I always ask students what they want to be called; whether their name is Ava, Mohammed, etc. If a student chooses a nickname over their given name, I will ask the student to pronounce their name if I am unsure how to say it correctly. I will then ask them if they would rather me call them by that name. Occasionally they will say yes, but they are always happy someone is taking the time to learn how to say their name. Again it goes back to respect. When I listened to the clip about Ryan Seacrest, I see it as a self-centered, disrespectful action. He just looked at her as a child not worth the time to learn her name. He was too important to worry about respecting her. He couldn't see past himself in order to make her feel comfortable. Instead he embarrassed her and tried to make light of it.
Relationship building is the key to a successful classroom and taking the time to learn how to pronounce kids' names correctly is the very first thing we need to do to establish trust and respect.
Relationship building is the key to a successful classroom and taking the time to learn how to pronounce kids' names correctly is the very first thing we need to do to establish trust and respect.