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!) My advice to you would be to continue to monitor the situation. I would speak to all of the students to remind them to treat others in the same manner they wish to be treated. I definitely would not initially say anything to the parents because they could very well take your concern out of context and become offended. If the situation worsens as you continue to monitor it, then I would carefully approach the parents. In approaching them, I would simply ask them to share some things about their culture, and in turn I'd share some things about US culture. Considering that the father of the student works as a professional at a local university, he should be able to handle the information and understand why your explanation of the information given was important.