The My Name, My Identity Campaign is an inspiring effort of the Santa Clara County Office of Education to promote inclusion and appreciation of diversity in schools. In this campaign, teachers are the role models who demonstrate cross-cultural understanding by pledging to pronounce student names correctly. Also, teachers use classroom activities to foster the ability of students to pronounce others’ names correctly and to encourage others to do the same.
This is essential both for building a safe and supportive school climate and for building school-family partnerships. Families, especially of immigrant children, may feel misunderstood or disconnected from schools due to language barriers, cultural differences, and lack of experience with the American school system. Learning names is a simple first step to building trusting relationships with parents.
Why is this campaign important? As the school year starts, students create or re-establish their social relationships with peers. Peer acceptance will affect their well-being and school engagement throughout the year. A small thing such as not knowing someone’s name can stand in the way of an invitation to join a basketball game or a workgroup.
Teachers who want to extend the theme of the campaign can teach through stories. Books help students step into the shoes of others and empathize with their struggle. There are multiple picture storybooks for beginning readers. For example, The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi tells the story of Unhei (pronounced Yoon-hye) who has recently arrived in the United States from Korea. Her name means grace, but after experiencing some teasing, she no longer wants to use this name. The children at the school create a Name Jar for Unhei to pick an American name. However, Unhei comes to understand the importance of her name through conversations with her mother and grandmother. (Here’s a lesson plan for The Name Jar that can be used in faith formation classes.)
In the upper elementary grades, consider the book Any Small Goodness: A Novel of the Barrio by Tony Johnson. Arturo (“Turo”) is a bright and compassionate teen whose family arrived in East Los Angeles from Mexico. He is willing to give up his old name after his teacher turns it into “Arthur.” His grandmother’s unhappiness about the change gives Arturo the courage to ask for correct pronunciation of this name. (The Ethics Center offers a complete lesson plan for English language arts on Any Small Goodness. Contact us at ethics@scu.edu for more information.)
What can teachers have their students do to support the campaign? Here are some ideas:
- Practice writing down students’ first and last names.
- Take the time to ask questions about the meaning of each other’s name and nickname.
- In the first week of school, encourage students to repeat their names when talking in class or with friends.
- Tell students not to be afraid to ask about the correct pronunciation of names.
- Praise students for making an effort to learn how to pronounce names.
- Using name tags from the My Name My Identity website, have students write their name and decorate the card.
- Ask students to write their names in their native language and English.
To date, 926 school districts have pledged to encourage respect to the names of others, especially those from diverse backgrounds. While this figure represents less than 10 percent of the total number of school districts in the nation, it has shown significant growth in the number of participating schools—nearly doubling over the last year—and great promise as a positive school climate trend.