When a name isn’t a name

In each of my classes this year, I had my students make name tags in a sincere effort to learn all of their names. Some names here are hard. So, when I saw the name of a student in my 7^th grade class was spelled “Geoffrey,” I thought I had it in the bag.

Turns out, pronouncing his name like the American “Jeffrey” is not how you’re supposed to pronounce his name. And turns out, he doesn’t appreciate it when other students pronounce his name like the stupid American teacher does.

In class yesterday, we had a lesson for Madame. “Jay oh fray, Jay oh fray, Jay o fray,” I repeated to myself over and over again during class. Much like the sports and games vocabulary that Geoffrey had just learned.