School Vacation Conversation

Monday was the first day back to school after a two week semester vacation, so I wanted to use some class time for the students to learn to answer this question, "What did you do on the holiday?" Like all good teachers, I modeled some possible answers to this question. "I went to the cinema," "I flew to Istanbul," "I rode my bicycle," "I made a snowman," etc. They could draw pictures and I could supply vocabulary if necessary. Things were going well. Students were speaking English and learning some new words and past tense. I was feeling pretty proud of myself.

Then, one of the cutest little second grade boys came to the chalk board, drew a picture of himself on a bed, drew a doctor, pointed to his private parts, and made a cutting motion with his fingers. Because he and his friends had already been discussing this event before the holiday break I knew where he was going with this picture. I had a quick mental debate with myself and realized he just wanted the English word for this very big life event. I remained calm and matter-of-fact and said, "Oh, you got circumcised."