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| Should teachers give Korean students English names? |
| No, absolutely not |
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35% |
[ 16 ] |
| Yes, for me it's necessary |
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15% |
[ 7 ] |
| Sometimes, depending on the circumstances |
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48% |
[ 22 ] |
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| Total Votes : 45 |
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Message |
flotsam
Joined: 28 Mar 2006
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 Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2006 1:29 am Post subject: |
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| Qinella wrote: |
Flotsam, my students call me by my first name. I don't like being called Teacher, nor do I like being a mister. Just Shane is good enough for me. Also, I admit, I like the way Koreans say my name. There's a subtle difference in the "sh" part, and it sounds cute. |
You asked for it.
I think it's more important for people working in the schools. If you were working for the Princeton Review or another test prep school(the only real hakwon equivalent back in the world) Shane, sure. But did you call your high school and middle school teacher byt their first names? I don't want my kids think they can call their professors and teachers by their first names when they go abroad. I also don't want to provide them with any, however slight, impression that will perpetuate the "real teacher/foreign teacher" dichotomy. Titles are important back in the world, and they are even more important here.
I always refer to my BA thesis advisor's opinion on the matter: When I had taken three or four classes with him and asked him to be my advisor, he told me to start calling him Mike instead of Professor Adas. I told him I appreciated it, but it wasn't necessary. And he told me that I could do as I liked, but one of the reasons he felt comfortable telling me to do so, was because I never assumed I could just use his first name like so many students, especially grad students, do these days. I still call him Professor Adas, and I have found that almost all of the students I have previously taught who are now graduated from high school still prefer to call me Mr. Sam even though I have given them permission to call me Flot. When I ask them why they do, they all usually say the same thing: "You're my teacher."
And for the peanut gallery out there, save me the "Well, if you need them to call you Mr. to gain respect, then..." spiel: I don't.
In return, I will spare you all my "Stop acting like you are 5 to 30 years younger than you are--you're out of the frat and all grown up now..." spiel. |
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crystal
Joined: 04 May 2006
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| Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2006 1:43 am Post subject: |
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| flotsam wrote: |
| Qinella wrote: |
Flotsam, my students call me by my first name. I don't like being called Teacher, nor do I like being a mister. Just Shane is good enough for me. Also, I admit, I like the way Koreans say my name. There's a subtle difference in the "sh" part, and it sounds cute. |
You asked for it.
I think it's more important for people working in the schools. If you were working for the Princeton Review or another test prep school(the only real hakwon equivalent back in the world) Shane, sure. But did you call your high school and middle school teacher byt their first names? I don't want my kids think they can call their professors and teachers by their first names when they go abroad. I also don't want to provide them with any, however slight, impression that will perpetuate the "real teacher/foreign teacher" dichotomy. Titles are important back in the world, and they are even more important here.
I always refer to my BA thesis advisor's opinion on the matter: When I had taken three or four classes with him and asked him to be my advisor, he told me to start calling him Mike instead of Professor Adas. I told him I appreciated it, but it wasn't necessary. And he told me that I could do as I liked, but one of the reasons he felt comfortable telling me to do so, was because I never assumed I could just use his first name like so many students, especially grad students, do these days. I still call him Professor Adas, and I have found that almost all of the students I have previously taught who are now graduated from high school still prefer to call me Mr. Sam even though I have given them permission to call me Flot. When I ask them why they do, they all usually say the same thing: "You're my teacher."
And for the peanut gallery out there, save me the "Well, if you need them to call you Mr. to gain respect, then..." spiel: I don't.
