Embedded Files
Tips for Learning Linguistically Diverse Students' Names
Seven Tips:
Seven Tips:
1. Practice before day one. If there are names that already look like they might be a challenge for you, try to learn how to pronounce them before you even meet students. Resources: Pronounce Names website (which now offers an Android app) or Voice of America's pronunciation guide.
3. Celebrate identities. Think about ways to celebrate your students' names. The Santa Clara County Office of Education in San Jose, Calif., started the My Name, My Identity campaign with the mission of improving teachers' pronunciation of student names, which, as the office states, is key for "healthy social, psychological, and educational outcomes."
7. Learn from your mistakes. Mistakes are acceptable, and they will happen. The important thing is to make an effort to learn from them. Good teaching is not about doing everything perfectly, but about constantly striving to improve our own pedagogy and compassion for our students.
2. Get smart. You can put your roster of names on an overhead projector or smartboard for the whole class to see and have each student pronounce their names for you. Practice saying them in response. Then, write them out phonetically on your own copy for future reference.
5. Be respectful and continue fine-tuning. Recognize that getting a name correct will require effort and continue to fine-tune their pronunciation of a name as time goes on. There are a variety of complicated Anglo names that we as a collective society have figured out how to say properly (like former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and actors Renée Zellweger and Zach Galifianakis).
4. Make it private. You can privately ask students who use a Westernized pronunciation if they prefer to go by a pronunciation that their own families might use. Keep in mind, however, that many students aren't offering the pronunciation for your benefit, but for their own comfort, so listen carefully to what they prefer.
6. Expand your horizons. Become familiar with common sounds and names from different cultures. This can happen naturally by purposefully consuming more diverse literature and media.
Tips taken directly from Punita Chhabra Rice's (2017) article, Pronouncing Students' Names Correctly Should Be a Big Deal in Education Week.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse