The Name Game

My memory is failing me again. I totally forget some of my students' names or get them mixed up.

S: Cher, si Afiy absen.
T: Afiy? Who's Afiy?

And my students shake their heads.

S: Si Pak Aji bah!

Only then I remembered. Since I have many students, it can be quite difficult to memorise their names and faces. There are more than twenty Muhammads and quite a handful of Sitis, Amals, Shikins and that's just in one class.



The hard part of memorising their names is that their names don't reflect their personality or looks. So to help me remember who's who, I assigned them nicknames like Screechy (like her voice), Scruffy (always in need of a shower), Smiley (that's what he does), Shorty, Teletubby and so on. From then on, I started remembering their real names. Shorty is Amin, Screechy is Laila and so on.



There's this big girl in class. I just call her by her real name because she's the only one I remember. The students of course protested and wanted me to call her King Kong instead.



Ss: Awu, nicknamenya banar tu cher.



Of course I'm not dumb enough to fall for that unlike when I started working.



There was this big girl the boys called si Bajau. I had no idea what it meant. I thought it was a new word coined to refer to big people affectionately like lemak berkrim, tong gas, si tabam etc. Honestly I thought it meant basar + tajau = bajau.



So during one of my lessons



T: So who knows what the answer is?

Ss: Aku cher! Aku!



The boys started shouting, hoping to be picked but I nominated one girl.



T: Oi yang lain diam. Biar si Bajau menjawab!



And the boys literally fell on their seats and the floor laughing. Si Bajau grumbled something.



T: OK Bajau, do you know the answer? Bah Bajau.



Again the boys ruptured while I looked at them quizically. Then a girl showed me a picture in her book.



It turns out that Bajau is actually a race and of course is not a deragotary term. However the Bajau in the picture was toothless and not easy on the eyes. And that was how the boys saw si Bajau.



Luckily si Bajau understood that I was a rookie teacher who was just trying to impress her kids by being up to date with slang. Otherwise, she would've rearranged my face.



And from that day on, I learn not to be so gullible anymore.