4.1 Learning names

Aim

To learn and remember the names of all learners in your class as quickly as possible.

Introduction

Some teachers don't learn learners’ names and don't see this as important. ‘Too many students’ is a common complaint, or ‘It takes too long to learn so many names’. I’m not sure that either of these excuses stands up well in most contexts. Even if your memory isn't good, it really isn't very hard to do, and it makes an important difference.

If you don't know their names, learners are just anonymous members of class. Knowing and using a name acknowledges each person as an individual, someone you pay attention to and are interested in.

Similarly, it's important for class members to know each other's names so that they can get on better together and work better together. If you teach in a secondary school where learners have been together in the same class for some time, this isn't a problem, but in other teaching situations, perhaps with short-term classes and a lot of turnover in learner numbers, this becomes very important.

The techniques in this section will help you learn and remember the learners’ names. If your class also needs to learn names, many of these techniques will also be useful for them.