Teacher Discussion Forums

Posted: **Sun Sep 06, 2009 11:31 am**

I am starting a new job this week as a high school English conversation teacher at a public school in Korea. The students did not previously use English names to the best of my knowledge. I am on the fence about if I should ask them to choose English names or not. Im curious about other teacher's opinions. Please share.

Pros:
The reason I might is mostly related to role playing and encouraging shy students to step outside their normal realm. I can read Korean ok, so thats not such a big concern.

Cons:
I do not want to seem like I am indoctrinating them or being disrespectful either. However, when ever I've studied foreign language in high school, I had to adopt a foreign name. I do not want to make students who may not like learning English dislike it further, but I think this could also increase the fun as well. Many students may already have English names also.

Posted: **Sun Sep 06, 2009 7:10 pm**

I would advise against implementing your plan: you may have hundreds of students to teach (and only see the same class every few weeks or even months), making it hard to remember additional names even if they were all willing or capable of picking halfway normal ones themselves. Then, there are issues of "identity": I for one do not need to assume a Chinese or Japanese name to speak those languages, and I am sure that quite a few Chinese and Japanese (the non-students of the general populace) would have a problem with it if such identities were assumed outside the classroom too. But I guess it would be just so much harmless fun (i.e. of no danger to the students), burdensome though it could as I've said be to your powers of memory, provided the students are told that they shouldn't assume a greater affinity will exist regarding them and their chosen names in western societies. I'd certainly leave it to those students who are really keen to individually ask for a western name.

Posted: **Mon Sep 07, 2009 12:18 pm**

I've seen it done in Mongolia and Greenland. It did seem to help students have a different view of themselves.
They learned the meaning of names in English (Sally is from Sarah and means princess kind of thing) and then chose an idea that they wanted to represent them.
It allowed students to be more outgoing and more assertive, more Western in their speech, especially if they were shy.
It helped them learn names that they would meet in future readings in the textbooks.
Often names are the hardest thing on listening tests because they are so different for the students. They hear an unfamiliar sound and get stuck on it and miss the meaning of the sentence. (I always get them to read the answers quickly before they hear the question on the listening test because the names are always listed in the answers and they can then understand one word of what they will hear at least.)

But some teachers just did it because they couldn't pronounce the names of the students in their own language and then I found it distasteful. I used to tell the students that I might get their names wrong for a little while but if they could learn English, I could learn Mongolian, Japanese, Greenlandic, Spanish, Somali, and so on. I did and they did. Except for Bulganhungai - for some reason that name defeated me for almost a year until I found out it was also the name of a town and province nearby.

Posted: **Wed Sep 09, 2009 3:57 pm**

Nice post, Sally. I had forgotten about the etymology angle - that could be very interesting and motivating for the students. Still not sure about just the name change freeing students up to speak easier, but if it could help...

But some teachers just did it because they couldn't pronounce the names of the students in their own language and then I found it distasteful.

That I guess is the key point to me - the least we can do as guests in foreign countries is pronounce their real names right. Though when one is making a hash of guessing the readings of Japanese kanji, it might be time to switch to at least romaji if not English names! (You've reminded me of those times that I was more or less forced to work out or guess the names of some students, when the Japanese teachers hadn't had time or decided they didn't need to supply romaji for the kanji

).

Part of the reason I sound(ed) so opposed to the idea is that there simply wasn't time in one of my jobs to devote any time to learning even the Japanese names of around a thousand students - and what's wrong with plural 'you' to the class as a whole then "contrasting" with singular 'you' (when zeroing in to talk with a particular student)? It isn't the norm in English to (over)use names or vocatives in conversation that is attempting to be somewhat informal and casual, somewhat "closer". But of course, we may at times need to call on a particular student or attract their attention, and then, you really can't beat using their agreed-upon name!

Just saw this as I went to check my mail:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20090909/tuk ... dbed5.html

Jack And Mohammed Are Most Popular Names
4 hours 53 mins ago
© Sky News 2009

Jack and Olivia have been revealed as the most popular names for babies born last year - with Mohammed leaping into second place for boys.

Jack retained its top spot for the 14th year in England and Wales, while Olivia rose two places from 2007, the Office for National Statistics said.

Mohammed comes in at number two when its various spellings, such as Muhammad and Mohammad, are included.

Without the variations Mohammed has shot up 18 places over the last year to 16th.

There were no new entries in the top 10 most popular names for baby boys - and only three in the top 100 - while Evie made its debut in the list of top 10 girls' names.

The top 10 baby names for boys were, in order of popularity: Jack, Oliver, Thomas, Harry, Joshua, Alfie, Charlie, Daniel, James and William.

And the top 10 baby names for girls were: Olivia, Ruby, Emily, Grace, Jessica, Chloe, Sophie, Lily, Amelia and Evie.

Jack, which first claimed number one in 1995, was the most popular boy's name in all-but-one month last year.

Only Oliver briefly rose above it, taking January's top spot.

Holly was the most popular girl's name in December, but came 22nd overall.

Among the top 100 for boys, just three new entries - Blake at 91, Ewan at 95 and Zak at 100 - replaced Frederick, Dominic and Andrew in the list.

The ONS figures also showed a surge in the number of baby boys called Riley, propelling it 24 places to number 33.

Theo, up 15 to 58, and Gabriel, up 14 to 78, were also high climbers, while Kyle, down 18 to 69, Jamie, down 15 to 51, and Aidan, down 14 to 92, all dropped significantly.

Among the girls' names, Ruby dropped from 2007's top spot to number two last year, while Emily rose one place to number three and Grace was down two at number four.

Ella dropped out of the top 10, down three places to 12th.

There were five new entries in the top 100, knocking Rose, Victoria, Rachel, Shannon and Madeleine out of the list.

They were replaced by Lexi - the top climber among girls as the name rose 40 places to 73 - Florence at 94, Emilia at 97, Maryam at 99 and Esme at 100.

Story comes with a photo of Jack Nicholson, Jack Dee, and Kangaroo Jack.

Teacher Discussion Forums

Pros and Cons of using English names?

Pros and Cons of using English names?