learning names in China

[marie777]

hello everyone

I have completed my TESOL course, and I have accepted a job in China starting in March next year.

I have been told I will be teaching up to 30, though i have a feeling it will be a bit more. I am teaching primary and middle school, ages 7-14.

Has anyone got any ideas for learning and remembering my students names as quickly as possible? Also, I am not sure if schools in China compare, but is the seating mostly rows? - if this is the case, what would be the best way to prepare groups?

I am thinking of these situations in advance as I would prefer to have minimum disruption is my classes, which hopefully will give me one less thing to worry about. Also, I don't want to point to my students as I think its rude and would much rather say their names.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

thanks

[englishstudent]

Originally Posted by marie777

...
Has anyone got any ideas for learning and remembering my students names as quickly as possible? Also, I am not sure if schools in China compare, but is the seating mostly rows? - if this is the case, what would be the best way to prepare groups?

...
Also, I don't want to point to my students as I think its rude and would much rather say their names.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

thanks

I have not been this kind of situation before, but here are
some thoughts:

In one of the classes I took as an adult, we were required to
pin our names to the shirt for a few weeks. The teacher had
brought in all the material (pins, plastic tags and paper). We
wrote our name on it, and after each class, deposited it in the
teacher's box. I felt kind of silly but it worked. The students
may find it to be a novel exercise. ;)

If there is a fixed seating arrangement, you could prepare a chart and
write the student's name in the corresponding position so that
you can refer to it and call his/her name. Just an idea....

I have never used the techniques mentioned here to memorize
a large number of foreign names in a short time, but it may
be worth reading it to get some ideas.

Good luck on your new assignment. :)

[Tdol]

Many Chinese students use English names as well for such purposes, which can make it easier to learn, but it can also make administrative chores more complex as you have to try to remember who 'Jenny' is from the list of Chinese names.

[Daizee]

Try to associate each member of the class with something individual, for example, a hobby they enjoy. This is a way to both learn names and to get to know the students. It may also be beneficial to complete a seating chart of students, however try not to be too reliant on this, since overuse can lead to you NOT committing names to memory. Hope this helps!

[marie777]

thankyou for all your advice, it is very helpful.

I did hear that Chinese students sometimes use English names, and I can imagine for admin purposes that could be abit of a nightmare.

I read somewhere else about association. I will most likely try the hobby idea as well as a seating plan.

I hope my memory doesn't fail me with so many students and different classes.

[ian2]

Tdol is right. You need to use English names, as part of English learning. To me, you have to think in English to learn English and feeling oneself is John or Mary helps the learning process. However, with English names routinely used in class, you may grow reluctant to remember their Chinese names. I think you probably would like to take this opportunity of remembering their Chinese names as part of your own learning in China. Good luck.

Ian2