Don't call me "Teacher"

When I used to teach English as a Second Language in the Santa Clara Adult School I knew I had to get credibility with my students. On the first day of class I would introduce myself as Scott Phillips (I wrote it on the board). I told them they were welcome to call me Scott (wrote on board). I said I wanted them to think of me as a friend so they could feel comfortable speaking English with me. I said if they felt uncomfortable with such informality they could call me Mr. Phillips (wrote on board) if they wanted to show me respect. I know in many countries they refer to their teacher as "Teacher" as a sign of respect.

 I told my students that in the United States the only students that call their teacher, "Teacher", were kindergarten teachers. I said we couldn't imagine calling our teacher at any other level "Teacher". I said in their country "Teacher" was a sign of respect and in this country calling their teacher "Teacher" is a sign of disrespect. If someone calls me "Teacher" it is like saying, "I am an ESL student". I told them I would not allow them to call me teacher, (I wrote it on the board and put a line through it Teacher). They asked me why "Miss Linda" next door allowed them to call her "Teacher". I laughed at them and told them I asked Linda that once.

She said she has been teaching for so long and tried to fight it at first then gave up and let them all her that. I looked them all in the eye and told them, "I have also been teaching for a long time but I will NEVER give up." Everyone laughed, including me.  Then I kept introducing myself, telling them what and what not to call me. I asked them why they called the teacher next door "Miss Linda". They tell me her name is Linda and they want to show her respect. I said that is nice, but I want to teach them proper English. Part of my job is to teach about American English.

 I told them they can call me Scott or Mr. Phillips (already on board), but they can NOT call me Mr. Scott (wrote it on the board and put a line through it Mr. Scott). I know it is becoming more common these days to call people like that, but I personally think it is a little disrespectful. One person once told me that they think ESL students from Asia do it since they write their last name first so they misunderstand our way of writing first name first. This sounded like a reasonable explanation, but didn't explain why the people from South America do the same thing. In my classes everyone called me Scott or Mr. Phillips.

Other teachers didn't understand why my students didn't call me teacher. They told me it is a sign of respect, and I told them I wanted my students to learn how to live in this country, they already know how to address people in their country. Just because it is right in one place doesn't mean it is right in another.