Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Jizzo T. Clown]

I'm thinking of giving my HS students English names. Is this standard practise in EFL classrooms here?

Also, how well is this received by admin and students?

Thanks!

[faster]

Some do, but I never push them to do so. Right now, I'd say a small minority of my students, maybe 15%.

[Zark]

Mine never had them and I never assigned them.

Never saw the need to do so. Pretty much left it up to them.

[rawiri]

You shouldn't do that. It's a sign of laziness.

[ilovebdt]

No, I just read their Korean names off their shirts if I can't remember their names.

ilovebdt

[SHANE02]

In my first year here I worked at a hakwon that actually encouraged it. Some "teachers" really took the piss. In one class a teacher named one child for EACH of the Simpsons characters. It was embarrassing, but then so was the hakwon.

[Saxiif]

99% of my kids already have English names when I get them. I call them whatever they want to be called...

[spyro25]

all of my students do except one. my reason for letting them choose english names are that if the students go abroad to study most of them end up using an english nickname, so they might as well pick one they like now to get used to it.

[jmbran11]

My students are adults and required to have English names so they don't refer to each other by their Korean hierarchial title. I don't think that's necessary for kids or teenagers. What do they call each other in Korean? If it's not by their names, then maybe you should assign them English names to facilitate free conversation.

[wylies99]

Yes, but almost all of them have the same names. Wanna guess which ones?

Harry, Harry, bo Barry, banana bana bo Barry, bi by bo Barry, Harry!

David, David, bo Bavid, banana bana bo Bavid, bi by bo Bavid, David!

Sarah, Sarah, bo Barah, banana bana bo Barah, bi by bo Barah, Sarah!

Lisa, Lisa, bo Bisa, banana bana bo Bisa, bi by bo Bisa, Lisa!

Sean, Sean, bo Bean, banana bana bo Bean, bi by bo Bean, Sean!

Lucy, Lucy, bo Bucy, banana bana bo Bucy, bi by bo Bucy, Lucy!

[oneofthesarahs]

All of my students had English names when I started. I'm willing to learn Korean names, but it takes me a lot longer. My brain is used to hearing English names, so of course remembering "Charlie" is going to be easier for me than remembering "Junho." If I get new students, I usually tell them they can choose their own English name, but if they don't want to, I'll call them by their Korean name. 99% of the students opt for choosing an English name. They seem to think it's kind of fun. One of my advanced middle school classes refer to each other by their English names even outside of class.

[cwemory]

my coteachers wanted me to assign students english names at the beginning of the semester. i balked at the suggestion. when you teach in a public school, and only see half your students once a week and half once every other week, you don't remember their names, whether it's James or 민식.

[Alyallen]

[sconner]

I made an activity out of it. I made a sheet with the most popular baby names, one side boys, one side girls. I gave everyone a sheet and they circled the name they wanted. Once a name was chosen, it was crossed off the list. Some students already had names and they just kept them. If they had been given a name previously that could be taken as a joke, I had them pick a normal name so if they end up using that one day in an English speaking country or with any foreigner they come across in conversation, they wouldn't look silly.

[yingwenlaoshi]