Parents spend a lot of time picking out names for their children whether it's
because of family, the meaning or they simply that they like it. As Clare McLaughlin says in the article "The Lasting Impact of Mispronouncing Students' Names," names bring stories. As educators, we should be sensitive to student's names and learn how to pronounce them. This will let the students know that they are important and respected by you.
Rita Kohli found that if a teacher mispronounces, disregards or changes a student's name, they feel shame, embarrassment and that their name is a burden. They then in turn begin to shy away from their language, culture and family. As teachers, we need to let students be themselves and embrace their identity. We need to find a way to learn each child's name and work on pronunciation because it would be a shame to take away a part of the child.
Names are our identifier. If our name is mispronounced, our identity can be conflicted. I had a student seven years ago whose name was Ivan. He had been at my school since kindergarten and I had him in second grade. Midway through his second grade year it came out that his name was pronounced like Yvonne. His family was Hispanic and his mom did not speak English well. I felt bad that we had been saying it wrong for two and a half years! No one had ever corrected us not even the student himself. The rest of the class caught on quickly and we all started using the correct pronunciation. Ivan seemed a lot happier and gave him back his own identity, not the identity we had mistakenly placed on him.
ReplyDeleteI agree that students names are very important! I had a student start this year with an unusual name. I did mispronounce it and asked him to help me several times. One day I heard him say that he didn't like his name. I know I am one of many who had a hard time getting it correct. It is a huge reminder to call students their names correctly and to ask forgiveness if we have to try again. Jen, do you have any students with names that were hard to pronounce?
ReplyDeleteMy daughter just finished a book at school called "My Name is Maria Isabel" that tackles this exact issue. The teacher does not call her by her correct name and she goes through what you have described above. More than once I have had a student tell me it's ok if I don't pronounce his/her name correctly and I am always shocked - why wouldn't they care? Perhaps becasue it has happened so often in their past it doesn't seem worth the effort? I don't know, but each time I have always insisted he/she teaches me exactly how to pronounce their name correctly. I wonder how many times mispronunciation happens and the child does not correct the teacher?
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