I originally read and reviewed this book through Netgalley over a year ago, but was finally able to read it with students a few weeks ago and thought now would be a good time to come back and reflect on this book and post.
My Name is Saajin Singh by Kuljinder Kaur Brar and illustrated by: Samrath Kaur
This picture book tells the story of Saajin (pronounced Sah-jin), a little boy whose first experience at school is also his first experience with his name being mispronounced. Saajin doesn't know what to do when his teacher mispronounces his name, which leads to all other members of the school mimicking the mispronunciation. He begins to assume that this is just how his name is pronounced outside of his home and continues accepting or even introducing himself using this mispronunciation until his parents finally overhear and decide to discuss it with him.
When I originally read this book I was thinking of reading it to my 3/4s so my impressions are a little different now that I am in a new context, grade 1/2 with teeny little 6 year olds lol. I started an introduction to a Names unit at the beginning of the year because I wanted to try to get my 1s to write their names using proper casing... oh the world I'm in now lol. Anyway, I read The Little Girl by Hieu Pham-Fraser to my class first (see my post about that one here), then the next day I read My Name is Saajin Singh. Before reading, while we were all taking hours to make our way to the carpet and actually choose a spot where we might sort of listen to Mrs. Waite, I chatted with the kids who were ready to listen (about 4 out of 23), helping them connect back to the book we read the day before. I introduced the book by saying "in this book, Saajin thinks his name is pronounced one way at home and one way to school" when one of my students raised his hand (this in itself is shocking actually, almost no one raises their hand). I called on him and he explained that the exact thing happens with his name. He said "at school it is said one way and at home it's another way and it's ok that's just how it is." I stared at him in shock and asked if I was saying his name wrong. It turns out I was.
Now my post below probably seems like I'm a bit of a hypocrite, but I'm going to not be TOOOO hard on myself. I do try extremely hard to ensure I am pronouncing names correctly. When I'm meeting a child I always say "did I say your name correctly?" however, this is not good enough. What I need to do is say "can you say your name for me?". Because in this case I guessed the pronunciation of his name and when I asked him "did I say your name correctly" he said yes because he didn't want to correct me. I'll be completely honest here, I still don't feel 100% certain I'm saying his name correctly and that sucks. I really wish I could feel as confident with pronouncing his name as I do when I say Kaitlyn or Emma, but I really hope that trying my best isn't harming my students, I just can't be sure.
My little friend helped me with the pronunciation and I think I have it, but I am going to try to be more cognizant going forward. A bonus nice thing is that he saw Saajin on the cover and said "I think he is Punjabi like me". So I can feel a tiny bit better that I read this book which was a mirror for him, he saw himself in this story, in more ways than one.
So, am I glad I read this book? Absolutely. Do I feel like maybe I still have work to do? Also absolutely. But I'll just keep trying to be the best role model and teacher my kids can have, which mean continuing to reflect on my practice and keep finding awesome diverse and thought-provoking books to read to them. Even when they don't seem to be listening... but that's just where we are at.
Original Post: July 2022
My Name is Saajin Singh by Kuljinder Kaur Brar(Author), Samrath Kaur(Illustrator)
This picture book tells the story of Saajin (pronounced Sah-jin), a little boy whose first experience at school is also his first experience with his name being mispronounced. Saajin doesn't know what to do when his teacher mispronounces his name, which leads to all other members of the school mimicking the mispronunciation. As a teacher, this story hits very close to home because so many young people come into my classroom and take their cues from me, so the importance of getting a name pronunciation right from the first day is not lost on me.
Tales from A New Teacher: My Own Experiences
My second year teaching I had a student named Abdallah in my class. During opening conferences (sort of like meet the teacher or an open house idea) I asked Abdallah how to pronounce his name. His father told me the correct pronunciation, something like: "Ab-dah-la". I said the name back to them and they agreed my pronunciation was correct. The next day, the first day of school, the students all came in and we went around the circle sharing our name. Abdallah introduced himself and pronounced his name "Ab-do-la". I made note of this but didn't say anything. As the day went on, I noticed that some of Abdallah's friends from his class the year before all called him Abdullah. At some point in the day I pulled him aside and asked if I was pronouncing his name correctly and repeated it as "Ab-dah-la". He said yes. As the first few weeks of school passed I noticed that his friends who were in his class last year all called him Abdullah, but the other students followed my lead and called him Abdallah. I really wasn't sure what to do. A few weeks later at parent conferences I brought the question up with Abdallah and his father again. This time, Abdallah said "Ab-do-la" and his father said "No, I named you Abdallah, not Abdullah" Abdallah replied: "Dad, it's just what kids call me at school." His father tried to explain to both Abdallah and I that the two names meant different things. I felt awkward and unsure what to do as it seemed I had exposed an alternate identity Abdallah had at school. Eventually Abdallah explained that the teacher the year before mispronounced his name and all his friends had learned it wrong but he didn't feel comfortable correcting them. I tried to take Abdallah and his father's lead, but struggled to know what to do.
As the story continues, Saajin begins to come to the conclusion that his name is pronounced differently when he is in public. When he meets a new neighbour and introduces himself with the incorrect pronunciation his parents are surprised and later question him on it. His response is heartbreaking. He explains that Say-jin is just how his name is pronounced outside the house. This shows the thought process that must go through some children's minds as they begin to make sense of this new pronunciation and how unsure they must feel when they want to correct someone but also don't know how.
Choosing a "Canadian Name": My Own Experiences
Oh the "Canadian Name" debate... I have had many opportunities to try and duke it out with parents about their choice to name their child something they think is "Canadian" or "easy to remember" rather than having their child grow up with others struggling to pronounce their name. At a school I practiced teaching in before getting my degree, there was a family who all had names with a variation on "great". There was: Gratitude, Greatful (spelt incorrectly), Greatness, Great, and Greatfullness. Imagine being the kid who has to introduce himself as "I'm Great!" My first year teaching I had a student whose parents wanted her to go by Lauren, but as a grade 1 who was new to Canada she didn't know how to spell it. Instead, my teaching partner and I encouraged her to write her Korean name, which she knew how to spell. We also spoke to the parents and they seemed to defer to our judgement, but each time we sent work home, they would erase her name from the Name:________ line and write "Lauren". My favourite "Canadian Name" story was the sibling of one of my students. My student had a pretty common name, in fact two other children in my class that year had some variation of that name. His brother however was named after at 90s cartoon about two unintelligent teenage boys, one is Butt-head and his friend was named.... well the spelling was different but, yes, the younger brother shared a name with a tv character. When I double checked with Dad that they would prefer not to use the boys' Chinese names he said "No, see? Easy to remember!" You got that right....
But why do parents feel the need to use "Canadian Names"? Because we mess up! No one should have to change their name because other people can't learn how to properly pronounce it.
I absolutely could see this book in my classroom library and plan to purchase a copy to share with my Grade 3s once it is published (August 16, 2022), but even more than being an important part of my library, I think this book should be in my school library because, in my opinion, it is a must read for teachers. I would hope, by now, that most teachers understand the importance of learning correct pronunciations, but that being said, I know that there are many teachers out there pronouncing names wrong. This sad fact has led many families to create "Canadian" or "English" or "American" names, losing their culture and hiding the identity that comes with the name.
I would recommend this book to teachers, librarians and families of children in the 4-10 age range, as well as any adult or child who wants to learn about the importance of pronouncing names correctly. I highly recommend this book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read a complimentary advance copy of this book, I look forward to purchasing a hard copy soon.
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