Korean Job Discussion Forums

[snowysunshine]

How do you learn your students names? So far, I've learned one. I usually learn them by taking attendance, but I don't know if I'm supposed to do this for PS classes or not, probably not, so I'm kind of at a loss for what to do.

[jmuns]

just read their names from their uniforms. i would worry too much about learning them. i only learn then names of several students who either volunteer in class every time, come to my office between classes, or tell me an english name. considering most teachers see about 20 classes/week with 45 students. i mean thats only 900 students a week!

[Fishead soup]

Learning names is actually more important in hogwans. If you have an advanced after school program or small enriched classes. You can have students pick nicknames and write them on cardboard placards.

For smaller classes you can play the name game with their new English nickname.

[sharkey]

I wrote down as many female and male English names as I could think of. My Korean teacher wrote how it sounds in Korean and I let my students pick English names. So much easier to remember. The students enjoy the names, as well.

[tired of LA]

I have my students make name cards. I give them a sheet of paper and they fold it in 3, forming a triangle. Have them write their name, English or Korean (written in English) on it and decorate it. Don't let them glue or tape it, that way they can fold it up and put it in their English book when class is over to prevent them from losing it.

[Cerulean]

It depends on how many students you have. The last school I worked at, there were too many kids to remember.

If you're in middle or high school, there are plenty of name activities out there designed to help everyone remember.

[ttompatz]

When I was working at my PS I had just about 1000 students with 150 new ones coming in each year and 150 leaving to middle school.

There is no hope of learning everybody's name.

Concentrate on your advanced learners (they probably already have an English nickname from their hakwon already and they would be comfortable with that).

If you are in MS/HS then just read their name off of their uniform.

(learning to phonically read Korean takes only a couple of hours - although understanding what you read can take MUCH longer...lol)

.

[The Goalie]

The name card idea is good. You can also collect them at the end of the class and go through them in your free time and see if you can remember who the name belongs to. Instead of doing a regular kind of attendance you can hold up the name cards and students have to read them and recognize their name (no decorations, though, they'll just remember that), put up their hand, and you give them the card. Before doing attendance you can also randomly select a couple of cards and these are the kids you ask warm-up questions to. All the while you are helping yourself remember their names.

[mmstyle]

I teach MS. No name tags on uniforms, though. I have them use an English nickname. I actually make an excel sheet so that I can match it with the student number (and the speaking test grade). I may start taking attendance this year, at least for 1st grade, for a couple of months. I have 400 students and I never learned all of their names, just the best and, sometimes, the worst (behaved), or the ones that were really friendly and enjoyed talking to me.

[Easter Clark]

[jvalmer]

The students that want you to remember their name will make themselves known. It may help to find out what the syllables mean, it makes it a little easier to jive your memory.

If you work in a large public school, I wouldn't worry too much about remembering everyones names. Not even the Korean teachers can remember everyone's name.

[hapigokelli]

I have over 600 students and my Korean reading comprehension is deplorable. I have my students pick an English name and write it on a name tag (or they can write their Korean name phonically.) They have to wear it to every class (once a week) as part of their grade. Works well considering I can only grade based on participation.

[The Goalie]

[The Gipkik]

Name cards on their desk, around their necks like necklaces, and so on have never worked for me. I have a spatial sense of the world and I remember visually very well, so what I do is I create a seating plan on a large thick paper for each class with each student's name in its respective place. For every class I have with each particular class, I either carry the seating plan around with me calling on students or I have it accessible nearby for me to refer to. After a few weeks, I remember where all the students are located and the names stick like glue thereafter. I used this the first time in China when I had 6 classes of 35 students. Worked like a charm. However, make sure that you and the students stick with the seating plan, and if you do have to change students for whatever reason, change the seating plan accordingly.

[snowysunshine]

Thanks, Everyone!

I have about 275 elementary school students. It's important for me to learn their names, because when one is not paying attention, or needs to be spoken to, I don't really like saying "Hey, you!" to them. I'd prefer to call them by their names, so that they know who I'm speaking to. I've decided to just keep quickly taking attendance until I remember all of their names. I'm actually pretty good with remembering names, and can read Korean, so it shouldn't take too long... Hopefully.

And, whoever said that the students who want me to remember their names will make it clear is right. I had one student write his name out to show me as soon as he first came in to the classroom, and right now, he's the only one who's name I remember.