Extension Activities: Learning Students' Names

Colorful nametags

These extension activities accompany the Learning Students' Names ELL module. They may be used by schools, districts, and higher education programs in training, for assignments, or for learning artifacts that can be submitted for credit to professional learning programs.

Discussion Questions

These questions can be used in self-reflection, written reflection, or discussion activities.

  • What is the story behind your name or someone's name in your family?
  • Is your name regularly mispronounced? If so, what is that experience like? If not, what do you think it might feel like?
  • What do you think the impact of mispronouncing a student's name might be?
  • How might it affect how they feel in the classroom and how they interact with peers?
  • What are the impacts of mispronounced names at graduations or other special events?
  • A teacher gets feedback from students that she is mispronouncing their names. What steps could she take to address their feedback?
  • Have you ever experienced an error with the spelling of your name that caused a problem? If not, can you think of how this kind of error might be problematic?
  • Think about how student records are maintained in your setting and how different systems interact. What could the impacts be of misspelling a student's name in your school databases?
  • What are the benefits of teaching students to correct mispronunciations or misspellings of their name?
  • How comfortable do you feel correcting others when they make a mistake?
  • Have you ever done an activity related to name, including as a child? If so, what do you remember about it?
  • Do you have any special mementos or representations of your name? Why are they special to you?
  • What is an idea from this section that you could use in your classroom or share with a colleague?
  • How might you use these resources in family engagement?

Hands-On Activities

NameCoach

  1. Read the article about NameCoach.
  2. Try the demo or ask students to send you recordings of them saying their names.

Online Resources

Read through one or more of the following resources. Make a note of three takeaways from each resource you read.

Star Trek

Read the following exchange from Star Trek: The Next Generation. What is your response? How might you use this exchange in professional learning or with students?

Lt. Commander Data: You called me "Dah-ta".

Dr. Kate Pulaski: [laughing] What's the difference?

Lt. Commander Data: One is my name. The other is not.

Writing Students' Names Correctly

  • Read the section about names in 10 Things You Need to Learn About Your ELLs. What are some recommendations you can use?
  • Choose a language from the guide below that your students speak (or a language you'd like to learn more about). Read the section and review how students' names are entered in school records. Are the entries consistent with recommendations? If not, raise the issue with administrators and bilingual colleagues before making changes to the records.

Discussion Prompt

  • Read the following reflection from Colorín Colorado Director Lydia Breiseth. What connections can you make to the experience she shares?

"When I was a child, I was always on the lookout for something with my name on it. Whenever we stopped at a gas station or souvenir shop, I checked the little license plates and key chains to see if I could find it. But since my name wasn't common, I never found it. (I often checked for my sisters' names, and theirs weren't there either!) But over the years, I remember getting two special customized souvenirs while on vacation. One was a clear pendant with a red rose etched into it and my name carved below it. Another was a pink heart with my name inscribed. Even though they are both now broken, I still have them."

Lesson Planning

Sentence Frames

  • Think of some sentence frames you could use to help students correct others who mispronounce their names.

Model Lesson

  • Develop a lesson plan that teaches students to correct others who misspell or mispronounce their name. Include learning objectives, key vocabulary, related sentence frames, and activities in which students can practice their new skills.

Book Club

  • Choose a book from the above booklists for a book club read to share with a group of colleagues or as a read-aloud/featured book for your classroom. Include name-related questions in your discussion questions.

Model Lesson

  • Develop a lesson plan that features one of the books on the above booklists. Identify key themes and vocabulary, as well as how you will teach them within the lesson. (You can use our ELL Strategy Library for ideas!) How is the topic of names featured? What is a name-related activity you could include in the lesson?