Last summer, my students were fascinated with union suits, the one-piece undergarment. We were getting ready to visit the Minnesota History Center, where a display featured a Minnesota-based company that got its start as a producer of union suits. We previewed the museum’s collection online. The students were quite taken with the red wool outfit with the “trapdoor” over the rear end.
“You mean, people used to wear that under their clothes?”
“Yes,” I replied. “You have to remember that this was before people had good heat in their houses. Maybe people didn’t take that underwear off all winter.”
“Nooo!” they cried. “That’s nasty!” I laughed, but told them, “This is what people did to stay warm. How do you stay warm?”
That question is hard to answer for my students. Almost all of them are adults who come from hot climates, places like Somalia, Ethiopia, Mexico and Thailand. They enjoy Minnesota’s hot, sticky summers but suffer a lot during the snowy months, which can stretch from November to April. Students come to school wearing sandals and T-shirts during the winter or they stop coming to class altogether. When I call their houses to ask where they’ve been, the reply is always the same: “It’s too cold to go outside, teacher. We’ll come back when it’s warm.”
Every winter, staff members collect coats, hats, mittens and scarves to give to our students and their families. Many times, the students take the coat, smile and thank us. We never see them wear it. “I don’t like how coats feel,” the students say. “It’s too big,” they say. “You’d rather be cold?” I ask, and they shrug in reply.
Because the students were so fascinated by the union suits, I brought in all the clothes that I wear to keep warm in the winter. “These are called long johns,” I explained. “You wear them under jeans. And I wear a shirt like that too.” I showed them my winter jacket, a big three-in-one zippered affair. “This is the best coat for Minnesota,” I said, demonstrating the zippers that let me take the coat apart. “The fleece part you can wear in September and October when it starts getting cold. The shell is waterproof, so you can wear that part in March and April as a rain jacket. And then when you put all the pieces together, it’s really warm in December and January.”
As an English language learner (ELL) teacher, I focus so hard on teaching the language to my students that I need to remember to teach the culture. My students were very curious about the heavy underwear because it is a vital part of adapting to a new climate and culture. This lesson challenged some assumptions that I had made—namely that students would instinctively know how to dress in cold climates, even though no one had taught them. Thinking about it now, I can really laugh about it. If I found myself in a different culture, how would I know what people wear under their clothes?
Anfinson is an ELL civics teacher in Minnesota.
Links:
[1] http://www.tolerance.org/author/brenda-anfinson