names

So all of my classes got switched around. It's been great. One of my new classes consists of all new students. They are 6 year-olds, and at the lowest class level in my school: Phonics 1. This means I'm teaching them their ABCs. "A" is for "ah," "ah" is for "apple". That kind of stuff.

It also means that none of them had English names prior to meeting me. As I've mentioned before, at English school all the students get English names. So, my first day with this new class I got to name 12 Korean children.

For some of these kids their names will last for as long as they go to this school, and in a couple of years they will probably not even remember what they were called in English. But for others it will last. A lot of Korean adults that I have met here also have an English name that they picked up some place or another. So, if some of these students continue along the path of English education, or, say go to America someday, they are probably going to say that their name is the one that I gave them. It's a weird responsibility for me, one that I probably didn't take seriously enough.

Because I named one kid Rocky.

And another Otis.

The rest of the new phonics class consists of a Dave, James, Randy, Jenna, Chad, Liz, Jen, Katie. In other classes over the past 3 months I've handed out a Pete, Luke, Andy, and Matt. I also named one Dylan, because I'm me.

There's a few other names I've given that I can't remember right now, probably because they don't really have any significance or relevance. It's not rare for me to get to name a kid, so if you read this and you don't have a Korean namesake, I've still got 9 months worth of naming to do.

Oh, and in the category of students who I didn't name but wish that I had (like Tupac), I now have a kid called Doogie.