Recognizing Birthdays -- A Pinterest fail, PLUS a cultural faux pas! Yay, me!

   I am terrible at remembering to acknowledge kids' birthdays.  I can be looking at my birthday list two minutes before class starts, and then completely forget about it as soon as the bell rings and the beginning-of-class chaos ensues.  Solution?  Let the kids remember their own birthdays!  I created a birthday poster, using, of course, my favorite decor -- butterflies, inspired by this photo online: Butterfly Guestbook

     So on Back to School night, I had carefully labeled butterflies for all of my students with August and September birthdays.  At the end of the evening, a wonderful mother, originally from Central America, approached me and told me that the black butterfly symbolizes bad luck, or even death.  She very kindly pointed out that perhaps I did not want to pass along such wishes for my precious birthday kiddos. 

     Of course, I could have ignored her advice.  The color was a stylistic choice, and not a death wish, but I decided to make it a teaching moment for myself as well as for my kids.  We talked in class about how symbols can vary from culture to culture, and how being culturally intelligent, which is one of our goals in the world language class, involves being open to more interpretations than just your own.

     The black butterflies came down, and here is the replacement.  Much more colorful, and I have to say that I like it better.