I was teaching Literacy and our blends for that week were ‘tr’ and ‘tw’.  The children were giving me words that begin with ‘tr’ first.  We wrote the words on the board together and drew a little picture to go with it.  We then moved on to words beginning with ‘tw’.  And I still got suggestions like ‘train’ and ‘tree’ (rolling eyes). 

One particular girl was very excited and was waving her hand in the air and jumping up and down and saying ‘I know!  I know!’  I thought she was going to explode if I didn’t choose her to tell us her ‘tw’ word. 

So I asked her, ‘What’s your word?’

She replied, ‘Twat!’

I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry…  I looked at her for a second and asked, ‘What does that mean?’  And I braced myself.

She said, ‘You know…’  And she made a funny face – similar to the one below.

Symbolising a crazy person?

I responded by saying, ‘I’ve never heard that word.  Sit down.’

I thought I was going to die!