Perhaps the biggest adjustment for me here in Thailand involves getting used to the names of our students. Unlike my years in Korea where almost all students have the last name of Kim, Lee and Park – notice they have ONE syllable – student names in Thailand are very unique and often consist of up to 20-27 letters! I feel for these kids who have to fill out government forms like passport applications. It’s to the point where I simply ask students to give me the first 4 letters of their last name and then I match it with their first name in order to save time and brain cells.
Due to the length and complexity of Thai names, students often adopt simplified first names which can also catch me off guard. For instance, an Abbot & Costello moment I had during my early days at school involved asking one Thai student the name of another Thai student... she said
Name? I didn't think she understood what I was asking so I repeated that I wanted to know the other student's name... and she said
Name? After numerous rounds of this, it dawned on me the other student's name is actually
Name =)
Other great nicknames of our students that come to mind include Bam, Ice, Guitar, Mint, Pooh, Heart, Smile, Earth, Pie, First and Nut. And to make it even more interesting, some kids will have one syllable of a selected nickname and their friend will have two syllables of the same name. Imagine a co-worker who teaches High School Strings having these kids in the same class: Boom and
Boom Boom, Toon and
Toon Toon, along with Mo and
Momo!
