Rachel Rostad

Yesterday as I casually scrolled through Tumblr (as one does in the 20 free minutes one has before students return from lunch), I stumbled across a video captioned, "Ever wonder why a Korean girl is named 'Rachel Rostad'?  Watch my newest piece & find out."  Living in Korea and working with Korean students, my curiosity was piqued, so I watched the video.  (Here, you can too!)

What a powerful piece.  A powerful speaker, a powerful woman, a powerful story.  It led me to reflect on the population I work with daily, the students I serve.  We are members of an international school community, and here's how that shakes down in my class.  15 of our students are Korean; 1 is Japanese-Korean; 1 is American.  3 other students are listed as foreign passport holders; I am not sure of their nationalities, or if they are dual citizens.  So let's call it 15 Korean students.  Of those 15, 14 students have a Korean birth name listed with the school.  Of those 14, only 2 choose to be known by that Korean name at school; the remaining 12 have selected an English name that they prefer.

Why?  We're an international school.  International means your background and culture have as much value as mine.  Why do you want an English name?  Why do you want to give up being called Mi-Yun* in order to be Rose*?  Do you fear that I as a teacher will like or respect you less as Minsoo* than as Eric*?  You don't need a made-in-the-USA sticker.  You don't need to put on an American wrapper for me to appreciate you.  I love you for who you are.  I love you wherever you come from, I love you whatever language you speak at home, I love you whatever your background.  I love the ways in which my students are different and the interesting and unique ideas they all bring to our community.

To be fair, and play my own devil's advocate, here's the flip side.  As Rachel Rostad says in her video, when you name your daughter, it's your dream for her.  By choosing their own English names, my students can name a dream for themselves.  They can explore their identities, be who they want to be.  Apparently the middle school has some trouble with this as students will change their names frequently as they discover who they are!  I remember myself, my sister, and my friends going through a similar phase with nicknames in late elementary and middle school.

But I'll say it again:  we're an international school.  The beauty of an international school is variety within the population, a celebration of backgrounds and cultures, an opportunity to share our lifestyles and become more open-minded and accepting of others.  Ms. W mentioned to me recently that the school is encouraging students to stick with their Korean names -- and I sincerely hope more will choose to do so.

* Of course, names have been changed to protect students' identities.

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Currently reading:  my Lonely Planet Korea guidebook
Current high:  a postcard from my best friend brightened my morning :) And my day ended with babysitting two great kids and a brownie date with EB!
Current low:  PD workshop coming up in Yokohama unfortunately means a non-weekend weekend