In return, I will spare you all my "Stop acting like you are 5 to 30 years younger than you are--you're out of the frat and all grown up now..." spiel. |
all my kids call me crystal or crystal teacher and I quite like this. I work in a hogwan though and this is supposed to be a more relaxed learning environment. If I were working in a public school then it would be different, it's a more formal environment and calls for a more formal system of address. In school I would have never dreamed of calling any of my teachers by their first name, at least not to their faces and I still don't call any of them by their first name because it would just feel strange to do otherwise. At my uni though I studied German and all the staff and students within the German department were on first name terms. There was always a relaxed atmosphere in classes and even the head of the department had no problem being addressed as Eoin by his students. It all depends on the person and the situation. Some people prefer to teach in a more relaxed and informal environment. When I studied in Germany there was also different approaches - I took a language course and we called our instructor by her first name and used the du form of address, with another teacher we would never dream of using anything other than Sie and he called us all Frau and Herr (boy did that make me feel old). It all depends on the person and the situation but everyone should go with the system they feel comfortable with. |
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poet13
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
Location: Just over there....throwing lemons.
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| Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2006 2:27 pm Post subject: |
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| i encourage my youngest students to call me by my first name. the older students call me teacher. For many of my youngest students, they have never been taught by, and in a few cases, never even SEEN a foreigner in person before. Children who are not my students may not call me by my first name. That occurs when I am in front of the hagwon I work in during breaks, sometimes my students will be with friends who are not. |
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SPINOZA
Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Location: $eoul
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| Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2006 4:10 pm Post subject: |
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| SPINOZA wrote: |
| Giving Korean kids English names is like attaching wheels to a tomato - unnecessary. |
That said, I voted "sometimes" in the poll. Some kids tell you they're called so-and-so and it just sticks. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2006 4:30 pm Post subject: |
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| I know some students by their English names, some by their Korean names, and some by both. They seem especially chuffed when I can remember their English name. In a few cases I'd rather not use their English names - I have one who, from the drawings she's always making, seems rather obsessed with disturbing morbid fantasies, and I'd prefer to call her Shinhye than Sad Bloody Aroma. |
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Big Mac
Joined: 17 Sep 2005
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| Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2006 5:19 pm Post subject: |
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My school had a policy that every child had to have an English name.
I found that the kids were very happy when I gave them an English name and I never had a problem with them answering to it.
I would have had a very difficult time remembering their Korean names....but that's just me.
My students also called me "teacher" all the time and it drove me insane. In a real English setting, students would call their teacher "Mr. so and so" and I think that's what Korean children should do too. But it's next to impossible to get them not to call you "teacher." |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2006 7:26 pm Post subject: |
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| Big Mac wrote: |
My school had a policy that every child had to have an English name.
I found that the kids were very happy when I gave them an English name and I never had a problem with them answering to it.
I would have had a very difficult time remembering their Korean names....but that's just me.
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And that's why just about every place like that has one class with a Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa and another with Kenny, Kartman, Kile, etc. |
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Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2006 3:02 am Post subject: |
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| I use their Korean names. Doing otherwise would further complicate things for me because I have over 200 students. |
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Nok Yong
Joined: 05 May 2006
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| Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 6:17 am Post subject: |
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If you're teaching in a hagwon with 10-12 students or fewer per class, English naming can be a fun activity whilst teaching a bit of Western culture.
However, in a public school or uni/college setting, with 50 or more students per class...would not only be a useless waste of time but an insane undertaking.
crazylemongirl wrote:
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| nope and I got 1,100 students! |
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SPINOZA
Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Location: $eoul
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| Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 3:54 pm Post subject: |
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| I feel sorry for the 6% or whatever of people who find giving students fake names essential. I shudder to think what names they are as well....Brad, Erin, Corey and the like I suspect. We really need to get a better social class of teacher. |
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seoulsista
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
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| Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 9:35 pm Post subject: |
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I use the kids real names which is what they wanted and was the way it was when I got them as students. I try my very very best but it's been a struggle.
I have:
2 Ji Hyun
1 Hyun Ji
3 Ji Hye
1 Hye Ji
and a ton of Dongs
Dong Hyun
Dong Won
Dong Sung
Sometimes I get them mixed up and the kids get pissed. So at that point I just ask "What's my name?" SILENCE.
The issue drops. |
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