MAY I RINATE?

By Marie Ernestine D Fajatin

Key point: we teachers need to try to see things from students’ point of view, as well as our own

The school year had just begun, and the classrooms were full of enthusiastic primary school children. Being in a new environment, everything seemed to be a delight to the small kids. Classes went on smoothly. Teachers and children went to their usual orientation of knowing-where-to-go when they need something. Places like the office, clinic, playground, library, and rest rooms were pointed out. Afterwards, formal lessons began. Everything seemed to be all right. These Cebuano children were acquiring the English vocabulary little by little and teacher was happy.

One particular day, a child came near the teacher and said, “Teacher, may I “rinate”? The teacher asked her to repeat what she had said. The child repeated her question, “Teacher, I said I want to rinate”. The teacher tried to correct her by saying “No, do not say ‘rinate’, say ‘urinate.” The child said, “No, Teacher, not you rinate, I rinate.”

That made the teacher’s day! After a good laugh, she taught the child the correct expression by asking her this question: “Do you say “niform” for this? (pointed to the child’s uniform) “or do you say uniform?” The child answered, “Uniforn, teacher”. “Son,” the teacher said, “you say uniform and urinate, not just “rinate”. The child, with a big smile, said “Yes, teacher may I urinate?” But it was too late, the child had already urinated.