The thing is: when we teach body parts, why do we "skip" some parts as if they were forbidden? Why don �t we teach our students to say penis, for example? Why do we jump from the belly to the legs as if there was nothing in between? Do you teach your students verbs like �pee � and �poop �? I am asking this because I remember when I first went to the US as an exchange students and I once had to go to the bathroom to pee and I didn �t know how to say it and was too embarrassed to ask. And I left the country after more than one year and I still didn �t know.

What do you think?

 

When teaching body parts to children we usually use visuals and touch, so it seems obvious to me that we shouldn �t include some of the more private parts of the body, otherwise we will be bringing pornographic material into the classroom and �inappropriate actions � to say the least. Even the words pee and poop may be rude when translated into L1 or even into regular English, so again care should be taken.  Teaching questions like "May I use the toilet (bathroom)?" or "Where is the toilet (bathroom)?" are perfectly appropriate.  As to teaching more explicit vocabulary with older students, then I should say "Don �t!", unless your teaching medical people, students old enough to know can easily study these words on there own.

 

David

 

I think that if the majority of the people and population do not accept to show these parts of the body there is a reason for that

 

Some people consider these words "bad words"... maybe for you and your family there is no problem at all with them but it does not mean the rest of the people accept them and we as teachers have to act or teach as the majority thinks it is the correct.

 

If not, this would be a big problem

 

I agree with the other comments too.

 

With university students and adults it is also important to consider whether you are working with a single sex or mixed class and if it is a single sex class whether you are the same sex as the students.

 

One trick I discovered accidentally with adults is to give out outline pictures of the body without private parts and get the students to label them.  I have done this many times and most students will stick to arms, legs, eyes, ears etc. 

 

But on one occasion some adult female students drew private parts on the bodies themselves and then asked me after class for the English words.  That saved them the embarrassment of asking in front of their classmates and meant that more prudish students were not exposed to anything they found offensive.  I would have preferred them to ask a female teacher but there wasn �t one in the school. 

 

Another consideration is that I feel it is important that students are allowed to learn the vocabulary that is important for them to communicate their ideas and interests.  These may not necessarily be yours or those of the text book author.

 

It turned out that the reason for their curiosity was that they had, or wanted, western boy friends and felt they needed to know these words.  This is quite a common reason for adult women to learn English in China and also for Chinese university students to go abroad where they feel they will have more freedom to enter into sexual relationships than they do in Chinese universities.  In those specific circumstances I felt justified in giving the students  the correct medical terms for the intimate body parts.   But I repeat that I would never do it with under 18s or in a whole class setting.

 

I �m afraid that I can �t post the outlines for labelling on this site because I copied them from a textbook.  But suitable outline drawings are not difficult to find on the internet if you want to try this.