in all of my classes i have had my students choose english names for themselves. they love this and get quite a kick out of choosing celebrity names like, jessica (alba), lindsay (lohan), angelina (jolie), brad (pitt), beckham (soccer star), steven (king), eminiem, etc... i had thought that this one particular young man wanted to be called "jesus." i certainly thought that was what he was saying and although it surprised me, i went with it. so, for one whole class period everytime i called on "jesus," the entire class would erupt into snickers and laughter and he would turn bright red and giggle so hard that he could never answer any of my questions! well, he arrived early to class the next day and bowed to me as he entered the room and said, "excuse me, teacher, i have this for you." he handed me a very neatly handwritten note which said:
"good evening sir.
i am going to write about english name last class.
i decided my english name such as zeus.
i think you made a mistake.
your prounuciation was like jesus but what i wanted to be called is zeus.
zeus is king of greek and roman mythe.
i think there is a little difference between korean and english pronunciation.
so you may call me zeus not jesus.
i need to say sorry about this.
i tell you once more, please call me zeus.
thank you."
i just about died right then and there! i wanted so much to fall on the floor howling, it was SOOOO funny! but i also felt so bad for misunderstanding him and calling him by a different name (let alone, JESUS!) over and over again! i could tell he had put so much effort into writing that note (there were many parts where he had used white out to get his spelling perfect). so i apologized to him for my terrible mistake and said i would most certainly call him zeus from now on!
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