Teacher Gifts: Dos and Don'ts

As many of you know, Heather just completed her first year teaching kindergarten English as a Second Language (ESL). Most of her students are recent immigrants ranging from all over the world, from Latin America to the Middle East to South East Asia. Such diversity is fertile soil for creating all sorts of "learning" moments for Heather. She learns about different cultures and countries all the time, and such experiences never fail to broaden her mind.
One such "learning" experience happened on the last day of school, which was last Tuesday (the 17th). As expected, on that day many of her kids brought her a gift to say thank you for being such a wonderful teacher. As most of the kids were leaving, one little boy (we'll call him Jeff) walked up to Heather all excited and handed her a small paper bag with tissue paper sprouting from the top.
"What's this, Jeff?" Heather asked excitedly. "Did you get me a gift?"
"You're going to like this, Mrs. W," Jeff responded, barely able to contain his excitement.
"Well let's see what's in here." And to Heather's great surprise, out popped two little lacy pairs of lingerie.
After blushing profusely and quickly slipping the undies back into the bag, Heather thought, "this must be some sort of mistake." Hoping for some explanation, she looked at Jeff, and then back to his mom, who was standing right behind him. Both faces wore sincere and expectant smiles. There was no embarrassment at all.
And that's when Heather had another "learning" moment. Apparently, in some Latin American cultures, lingerie is a great way to say "Thank you for educating my child this year." Sure beats apples and the assorted pack of smelly soaps, I say. More useful, too!