A Teacher Explained to Deaf Students That People Can Hear Farts and Their Reactions Were Priceless

“Why are they looking at me?” That’s what one first grader asked teacher Anna Trupiano, moments after he let out a loud fart in the middle of class. The boy, one of the deaf students at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School in Washington, D.C., didn’t understand what was going on, so Trupiano patiently explained to him that farts aren’t silent. She shared the conversation, which took place entirely in American Sign Language, along with the six-year-old’s hilarious reaction in a Facebook post on October 26.

Describing the students as “totally horrified” when they learn that other kids can hear farts (one even says “TELL THEM TO STOP LISTENING TO MY FARTS!”), Trupiano reassures them that the bodily function, while not silent, is totally normal. And, to their hysterical laughter, she admits that yes, even she farts.

Things get even funnier when one deaf student asks if hearing people can see farts, too, claiming “green smoke comes out of their butt, I saw it on TV.” Trupiano, of course, tells them that’s not true, to which the first grader responds, “What?! Ugh. I don’t understand farts.”

While the boy’s reaction is priceless, Trupiano hopes people realize that the message behind it is something much bigger. “The real issue is that many of my students aren’t able to learn about these things at home or from their peers because they don’t have the same linguistic access,” she says, adding, “I would love to see a world where my students can learn about anything from anyone they interact with during their day.”