You don't know my name

Another student mistake over my name. How can you mistake Gavin for Gival? I applaud this kids imagination and wonder if any more will leap out at me before my time is up here. I think this is almost as bad as the time my now ex co-worker thought my name was garden.

Name recognition

Never mind my students, some of my co-workers can't even get my name right these days.

Name mistake #958

This student compounds his mistake of getting my name wrong with mistaking me, his teacher, for a theatre. He's still my favourite student though. Givan, I think I've had that before. I've lost count now.

Name calling

Yesterday in class I got some new Wednesday students and as usual I asked about their names.

Me to student A: "OK *** *** do you have an English name?"
Student B: "His name is Hitler"
Me (in disbelief): "What?!
Student C: "His name is heil Hitler"

I think my jaw hit the floor but I nipped this one in the bud and they won't be saying that again on Wednesdays.

New name. Again

I am constantly having my name said wrong or incorrectly written (here in Korea). Yesterday I heard of a new name for me. Hyeong Boo (형부). It may sound like an insult but it's not. One of my wife's friends used it over the weekend. I didn't know what it meant so asked. It means older sister's husband. My wife doesn't have any sisters but here in Korea it is common to hear of friends referring to an older friend as 'older brother or sister'. It is an affectionate term. I doubt I'll hear this name again pretty soon but it was nice to hear about it.

Classroom cheer

Work over the past few days has been pretty routine stuff but there have been a few changes. This week my academy has been taking the H1N1 threat a little more seriously. It would appear that a lot more students from the schools in the surrounding area have been getting flu, though I don't know the severity of 'these cases'. Numbers from my classes have been slightly down, probably due to this. Starting this Monday every student has had their temperature taken before they've been allowed into the classroom. Also they've had their hands sprayed with some kind of hand sanitizer. Teachers have also been instructed to try and wear their masks on the way to and from the classroom. Over the past few weeks most teachers had stopped doing this.

A lot of my students have been ill with colds etc, etc and one of them has presumably given me the cold that I'm currently carrying. Having a cold is a common occurrence for me especially at this time of year but this particular one has been in my system for over five days now. It's nothing serious just the snuffles, a bit of a cough and a sore throat. Still it's no fun having to speak as much as I need to in class right now. Today my voice was closing down on me as the classes went on and i was glad to go home when I did. Still I had a lot of fun with my students today. I watched one girl draw something in her notebook for about two minutes and as the bell rang she told me "teacher, it's your name". See her artwork below.