Job Discussion Forums

bigbadsuzie · Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 1:19 pm Post subject: On first name terms

How are you with this ?
In the work place its ok, but in the classroom?
From the get go I go out of my way to discourage my students to use my first name ,its Mrs Dogbreath or "Marm" and never "teacher" .I hate that too . My full name is there for all to see on weekly timetables festooned all over the place ,but not to use unless I happen to be conversing with a collegue .How dare those brats use my first name to address me ,just who do they think they are ?
We are told in our classroom management skills seminars to avoid confrontation with our students over even the smallest issue and name calling is among them .So how do you get around this problem ?Usually I just ignore the student who addresses me in that way but even though I tell them why I did so they still persist .What can be done ?Any useful ideas or strategies would be appreciated .

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

I work with adults so I only use first names. What I don't like is the Mr+ first name. Although kids do it all the time. Anyway I've been called much worse things in my lifetime.

lovelace · Joined: 26 Jul 2006 Posts: 190

Is it because they say Hanım/Bey to their Turkish teachers? Or do they call the Teacher? Are they little kids? Maybe they're confused...

howmucharefags · Joined: 30 Nov 2004 Posts: 299 Location: Eskisehir

Invent a nick name.....to my students I'm John Long Dong.

Faustino · Joined: 10 Sep 2004 Posts: 601

What were your parents thinking?

FGT · Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 762 Location: Turkey

I encourage my students to use my first name. It's better than "Teacher!" and I have an unpronouncible surname. "Hocam" is totally forbidden. Like dmb I also abhor the missuse of title+first name.

howmucharefags · Joined: 30 Nov 2004 Posts: 299 Location: Eskisehir

Listen bawbag student that's Mr Long Dong to you.....

misterkodak · Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 2:06 pm Post subject:

Doesn't this depend on the age of the student? I really hate being called "Mister ..... (first name here)". So, if I'm working with kids I pretty much let them know my name is "Mister misterkodak" and not "Misterkodak". It's best that you start it off at the beginning of the semester or course. "What's my name" I ask and twenty hands shoot up. "Misterkodak" they shout.. "No, My name is Mister Misterkodak! We aren't close friends, I dont play football with you, you don't come to my house for dinner!" It's pretty blunt and to the point.
With adults, I prefer them to use my first name. My surname is a bit difficult for pronunciation. I prefer teaching adults to babysitting rich kids in a "private educational institution". Most of the kids there need to be institutionalized but not at a kolej.
I still fail to understand why alot of ESL teachers here let their child students call them by their first name. It's like they enjoy being a clown or want to be one of the kids.

molly farquharson · Joined: 16 Jun 2004 Posts: 839 Location: istanbul

I think that it depends on the culture of the school, not what the teacher wants. Hocam is a sign of respect, as is teacher, so I think should be taken that way. using a teacher's first name may be uncomfortable for students, as they probably don't do it with turkish teachers. as someone posted, we are not their friends, but their teachers, and it is appropriate to use names as a sign of that, and also as a way of keeping the teacher-student distance. The answer to "what's in a name?" resides in status, respect, and cultural sensitivity. If all the teachers at your school go by first name, ok, but i think it should be followed by Bey or Hanim, as the case may be, certainly at the beginning. I'm older than just about all of you, and I remember when in Canada and the US professors, for example, were not addressed by their first names, until student power came along in the late 60s. Just a historical note for you youngies...

Otterman Ollie · Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 7:12 am Post subject:

The people I met at school and earned any respect from me were those people who looked and acted the part of a teacher .If it was a male ,he was addressed as "sir" ,nothing else,yes sir,no sir, three bags full sir, go piss up a rope sir .You didn't mess with these people .The females were another matter altogether ,they radiated veneom and spite and generally took great delight in humilating small boys and even young men .they were always addressed as " Miss Brown" or "Mrs Brown " depending on their status .Nowadays I rarely see that kind of crowd control outside a kolegi ,most of the people I have the bad luck to work with look like they belong in a dole queue or are part of the travelling community . The kids today have very little fear or respect for us these days ,thats because we do very little to earn it ,me included ,btw the kids call me "sir" never "teacher" its my job not my name .The first name nonsense is not even an issue.Kick as bbs!

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

Alexius · Joined: 20 Dec 2006 Posts: 14

I accept hocam. And I'll tell you why...

It's an honorific. 'Teacher' in no sense translates it; Mr/Ms [insert name here] certainly doesn't. Hocam implies deference, respect. A hoca has something to convey; a hoca has substance. A hoca has esteem.

Also, I greatly look forward to having Eş-Şeyh Hoca Bedi uz-Zaman Kantebrevi ******** i - Ingilizi Hazretleri Kaddesalla-hu sirrahu ve ila ruhi Al Fatihah engraved on my modest t�rbe in Ey�p when I croak.

Bey? Hanım? I'd beat them with a stick if they addressed me that way. Actually, I beat them with a stick as things stand, only I would beat them harder if they belittled me like that.

Smile

FGT · Joined: 14 Sep 2003 Posts: 762 Location: Turkey

I teach in an English language environment, therefore the term "hocam" (no matter how gratifying in other environments) is inappropriate. The students choose to translate it to "teacher" which I abhor, and also consider inappropriate - it wouldn't be used in the UK. They could call me "Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms + surname" but as previously stated my surname is not easy to pronounce (even by native speakers), therefore I choose to be called by my first name.
I can still demand and receive respect - they do not consider it the same to call me "first name" as it would be to call another teacher "Ayse" or "Deniz": all my names are foreign to them so the name I choose to use is part of the learning process for them. I can earn their respect in other ways.

If you think back to your schooldays; the teacher you called "Sir" may not have been the one you respected most. Respect is earned, not dictated.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

I teach in Saudi and it is off course a bit different. I will NOT accept 'Teacher. teacher" and insist on Mr + Surname. The first week or two I have to make an issue of this - some students never make the change.

And I too have colleagues who look like they sleep on the Embankment and sell 'The Big Issue'

tararu · Joined: 07 May 2006 Posts: 494

I got into a taxi about a while back, and he driver asked me what l was doing in Turkey, and l said that l was an English teacher at a language school here. He then went on to complain for about 10 minutes about how people address their teachers as hocam, and how only a teacher of religion should be addressed as such. When l got out of the car at the end of the journey, he absentmindedly said, "İyi akşamlar, Hocam".