The last school I taught at had a high percentage of immigrant and refugee students. This meant that many graduation ceremonies were cringe-worthy. Despite practice and notecards with phonetic hints, the administrator butchered the names of the majority of students. One year was particularly heinous. Not only did the announcer butcher most names, he did so multiple times in an attempt to get them right. That year, I [...]
Creating a community in your classroom is so much more than just pronouncing names correctly. But if that is where you are most comfortable beginning, then that is a good place to start. Community. It sounds easy, but you know it will be more challenging. One of the reasons creating community is so complicated is that the definition of community changes for each class, each semester, and each [...]
NameBadge is my favorite feature on NameCoach. It is a fun and free way to express your identity as an individual. It also makes a great presentation for the beginning of school year or as an attachment on a professional profile (like LinkedIn) or social media. After registering, follow the three easy steps to create your own badge. First, record your own name in your own voice. You [...]
When it comes to building relationships with students, learning their names is an essential first step for teachers at any level. This is especially important for teachers to build an inclusive classroom environment and to show respect for the diversity of their students’. It is logical that learning names and saying them correctly are important aspects of creating a sense of belonging in the classroom. But why is [...]
Last night, I was talking with my friend, Olga. She shared that all through school, teachers never pronounced her name correctly. When I told her I just so happened to be writing an article about this, she got very serious. “Do you think it’s important?” I responded that it is extremely important because a name is an integral part of a person’s identity. At One Extreme Mispronouncing or [...]