What's in a name? A "Obeid" by any other name would still be a devil!

The kids find it hilarious when I storm towards the whiteboard, wearing what I hope is my most threatening and stern face, to write the name of the misbehaving boy and end up writing the wrong name!! The whole class cracks up (even more so when this is followed by the cry of the innocent boy- who's name is now on the board- saying: "WHAT did I do!!!!"), and well.. I can't help cracking up too! Talk about bursting my bubble of "seriousness".

I must say however, (kindly ignore the above story!) that I am doing much better with the names than I had first expected. Putting the "Abduls" and "Moh'ds" aside for a sec, I can happily announce that I almost know the names of the rest of the students:) I have a lot of Nassers and a couple of Osamas. I even successfully learnt to distinguish between "Hamad", "Hammad" and "Homoud" (believe me that was quite the feat, when my brain had them firmly classified under IAO: Indistinguishable Annoying Objects:D)

There is less to boast about when it comes to the kids named Abdulrahman/Abdulrahim/Abdulaziz or anything similar. The best I could do so far is look at the kid and recognize that he's an "Abdul"- but which one of the Abduls exactly remains a mystery to me. I have to resort to guessing each and every time- and boy do I suck at it! Many a times have I gone through this or a similar conversation:
Me (running after a boy in the corridor): hey YOU, come here and stay in line! Abdul.... rahim right?
IAO (shakes head): nope
Me: Abdul rahman? Abdulaziz? Abdul majid?
(boy continues shaking head)
Me: oh very well WHAT is your name then.
IAO: Abdulla
Me (in a desperate attempt to save face:P): Well too bad cuz you look like an Abdulrahman to me. Now GO!

And as for the Mohammads, it's a very simple strategy. If I don't automatically know the boy's
name, and don't recognize him as an Abdul, then he must be a Mohammad:)

About a week ago, we had an "Open House". This is where parents come to school for a friendly meeting with the teachers and to take a look at their kids classes. I must admit that back then my knowledge of their names was still pretty bad. So as each mom came to me and said "How's Abdulaziz???", I apologetically explained that I teach four different classes and still don't remember the names, although if I saw him I'd know which one he is.

Then someone had to go and call my bluff! A mom was ready and took out the picture of her son. I stared at the picture and staring back at me was a face of a boy I had never seen in my life before! I'm telling ya, never in my life- let alone in my classroom.

Yikes, talk about awkward :p