How do English native speakers call their teachers or lectures in the class?

Status
Not open for further replies.

tulipflower

Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2014
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Persian
Home Country
Iran
Current Location
Iran
How do English native speakers call their teachers or lectures in the class?
 

GoesStation

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Joined
Dec 22, 2015
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
[STRIKE]How[/STRIKE] What do English native speakers call their teachers or lecturers in [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] class?
See above. There is no universal convention.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
[STRIKE]How[/STRIKE] What do English native speakers call their teachers or lecturers in [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] class?

I assume you're asking how we address them. It depends on the school, the age of the students, the formality demanded by the faculty and probably other factors.

At my first and middle schools (age 4-12), all teachers were "Miss/Mrs/Mr + surname".
At my secondary school (age 12-16), the same was true with the exception of one teacher who insisted on "Sir" and another who insisted on our using his first name only.
At my sixth form college (age 16-18), almost all the tutors/teachers expected "Miss/Mrs/Mr + surname". My music teacher was happy to be called "Adrian" and one of our English Lit teachers made us call him "Prof" for the first term, then told us it was just a joke he played on all his students and from then on we were to call him by his first name (which I've now forgotten).

One of my friends went to a very strict Catholic school from the age of 8 to the age of 16, and was taught by nuns. She had to address them as "Sister + name" (some didn't make sense - there was a "Sister Kevin"!)
The son of someone I know goes to a Montessori school and all the teachers go by their first name only.
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
At university, it was mostly first names for me.
 

tulipflower

Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2014
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Persian
Home Country
Iran
Current Location
Iran
Thank you. Yes, I meant the way they address their teachers in university and school.
 

tulipflower

Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2014
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Persian
Home Country
Iran
Current Location
Iran
In my country, Iran, my students at university usually call me 'master' and even 'professor' and young learners usually call me 'teacher + surname'. They usually address lecturers and teachers this way.
 
Last edited:

Rover_KE

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
How do you want to be addressed? Don't you tell them how?
 
Last edited by a moderator:

tulipflower

Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2014
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Persian
Home Country
Iran
Current Location
Iran
No, I haven't told them. I always wondered what they should call me in an English class. In Iran they never use first name to address a teacher or a lecturer. In schools, they usually say 'teacher' and I though it's not a proper way to call their English teacher. Now I found that Ms, Mrs and Mr are the most common ways to call teachers. I also doubt about 'master' that the university students use to address their lectures.
 

Charlie Bernstein

VIP Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Member Type
Other
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
It's also worth knowing that, in general (both in and out of school), Americans are more prone to use first names than the British are. For example, my stepdaughter's first name is Caitie, and her seventh grade students call her Miss Caitie.

(That's unusual, but it's a good illustration of Ems' remark that there are no rules about what we call teachers and professors.)
 

Tarheel

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2014
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
No, I haven't told them. I always wondered what they should call me in an English class. In Iran they never use first names to address a teacher or a lecturer. In schools, they usually say 'teacher' and I thought it's not a proper way to address their English teacher. Now I found that Ms, Mrs and Mr are the most common ways to address teachers. I also doubt about 'master' that the university students use to address their lecturers.

Simply tell them how you want them to address you. It's as simple as that.
:)
 

PeterCW

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2020
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
No, I haven't told them. I always wondered what they should call me in an English class. In Iran they never use first name to address a teacher or a lecturer. In schools, they usually say 'teacher' and I though it's not a proper way to call their English teacher. Now I found that Ms, Mrs and Mr are the most common ways to call teachers. I also doubt about 'master' that the university students use to address their lectures.

When I learned foreign languages at school the teacher always started the very first lesson by telling us how he should be addressed in that language. So it would have been monsieur for French and magister for Latin. English has no middle ground between using title + name and the more formal and deferential "sir" that would match, say, the French use of monsieur.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
One of my friends is a primary school teacher and, as is often the case in British schools at the moment, she has been asked to teach French to 8- and 10-year-olds, despite the fact that she speaks no French at all! However, she did remember that in her French classes at school (the contents of which she has clearly forgotten), the teacher was called "Madame + surname". She decided she didn't want to use her real surname, and she's single, so she has told her pupils to call her "Mademoiselle Crinoline". :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top