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What's In A Name?

6/18/2016

2 Comments

 
Today guys and gals it’s all about names.
 
I have a confession to make. I’m not proud of this, but I feel it is important that you know. So here goes. Sometimes, just sometimes, I can’t remember some of my students’ names. Now I’m not talking about the students I see every day. No. I’m talking about the students I see once a month or once every two months etc.

I see them walking toward me and suddenly a feeling of dread rises up inside of me. What can I do? I frantically search the recesses of my mind. I come up empty. I quickly backtrack. Hold on a minute - do I have any students without names? Am I in luck? Is this that one poor anomaly whose parents decided they didn’t need to name their little bundle of joy?

Sadly, no.  This person has a name – I just can’t remember it (grr). Defeated, and with no way out, I’m left with only one option. I look that student right in the eye and I say (in my happiest of voices to cover for my patheticness) – “Hey buddy. How are you?”

What a total cop-out. This student deserves more than that. And from now on, I will try and be more than that. I will try to remember every student’s name, not just the names of the students I have frequent contact with, but every student.

(Yeah, I'll even try to remember the hard to pronounce ones. Just like this dude does.)

How about you? Do you strive to remember each and every student’s name? Do you think that your students deserve more than just generic greetings because you can’t remember (or can’t be bothered to remember) their names? Do you think that all of your students should be treated with care and respect? Of course you do. And showing this care and respect can be as easy as using the student’s name when you greet him or her. Simple as that!
 
That little rant concludes this post. I hope you got something out of it.

Have a great day,
 
Josh

Keep English Real
2 Comments
Theo
7/2/2016 01:51:08 pm

Good topic Josh, however, I think that most teachers already know that it's important to remember their students' names. I try to learn all my students' names as quickly as possible, but when you might see 50+ students each week the chances are that you're going to forget or confuse their names occasionally. Perhaps you could provide some tips on remembering names, e.g., names cards for the first week, mnemonic devices, etc.

Reply
JoshEsl
7/4/2016 09:32:50 am

Thanks for the comment Theo,

I agree with you that most teachers know we should learn our students' names, but sadly many don't make a conscious effort to do so, especially when they are teaching in an environment where the language is very different to English (probably because it is often more difficult for native English speaking EFL/ESL teachers to remember “foreign” names).

Based on your post I have put together a short list of ideas to help you remember names more easily. I hope they help.

1. Have the students sit in the same seats for the first few weeks. This should help you match names with faces.
2. Have the students say their name each time before they speak. (E.g. I’m Josh and I think the answer is…).
3. Use your students' names as often as possible.
4. When you call on a student just be honest and tell them you can’t remember their name but you are trying to learn. Then ask them to tell you their name. Then use their name when you are talking to them in the future.
5. Involve all your students in a quiz to see who can remember the most names (this idea can only really be done in the first one or two classes before all the students know each other).
6. Name tags.
7. Play a game of memory. Each student writes their name on a card and places it face down on their desk. As you call each student’s name correctly the card gets flipped. If the name is wrong the card stays face down.

I hope these 7 tips help you.
Josh

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