand how they would see you as disrespectful. NO parent would want to hear that their child gets picked on. Since the father is a college professor, he should be understanding of your concern, as he is a teacher himself. Explain to them that you do not allow the mistreatment of any student in your classroom and want it to end immediately. See if they offer any suggestions for what to do. If they do not appear to want to handle the problem themselves, it might be necessary to have a class discussion about respecting peers. I would also speak with those students who are mistreating the child and explain to them cultural differences. Explain that the child has no idea that body odor is seen as a bad trait in America. I would suggest that you try and build a good relationship with the student, then try and talk to him about U.S. culture; however, it is difficult for this to happen since he does not speak English. Try my first suggestions to begin with and see if that works. |
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