I want to tell you about my friend Olajuwan. She is from Africa and was in the fifth grade. She came into the library to check out books once a week with her class. I tried to learn her name and pronounce it correctly. The other students had a hard time saying her name as well. One day, when she came in to the library, she informed us that she wanted to be called Elisabeth. I felt so bad that she didn't want us to use her beautiful African name anymore but we obeyed her wishes. After this interaction our Librarian came across a book called "Your Name is a Song" by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow. It's a wonderful story about a girl whose classmates had a hard time pronouncing her name. The Mother teachers her how to see a name and sing it. The girl was excited to go back to school to teach her classmates how to sing her name.
As I thought about culture and psychology, I wonder how this changed my friends behavior. Olajuwan was used to having everyone know her name and say it correctly.
How did living in a new cultural environment affect her behavior. Did she feel depressed and like an outsider? Different from the other students and that's why she wanted her name to change to a more cultural accepting name?
As educators we need to learn the names of each student. As hard as they are, they are important to that student. If we can help our ELL students feel loved and valued, their transition into a new culture can be positive and can affect their behavior.
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