Why Students Should Call You by Your First Name 

I teach English to elementary and middle school students in Spain. Here, it is basically the norm for students to call teachers by their first name. I noticed, years ago when I arrived in Spain, that it definitely builds a positive culture and relationship with students in the classroom.

If you are able to still be a mentor to your students then this will be beneficial, however in most the cases I seen teachers implement this approach it always ends on the students confusing the relationship and disrespecting the teacher.

I'm a second year teacher and love your content. This video caught my attention because I wanted to do it when I started teaching but was reprimanded almost immediately by the principal's assistant of all people. She insisted I call her "Ms. Smith" (not her real name) instead of Sharon. It took me weeks to get used to adults addressing each other by title. It's stilted and unnecessary IMHO. So this is not allowed at my school but I love the fact it is at some others.

I'm totally going to experiment with this in my student teaching placements. Thank you for posting this, Thom!!

I find it funny that here in brazil we call our teachers their first name or nickname but the most common is "teach" (sorter version of teacher lol). Like from kindergarden to uni we always call teachers "teach". I am in math uni to become a teacher. I am waiting for the day to be called "teach". I find it cute and nice.

Respect is not given, it's earned that's why.

I think this is a bit hard when you're a language teacher. In Chinese culture, filial piety which stems from confucianism still reflects strongly in modern society. In the Chinese language there are different word forms that show respect, they don't often use Mr. Or Mrs. but they will say the last name followed by a word that just means teacher. So it ends up being something like "Smith Teacher" only in Chinese. Also because of the overall rhythm in the language, in most cases it just rolls off the tongue easier when you say the last name (which is always only one syllable in chinese) and then teacher.

Sounds like an interesting idea. Here in Switzerland, when talking in German, I guess it would be very hard to implement though. In English lessons, however, when everybody talks in English, all of a sudden it's no problem when students call their teacher by the first name. In German, we have the polite form of address and the casual form. So, every sentence sounds a little bit different depending on what form you use. Also, there are different words for greeting people. Some greetings are considered formal and others casual. And since the polite form is the usual way how you talk to other people except for family, friends and peers, I think it makes sense that the pupils learn to address their teacher this way. Each language is different. I like your videos a lot btw.

I had some students call me just by my last name and leaving out the “Mr.” which I thought was interesting. I didn’t comment on it because I think it’s a nice middle ground.

I can remember the first time my children told me that the hip parents wanted to be called by their first names. 🙄I told them we would never be hip, their friends could call us "Mr." and "Mrs.", and I hoped they would show other parents and teachers the same respect.

It's weird, I call people I like by their last name, although without the Mr, Mrs, etc.

Never here in the Philippines. We revere our teachers so much that it gives us ick and are very uncomfortable calling them by their first name. I mean we do not call our elders by their first name, we call them ate, kuya, uncle, auntie, lolo, lola. So it won’t make sense to our culture.

I literally was just told by my team at my first middle school job to stop letting kids call me Miss First Name. I told the students either first or last is fine based on their comfort. To have my coteachers tell me to stop it made me frustrated since I did it for exactly as you said it. I’ve only been here about a month so to accuse my name choice as one of the reasons for students testing me is ridiculous.

I go by a first name basis, you guess right! It's just me on that in the whole school. In the beginning, the Vice principal told the students to stop it but was told I told them they could call me so. Honestly though, I am just in love with my first name, I don't think I have any other reason for doing so😊

This is going to be my first year teaching and I'm nervous to do this, even though I want to. My primary experience with kids is as a big brother and that's the sort of role I always imagined myself taking toward kids. But I'd be the only teacher doing this in my small middle school and if I don't otherwise have the respect of the kids (hard to do from the start) this is going to seem like a big contributing factor, or at least a symptom.

I just realized how strange it is because we either say teacher in first-person singular or with their names + teacher again and before secondary school we also use a kinder word for that

I teach a the college level and always let me students call me by my first name if they feel comfortable doing that but give them the option of Professor Espinosa. I have found it extremely rewarding in building relationships and respect with my students.

Hey Thom it's your old student Estelle. I miss you!

See my first name is Camile, which I like a lot, but it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue like “Tom.” I also hate the nickname Cam or Cami, and don’t want them to call me that. I’d rather go by my last name honestly.

Can you tell me why American call someone with their last name how if that’s your do still call them with their last name because in my country it’s disrespectful if you call someone with their last name we only call them using their first name

What happened to you on RU-vid, Thom? I can’t find videos from you that are less than 2 years old.

My last name is Adams but I actually go by Miss Bee. Children in general are not allowed to call me by my full first name. Miss Bee is literally an entire personality😂.

Teachers used to refer to students by Mr. and Ms., but that changed, however, students are still expected to show that respect to teachers. It's a bit of a double standard. Also, using last names used to be a part of polite society. At my job at the phone company, we were required to use Mr. or Ms./Mrs. when a caller inquired as to our names.

I agree whole heartedly 💙

Lmao who decided this is disrespectful? The past was weird. Lol

What is wrong with using a formal title? I feel that our society no longer holds respect for elders, and this is such a sad commentary. Children should respect (not fear, nor blindly obey) adults. I still call my administrators by Mr. and Mrs., whether it be through email or verbal communications. Teachers are not students' masters, but they should certainly not be treated as equals.

When our society was intact, children and young adults called their elders Mr., Mrs., etc. Now that society has crumbled and more than half the students don't have both parents in their house, drug use is rampant, depression and anxiety are through the roof, children and adults dress like crap, people don't know what sex they are, and academic achievement is in the toilet... sure why not just get rid of the last bit of normalcy and formality left in society. Why not just have the students call you schmuck?

I don’t agree with this. This is the most ridiculous video. It would take way to long to break down and dissect many things you said that is so incorrect. One if you are stating that calling someone Mr. & Mrs. is a sign of dominance over students then you should stop teaching. I would not want you to teach my child thing. These people worked years and very hard to earn their title and to imply that by students calling their teacher mr., miss, mrs. means that they do not have a brilliant relationship is asinine and that it only shows dominance is crazy. I as a student would withdraw from your class personally bc you are showing and teaching disrespect to people like my parents who spent years going to school and earring their degrees and titles . Respect is earned as well, this can be done with a title. You can have a title and still have great respect and a great relationship with your students, parents and coworkers.If the American school system in general taught students the importance of earning and showing basic respect for human beings then I would say yes go for it but look at how horrifying schools are now and how we rank at the very bottom of the list when it comes to education. Let’s teach our kids first WHAT RESPECT is first and what it looks like. I remember my professors throughout school always addresses the students Miss Parks or Mr. Apple. I remember that this was brilliant and loved it. Respect was shown both ways. One other thing, just because you gave ur students permission to do this does not mean they still respected you more, they still knew you had power over them. Complying does not mean respect. Next, did you inform parents before this? I know for a fact that many of us would not be able to do this because it would go against how we were raised by our parent. You are pretty much saying I should drop calling my mother “mom” and start calling her Kelley because that will show her how respectful I see her? Let me show my grandmother respect and call her Paulina instead of grandmother. A title she has earned as my parents’ parent and as my elder. Yea, NOPE. Not the fact that these people has also earned their titles by raising and sacrificing to give me every opportunity in life. Stop the bull. We as a society in America has become way to relax. This is why we are struggling as a whole. Sorry, I heartily disagree. If our society was different I would say yes but no, nope, nada.