That’s Not How You Say My

Name
6.10.2023
─

Harkirat Singh
Bert Church High School
 1

“How can schools effectively ensure the correct pronunciation of

students' names to promote inclusivity and a sense of belonging in the
educational environment?”
I believe that this question is vastly important to any student as their names are a
big part of their personal identity. Growing up in a small town where the majority of the
population are white people, really took a toll on my own self identity when it came to the
pronunciation of my own name. I was given a westernized pronunciation, constantly asked
if I had nicknames or dealt with teachers avoiding to say my name. As I got older and
realized this was a constant cycle that kept happening, I started to feel unrecognized in my
different classrooms, to a point where I started to hate my name and would feel
embarrassed introducing myself to anyone knowing I had to deal with the same responses
from before. I know that this was the case for many students at my school as well who had
special or unique names and it was a universal experience we went through.
Coming to Bert Church High School and seeing how the staff is predominantly white
while the students are a variety of races and ethnicities, reminded me of the experience
that I went through and I wanted to make sure that students do not go through the same
cycles that I did. I have some students in both of the classes that I teach who have unique
names and I pulled one of them aside and asked her to tell me the correct pronunciation of
her name. Making this amount of effort and having a conversation with her made her really
happy and she told me that she appreciated me doing so. After doing this, I knew that I
wanted to keep going with the same idea and ensure that all of my students felt like they
were being recognized.

Strategies
1. Having private conversations with students and asking them how their names are
pronounced
2. Spreading the message out to the class a whole that they have full freedom to speak up
if either I or a classmate pronounces their name incorrectly (this may not happen at the
beginning but hopefully will start to become more prominent as they get more
comfortable)
3. Recognizing that names are pronounced in different ways despite spelling and doing
check ins with students to make sure that I and their other teachers are saying their
names correctly
4. Have open discussions with students on why we should be taking the time and effort to
say each others names correctly
 2

5. For the following semester, introduce the idea of name tags with the correct phonetic
spelling

Next, this is something that I would like for my school to do to ensure that they are
making efforts to learn students' names and that is to add a section about names on the class
diversity profile. This section will say something along the lines of “students with special or
unique names and how to say their names.”
For example, it may look like this:

Students with unique or special names and how to pronounce them:

● Harkirat (har-kee-rut)
● Student B (-----)
● Student C (-----)

This would be a great thing to add to the class diversity profile as it is a document that is
easily accessible by teachers and administrators. It is also something that can be added to a
teachers substitute plan so that substitute teachers are also aware and will be able to say
students' names correctly.

Lastly, this is something that I am hopeful for in the future, but having the same situation
as the class diversity profiles being added to PowerSchool would also help teachers out. When
you open PowerSchool, all students in the class will appear with their school pictures and
names written underneath. Having the correct pronunciation under their name would also
benefit teachers so that they can say a student's name correctly. It would look something like
this:
 3

Timeline:

1. October 10th
A Refresher:
Since it has now been a month since I have started teaching at Bert Church, I have
been doing regular check-ins with students to make sure that I am saying their names
correctly, to which they have appreciated. One student has even mentioned that I am the
only teacher who took the time to make sure her name was being said correctly.
What I will do in this week is introduce my project to both of my classes and then
have students fill out a google form asking them various questions such as, if I have been
saying their names correctly or if they would like for me to say it a different way. In the
google form, students will also be filling out how their name is supposed to be pronounced
phonetically.
Then, I want all of my students to fill out a survey, asking questions like “My name is
being pronounced incorrectly often” or “I do not know how to speak up about others saying
my name correctly.” Doing this survey will give me an indication of who I may need to have
private conversations with.
I want to have all of my students fill out the google forms so that nobody feels
singled out or like they are being targeted. Doing so will promote the idea of an inclusive
environment where everyone is involved and making an effort.

2. October 31st
A Check In:
At the end of the month, I will be doing a check in with students to see how they
have felt since I started taking this initiative. I will have them fill out a survey to see if it has
made an impact on how they feel at school, about their names, and themselves. I would
also like to talk to both of my classes on why it is important that we all take the effort to say
each other's names correctly and to not hesitate to ask each other how to say them.
 4

3. November 1st
A New Beginning:
Now that it has been almost a month since I started this project, I will start to slowly
share the results with other teachers. I will have students fill out another google form in
which I will ask them if there are any teachers who have been saying their names
incorrectly and would like for me to talk to them about it. Sometimes, students may feel
awkward to do so and I want to be their support for it. At this point I will also keep
encouraging students to speak up about their names and to not shy away from correcting
anyone.

