Saturday, October 4, 2014

Pronunciations!!!

One of my biggest pet peeves is getting corrected by an entire classroom of Kindergarten students for mispronunciation of names.  Now mind you, it doesn't bother me if the child whose name I am saying corrects me, in fact I appreciate their help in getting it correct.  What does bother me is when you have an entire class begin to shout at you.  First, I can't understand the chaos of all those voices and secondly, it just seems a little disrespectful.  I grew up in the Southern states and we were taught to always show respect to our teachers.  I would have never spoken up and corrected my teacher for anything even if it was saying my name incorrectly.  Kids today are different.  I've lived in the Northeast for over 30 years but my southern upbringing still creeps into my enunciation especially when it comes to some vowels.  Anyone who grew up in the south knows that pen and pin are pronounced the same.   Correct me if I am wrong Mr. E. or Cassie Stephens!!!  So sometimes these "different" names up north are a real challenge for me.  There is the student whose name I thought was pronounce like the thing a beauty queen wears on her head, a Tiara, you know?  It's not spelled that way but I thought that was what she said on the first day and now all the kids are correcting me.  I'm not sure how it is really pronounced.   And, then there is the cute little girl name Sawyer.  I think Tom Sawyer and pronounce it the same way but apparently that is not correct.  Still can't get that one right either.  That's just the beginning of the long list of names I continue to botch and repeatedly get corrected for.  So what is your take on all this?  How would you handle this in your classroom?  Feedback appreciated....help me!!!

3 comments:

  1. Happens to me all the time... poor things, you'd think I would be able to get it right! I have a Kinder who's name is Kira, I keep pronouncing it "Keera" but it's " K-i-ra" with the "i" not an "e" sound! I have brother's I mix up, Kerstins that are pronounced Kirsten, etc... I always apologize and make a joke about how mrs.C is brain dead sometimes! Just explain to the kids that you are from the south and have an accent that causes you to pronounce things a little different... I had a whole conversation one day with the kids about how everyone has a different way of pronouncing things! For the word "wash" I pronounce it "worsh" ... I don't think they mean to be rude... I have a Chase that I keep calling Gage (his older brother) they could be twins! I'd do it so often that the kids in class would even say" Chase!" in unison! I'd just apologize profusely and we would all laugh it off! It's three years later and I still do it from time to time, it's become a joke and he will try to catch me off guard and say," What's my name?!" :) The kids know i don't do it on purpose! :)

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  2. I feel your pain! It gets worse when you have students whose names look identical but are said differently. Annika = auhnicka and anneika I am not a fan of parents naming their kids Apple and Blue Ivy but at least I can pronounce them... Unless it is really Auhpull and Bhulew Evey. I know when I struggle with a students name and I usually just tell them that it is a struggle for me. Sometimes I even let them fine me 10 cents every time I say it wrong (after Christmas). Rarely does it cost me more than 20 cents.

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  3. I had to laugh as I read this post. One year when I taught in 4 different schools and had well over 400 students, I had Shyla, Skyla, Skyanna, Shaylana, Shaylynn, Shyanna, Shai-Marie, Skyler, Schuyler, Kyler, Tyler, and Kaylana. I gave up!

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