How To Remember Student Names?

[Harry Palmer]

both the newbie & experienced teacher can have difficulty in remembering the names of their students... i recall both my CELTA & DELTA courses emphasising the importance of remember names as this was one of the traits of a good teacher...

so what ideas, methods etc.. have you employed when faced with a new class of students...

1) read through the class register several times before the first day... repeating the names over in my head, so they will sound familiar when i meet the students...

2) ask students to say their names before asking or answering a question... this gives myself and other classmates a chance to work on learning names...

3) use a seating chart... this can be temporary until i learn names...

4) here is a great name game that i picked up a while back, it really does work & the students love it...

Play a Name Game

first student introduces him/herself... second student introduces him/herself and the first student. third student introduces him/herself, the second student and the first student. go through the entire class, and you go last. throughout this process you should:

keep a smile on your face so people don't get upset when they miss names

clarify any mispronounced names: 'good job, lek, but it's somchai, not poontang" 

you will need to do a quick round of introductions on day two to refresh everyone...

enjoy..

[penzman]

Thai names are another ball game, took me a while, asked them to stand up and say their names at the beginning of each class while reading the names on the class register.

My class registers had been translated to English by a Thai teacher and she wrote L`s instead of R`s , R`s instead of L`s and many other mispellings...

Good luck!

[Dr. Jekyll]

i recall both my CELTA & DELTA courses emphasising the importance of remember names as this was one of the traits of a good teacher...

Remembering names is important in any case.

People love to be called by their names.

You deal with people, you remember their names.

It does not make you better, it makes you "closer" and it helps,...

[bkk barney]

harry wots the best way to remember small wives names, many thks in advance for your advice

[Harry Palmer]

harry wots the best way to remember small wives names, many thks in advance for your advice

uhmmm.. smale wives as in a classroom of small ladies who all happen to be married or is this a more personal question?

for the former, which is more in keeping with the nature & purpose of this forum... i suggest each of the married gals make a name card that is placed on the desk in front of them... or perhaps a stciky label with a name on stuck to their left breast...

the latter then... am surprised that you have one wife let alone two or more... still i imagine a guy as ugly as you, had to pay some poor issan farmer to buy a couple of his daughters.. no doubt they are just an ugly as you... so i suggest trying to remeber their names by associating one of their more prominent features, habits or trait with a phrase or some kind of association...

homework 4 barney... using my the above come up with a few appropriate suggestions, i will be awarding a start for the best one...

[Ijustwannateach]

Having some kind of regular homework going back and forth helps, too. Make the students write their own names in English on their books (or sheets, or whatever) and after you've marked them and hand them back you can play a concentration game (guessing who gets the next paper) until you've gotten all the names.

Of course, in the kind of school where I'm teaching 400 students a week, I don't even try. If it's a fairly small class size, then I'll make the effort.

"Steven"

[davethailand]

just make all the kids where big name badges

Harry, you could have one yourself just incase the kids forget who you are (just a plain white badge with black writing, no funny colours or kinky materials like lace, rubber etc. don't give away your wierd sexual fantasies(.

[bkk barney]

i believe harry wears a dress to school, also thigh lengh leather boots, hes a bit weird our harry with his obesity problem and ginger hair

[Pudgimelon]

Personally, I think my school could have done a lot more administratively to help teachers prepare for their class, so what I did to learn my kids names could have easily have been done by the school prior to the start of the semester. It would have saved me some time and helped with some of the first day headaches.

Anyway, what I did on the first day of school was I brought in my camera, and had the kids stand against the whiteboard and I took pictures of each kid in the class.

I then printed the pictures out on the computer (XP has some nice photo-printing options, it's pretty easy to do a 4-up print of all the pics in your digital camera's folder).

I then took the black-n-white prints and used them for a variety of purposes. For example, I used them on classroom displays (like class helpers, line helpers, learning teams, etc....) and on name cards (for picking kids for games and activities).

I also sent home a questionaire to the parents, requesting their full names and contact info, and the full names of their kids and important information (like how they are getting home, allergies, learning disabilities or handicaps, and authorized pick-up people).