4. November 30th
Let’s Keep It Going:
At the end of November, I would like to do another check in with my students of
how they are feeling about their name pronunciation and recognition since having
conversations with their teachers and classmates about it.
At this point, since it is getting closer to the end of the semester, I would like for any
students that would like to share the meaning and significance of their names to speak up
and do so. I think that this would be a great way to integrate cultural diversity into the
classroom and give students a chance to speak for themselves.

5. December 4/5th
The Impact:
Since we are nearing the end of practicum, I want to take this time to speak to my
classes once again about my entire project and share the findings with them. I once again
want to share the importance of why we should all be taking the time and effort to say each
other's names correctly, and encourage them to keep doing so in the rest of their school
years.
 5

The End Goal

By the end of practicum, I hope that students will start to speak up about their
names and to not be hesitant on correcting others when their name is being pronounced
incorrectly. As someone who has gone through this experience, I know how it feels and I do
not want others to go through the same experiences that I did. I am hopeful that both
teachers and students will continue on by stressing the importance of correct name
pronunciation and efforts are being made to do so.

To Continue On:
I would like to share my findings with the school administration in order to hopefully
get them to change up their class diversity profiles to what I have suggested. Since I have
access to the class diversity plan template, I want to modify it and show them an altered
version of what it can look like with the changes.
I would also like to send out an email to all staff sharing my results and findings with
them. In this email, I would like to also give the suggestion about adding a section in their
substitute plans with students names and pronunciations on there. Along with this, I will
provide a substitute template with the section added on there so they can use that for their
future substitute plans.

References:
This article here talks about the writer's own personal experience with people not
saying his name correctly. He discusses how many people would anglicize their names in
order to ‘fit in’ or to avoid the awkward conversation of having to correct someone about
saying their name correctly. The one part of the article that really stuck out to me was the
fact that he said how refusing to make an effort to pronounce someones’ name correctly,
suggests that you are choosing your own linguistic comfort over their identity. By making
them feel like their identity is not important enough to make an effort about, it can be seen
as a microaggression. I have dealt with this problem my entire life and it was comforting in
a way to see that others have gone through this problem as well.
Panwar, R. (2022). Why Getting Someone’s Name Right Matters. Harvard Business Review.
https://hbr.org/2022/01/why-getting-someones-name-right-matters#:~:text=When%20you
%20refuse%20to%20make,makes%20your%20behavior%20a%20microaggression
 6

This article highlights how educators should be aware that repeatedly

mispronouncing someone's name can leave a lasting, negative impact, much like what I
had gone through in all of my years of schooling. As inclusion and equity are becoming
more prominent in classroom settings, one of the main things that should be focused on is
pronouncing a student's name correctly. One part of the article also discusses how
teachers will inevitably have some names that are hard to pronounce, but if they
repeatedly keep mispronouncing them even after being corrected, it could be considered a
racial microaggression. I had dealt with one teacher who made me feel that way, but luckily
the rest of my teachers did not.
Walker, T. (2021). Why Pronouncing Students’ Names Correctly is So Important. National
Education Association.
https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/why-pronouncing-students-names-correct
ly-so-important
This article here talks about a workshop that had been put together in order to
provide historical context for names as well as resources for correct name pronunciation.
Like the other websites, it discusses the importance of a person's name and the connection
it has to their culture and identity. It talks about how incorrect name pronunciation
happens both in the classroom and outside of the classroom as well, where many people
have to deal with anglicizing their names in their workplaces. This is something that I
wanted to avoid as I got further into my university career and it is unfortunate that people
still have to deal with this problem.
Dali S, Atasuntseva A, Shankar M, Ayeroff E, Holmes M, Johnson C, Terkawi AS, Beadle B,
Chang J, Boyd K, Dunn T. (2022). Say My Name: Understanding the Power of Names, Correct
Pronunciation, and Personal Narratives. Association of American Medical Colleges.
https://doi.org/10.15766/mep_2374-8265.11284
This PDF highlights 10 tips for people in higher education. It is laid out in a way that
can be easily printed out so that it can be placed around a school or even in university. I
really liked tip #4 as this is something that would be extremely beneficial in a school
setting. Tip #6 is very important as well and is also something that I think could be
beneficial in any school setting and should be prioritized before school actually starts.
Pilcher, J., Deakin-Smith, H. (2022). Saying Students’ Names Right: 10 Top Tips For Policy
Makers In Higher Education. Nottingham Trent University.
https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/47894/1/1633473_Pilcher.pdf