This is Simon and Daniel. I teach them 2x a week, and for the most part they're friends, but some days they squabble in Korean and refuse to share or sit by each other. Ah, little boys! It's funny, I was talking about Daniel with Lindsay and she couldn't picture him (she calls him by his Korean name) so I said, 'You know, the boy with a big head,' and immediately she knew who was speaking of. The size of his head is rather legendary in the academy, but it's nothing compared to my brother-in-laws. Wow! What a melon!
So back on point. I have decided to embrace some of the cultural slaughtering of the world by insisting on English names for my students. A new identity if you will. Some students use their baptismal names, though I only have a few Christians. Some kids come in with names his/her parents decided. Some choose themselves. And then there are those whose misfortune is to have me christen them.
At first I tried to be arbitrary about it. I’d ask what their Korean names are, and all the Juan someone-or-others became John’s, Tom’s and Shawn’s. But then I started to get annoyed with the students who didn’t express any kind of opinion, so their names quickly represented that. Now am quickly working through my list of good pet names.
From left to right: Superman, Ironman, Batman and Transformer. We're playing 'One Card,' also known as UNO in the states. These guys were particularly excited for new names, especially since I didn't care what names they chose, as long as it was appropriate, a stipulation that took some reminding. Transformer used to go by Tom, and sometimes sports the name Pig, depending on his mood. He's a boy of deep thought.
Transformer/Pig/Tom is pretty much the epitome of all little boys. He’s gross and loud and takes pleasure in unfortunate smells. He shoots imaginary guns at other boys, pants after he reads particularly long passages and he does this thing where he sucks on his teeth which drives me insane. If you look at him for any amount of time he will distort his face and/or snort. And it’s my job to make sure he learns some English and doesn’t distract his classmates more than permissible.
These are some of my older students, Jonah, Who.Am.I and Piccolo. They're normally a very peppy bunch, but apparently not for photos. Sometimes students choose names that aren’t exactly standard. They’re all at that age of civil disobedience, which is to say, they’re teenagers. Who.Am.I I assume was inspired by Alice in Wonderland. Whenever I conjugate it to Who.Are.You I'm always corrected. One student was adamantly opposed to taking on an English name, so he opted for Hey You.
Also included in these distinctly defiant names is No Name. No Name doesn’t attend Sky anymore, and he wasn't particularly good at English. In fact, if it weren't for his name, he wouldn’t stand out from any other student. But his lack of a name now makes him as memorable as a real person. His parents would be proud.
Here is Jenny and Tim making faces at Brian who's fallen dead asleep. Poor kid, he was totally wiped out. Brian is a funny kid, I don't think I've ever seen him without his Hapkido outfit on, which is totally endearing. Hapkido is a form of martial arts, and Brian is a red belt, which is one belt away from black. He's quite proud of his ninja skills and often shows me the new move he's been working on.
I have a Lilly who’s really wonderful. She’s fifteen and rather clever and personable. We’ve had a couple of individual lessons together and has already tried to sell me health insurance. I’m not kidding, health insurance! That kid is going places with an attitude like that!
Once I had an entire class named after the Simpson characters: Homer, Bart, Lisa, Moe and Maggie. This was a classes that didn’t express an opinion, so I had some fun. The best part of this story is Maggie. He’s a pudgy littly guy with cute dimples, and chose Maggie over the more traditionally male names of Milhouse, Nelson, Monte etc., but what makes this story even better is, when we started the new semester he was bumped up 3 levels with new classmates who wouldn’t understand why he’s named Maggie, so I asked if he wanted a new name. 'No, I like Maggie.' That freakin' kid!
Maggie sporting the standard Asian photo pose.
I have a Matthew and his brother Tim, a few Jenny’s, a Katie and a Katherine, an Erika and Sarah, a couple Kim’s, Sophia, Ema, Julie and Julia. There's June and more than one Jena, and I can't forget Jo. There’s an Isabelle and a Jim, a Steve and Hailey, and a Piccolo, which is apparently an anime character’s name in addition to being a small flute.
You saw Simon, seven year old smarty-pants in a headlock, who is incidentally, the only kid I’ve made cry. I gave him 2 warnings with his phone and 3rd time I took it for the rest of class. He was quite distraught over this, put his book over his head and sobbed. He's one of the most stubborn and brightest kids I have, I love it! A healthy dose of noncompliance is always promoted in my classroom, I just prefer when it’s not directed towards me. Eh, you can't have it all.
These girls would kill me if they knew I posted this, but it's a classic! They don't have English names and usually end up being referred to as, 'Number __ please.'
I wanted to write actual names instead of the faceless words, 'my students,' because these kids are every bit as real as the mental imagine I conjure at the mention of his/her name. And I’ll admit, it took me a while to distinguish the kids from each other, there is very little trace of individualism. Most students have pin-straight black or dark brown hair. The boys have the standard acceptable haircut with pointy sideburns, the girls sport straight bangs and cute little barrettes. All pretty much wear the same uniform. I’ve never seen black eyes before I moved here, and I’d wager nearly half of my students have ‘em, the other half have dark brown eyes. Some students may be a little darker than others, some students may be a bit taller, but on a whole, there aren’t the number of distinctive differences as there would be if I taught in the states. But
I called this kid Polham because he always wears Polham shirts, but recently he changed his name to something that sounds like Vegetable, it's some anime character. So now I call him Vegetable. He's a funny kid who always tells me I'm beautiful and flutters his eyelashes at me. It's quite cute actually. I don't think I've ever seen him serious other than this photo.
Since my kids have English names, I thought it only fair I have a Korean name. So I searched and searched until I found the perfect Korean name, the best one of all time! And name is... Han Solo! Most of the kids are younger than Star Wars, which makes me feel especially dated, so few recognize my name sake, but all make very impressed ohhhs and awwws when I write Han Solo in Korean on the white board.
who's big head are you talking about???
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