My school is notorious for misspelling the English version of the kids names. Since I'm teaching the kids how to spell their names, it's very important for me to get it the correct way (the way the parents want it), instead of the way some thai teacher THINKS it should be spelt. My school also doesn't seem to think it's important to collect information on the kids that might be useful to their teacher.

And so I had to compile on this info myself. But once I did, I put the information in a binder (along with a photo of each kid). That way, if there is a substitute teacher for my class one day, he or she would have all the important info on all the kids, plus their photos for easy identification.

Additionally, on my attendence and grading sheets, I pasted small copies of each photo next to each kid's name. That way, when I was reading off attendence or filling in grades, I could put a face with the name every time.

I do wish that my school had done these things prior to the beginning of the school year. It would have been very easy for them to do, since the parents have to come in ahead of time to pay and they have to bring their kids in for evaluation too. It would have been easy at that time to have the parents fill out the questionaire, and have the kids stand for a photo. Then all of that info could have been entered into a database and printed out for each teacher.

Anyway, I found that using photos on all my paperwork really helped me learn all the kids names in a very short period of time.

[TEFL on SAMUI]

If you visit Mind Tools You'll find the methods I use.

They work but they take time to master and I DEFINITELY needed to flex my mental muscles to use it successfully in LoS - finding string links for names unfamiliar to me was a challenge but perseverence prevailed.

Oddly, I found that using the name badges made my recall LESS than if I relied on my memory alone...

Love the photo idea Pudgi. I just got a new phone with a camera on it and everything...

"The way the Parents want it" You ROCK. How long have you been teaching?

[Pudgimelon]

"The way the Parents want it" You ROCK. How long have you been teaching?

Long enough to know that my real bosses are the parents. As long as they are happy, I'm an untouchable teaching GOD :-).

[Harry Palmer]

Personally, I think my school could have done a lot more administratively to help teachers prepare for their class, so what I did to learn my kids names could have easily have been done by the school prior to the start of the semester. It would have saved me some time and helped with some of the first day headaches.

Anyway, what I did on the first day of school was I brought in my camera, and had the kids stand against the whiteboard and I took pictures of each kid in the class.

I then printed the pictures out on the computer (XP has some nice photo-printing options, it's pretty easy to do a 4-up print of all the pics in your digital camera's folder).

I then took the black-n-white prints and used them for a variety of purposes. For example, I used them on classroom displays (like class helpers, line helpers, learning teams, etc....) and on name cards (for picking kids for games and activities).

I also sent home a questionaire to the parents, requesting their full names and contact info, and the full names of their kids and important information (like how they are getting home, allergies, learning disabilities or handicaps, and authorized pick-up people).

My school is notorious for misspelling the English version of the kids names. Since I'm teaching the kids how to spell their names, it's very important for me to get it the correct way (the way the parents want it), instead of the way some thai teacher THINKS it should be spelt. My school also doesn't seem to think it's important to collect information on the kids that might be useful to their teacher.

And so I had to compile on this info myself. But once I did, I put the information in a binder (along with a photo of each kid). That way, if there is a substitute teacher for my class one day, he or she would have all the important info on all the kids, plus their photos for easy identification.

Additionally, on my attendence and grading sheets, I pasted small copies of each photo next to each kid's name. That way, when I was reading off attendence or filling in grades, I could put a face with the name every time.

I do wish that my school had done these things prior to the beginning of the school year. It would have been very easy for them to do, since the parents have to come in ahead of time to pay and they have to bring their kids in for evaluation too. It would have been easy at that time to have the parents fill out the questionaire, and have the kids stand for a photo. Then all of that info could have been entered into a database and printed out for each teacher.

Anyway, I found that using photos on all my paperwork really helped me learn all the kids names in a very short period of time.

my gold star award goes to puggie for the imaginitive way in which he responded to the topic

bkk barmy - i believe harry wears a dress to school, also thigh lengh leather boots, hes a bit weird our harry with his obesity problem and ginger hair

recently my class of mature students & i performed the mikado for a selection of well-heeld school dignitaries, and for the benefit of a local charity. yes i did wear a dress & make-up for the performance, i'm not ashamed.