Journal entry 5
The podcast on history and culture made me reflect on the importance of names. I had never thought about the importance of knowing and properly saying someone’s name. This reminds me to an experience I had in high school. Teachers weren’t able to differentiate my sister and I apart. We are twins and have the same first name, and teachers called us “G” and “F” or “Maria 1” and “Maria 2”. When teachers called me this way, I initially had a negative response to it. At a certain point in life I got frustrated and mad because other classmates began calling me just like the teacher did. People continued to call me “G” or “Maria 2” for a log time, which ended up being normal for me. I no longer got upset about teachers and classmates calling me different names. Now I have come to realize that some people may not understand or be conscious that nicknames or mispronunciation of names can harm others. This situation negatively impacted me for a short time, but there are other students that may be scarred for life. I will strive to be a teacher who asks how to properly pronounce a name, instead of just giving up as if the name of a student did not matter. I have to respect who they are and part of who they are is their name. Maybe mispronouncing a name is not exactly the same thing as nicknaming a twin because they can’t differentiate us apart, but this is also affecting our identity.
Since we had the same name and we are sisters, people treated us as if we were the same person. If they mistakenly called me by my sister’s name, they thought it was funny and would say, “it’s the same thing”. Each person is unique and we don’t only have to be aware of respecting him or her, their culture, and their ideas but also their name.
No comments:
Post a Comment