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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!) This is definitely a difficult situation to be in because of course you do not want to seem insensitive to their culture. Since this is an elementary aged students I'm not sure that talking to him directly would be appropriate because he might misinterpret that he has done something wrong. Instead, I would try approaching the parents in a face to face conference. I would gently explain to them the situation of the other students noticing the smell and responding to it. Explain that you respect their decisions and their culture but you wanted to at least make them aware that this may have an adverse social affect. Explain the efforts you have made to remind students that teasing is not acceptable in the classroom and then allow them to make a decision from there. Hopefully they will make an effort to help their child be fresh at school everyday. |
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