Handling Vomit In A Classroom
The best part is I had to teach the class how to clean it up.
Here's the story...
~~~
It happened when I was reliving a Form 1 Moral class.
I was busy with my work while a group of students were laughing & joking with each other.
One of them paused to talk a long drink of water.
But before she could finish, her friends told another joke!
She laughed with a chunk of water in her mouth & choked on the water.
The result was a gag effect & semi-digested lunch on the floor.
Initially, I ignored the sound of splashing fluids.
However, I grew curious when the fluids didn’t stop flowing!
I thought to myself, "that doesn’t sound like a mouth of water."
I looked up to find a red-faced girl with vomit all over the floor & especially on her pinafore.
All her friends were just staring at her. Unsure of what to do.
They were staring for a long... long time...
"Does anyone have tissue?" I asked.
Their eyes slowly moved from the vomit-covered girl to focus on me.
Then, they stared blankly for a while before, one by one, they started looking for tissue.
After giving away some tissue, they continued to stare quietly at the poor girl.
"Take her to the toilet," I told a girl.
Then, the monitor & two other girls took the afflicted girl to the toilet.
I went back to my work and waited for someone to take the initiative to clean the vomit up.
But no one did anything.
They just did what girls are best at… talking about problems.
I took a look at the puke. Not much of it.
So I decided to do what men are best at… solving problems.
I walked out of the classroom in search of dirt.
I found it & brought a dustpan to scoop it up.
As I was returning with the dirt, three very familiar girls ran out of the toilet with a bucket & a mop.
I smiled as I thought to myself, “what they want to do is so wrong!”
"STOP!" I yelled as I entered the room.
The girls were just about to start mopping the raw vomit.
I silently walked towards the puke and spread dirt on it.
I needed to dry it first as well as neutralise its stench.
I waited for a while before, with the help of one student, I used two dustpans to scoop up the dirt.
After the dirt was all scooped up, I told the student to take it outside and dump it.
Right after she left the classroom, the girl dropped the dustpan & gave out a loud squeal.
I looked & shook my head thinking, "大小姐 (city girls)..."
She had spilled some on the ground & was afraid to pick it up.
I wanted to wait for the dirt to dry up a bit before sweeping it & then moping the floor.
But my period was ending & another teacher will be coming so I told them to start mopping.
A student came up, dipped the mop into the bucket, took it out & was about to start mopping before I stopped her.
"Does anybody know how to use a mop?" I asked the class and got blank stares in return.
gosh~~ I forgot I was talking to Malaysian school girls.
I asked someone to translate to Mandarin.
Then, they understood and started pointing to a few of the students to their chagrin.
"What do you do when someone vomits?" I asked the class.
I wanted to teach these Chinese girls some English & this was a rare opportunity.
I got them to repeat certain phrases with me &, to check that they understood, I got them to reproduce the phrase in Mandarin.
In the end, these 小公主 (little Chinese princesses) not only learned how to clean vomit up...
They also learned how to use a mop!
Yahoo for their future husbands!
How to clean vomit?
1. Apply dirt on the vomit
2. Scoop the dirt up
3. Wait for the dirt to dry
4. Sweep the remaining dirt
5. Mop the affected area
How to use a mop?
1. Dip the mop into a pail of cleaning solution
2. Dry the mop by squeezing it or twisting it
3. Spread the strands of the mop out
4. Mop the affected area
5. Stop when the mop begins to smudge
6. Repeat from Step 1
