The Story of Your Name (LS-PL-355)

This learning scenario can be implemented in English and history lessons. The lesson combines language skills, history and ICT skills. The lesson can also be implemented as an interdisciplinary lesson in the school library at every moment of the school year.

Pseudonyms and nicknames

Students discover the etymology of their own names and learn how to say their names in English, they also try to create their diminutives. On the basis of some short biographies of famous people appearing in the Europeana Collections students discuss the question: why do people use pseudonyms and nicknames? Moreover, they learn to distinguish between pseudonyms and nicknames.

The meaning of my name

Firstly, the teacher moderates a discussion with students about the subject: what do you know about your name? Students try to find answers to some questions concerning the meanings of names. The teacher talks about the etymology of names using examples from the quiz and other interesting people’s names. Secondly, students work in pairs searching for information in the foreign language about names and solve, in learning apps the quiz entitled ‘Who is who?’, they connect famous people with professions or original versions of their names.

As a next step, students search for information about the etymology of names using the Behind the Name website. They note important things about their names in one online Jamboard document. Some students share their knowledge concerning the points.

Famous people and their nicknames

Afterwards, students look at the picture of “Agent 007”. This is a method used to stimulate critical thinking. We start to learn about nicknames and pseudonyms. Using the Mentimeter tool students write answers to the question: Why do people use pseudonyms and nicknames?

Next, we share a poster with answers in class. Students learn to summarize their opinions. Students use the QR codes with links to the Europeana Collections. They search for biographies of famous people and discover information about various facts connected with their names. Students work together in groups on one online document and create mindmaps in Popplet. Short guidelines are given to students. Thanks to that, they know what information the online mindmap note should include. Other teams add their own ideas (the name in English, versions of the name in different languages, the nickname, pseudonym and diminutive) to describe the person chosen by their group. Some pairs and groups present their work in public. The teacher suggests continuing the subject at home.

Skills and trends

Students use ICT tools working in groups and in pairs and learn communication and collaboration. Students participate in discussions and learn critical thinking. The skills constitute essential elements of the national curriculum.

Would you like to know more about this learning scenario? You can download it below:

Europeana-DSI-4-LS-2020-Poland-Szadziewska-docx Download

Europeana-DSI-4-LS-2020-Poland-Szadziewskapdf Download

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CC BY 4.0: the featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana Collections and provided by the Wellcome Collection.

6 Responses to "The Story of Your Name (LS-PL-355)"

Barbara Legutko says:

June 13, 2020 at 12:55 pm

Very interesting, will try with my students.Thank you for sharing it!

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Joanna says:

June 15, 2020 at 9:29 am

Thanks for your work. Very useful😊

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sofroniamaravelaki says:

June 22, 2020 at 10:24 pm

Excellent and inovative idea! I am sure students will love it! I would gladly implement it with my students. Well done!

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1. Aneta Szadziewska says:
  
  June 24, 2020 at 12:41 am
  
  Thank you very much!I hope your students will be glad to discover information about own names and nicks.
  
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elenimalamidou says:

March 21, 2021 at 10:49 pm

Comment on the Learning Scenario “The story of your name”

This comment is based on the learning scenario “The story of your name” created by the Polish teacher Aneta Szadziewska. The students involved were 12-13 years old (7th grade). The learning scenario was implemented in the Computer Science classes. The first part of it was discussed online during the school closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic and another part was conducted at school.
From the original Learning Scenario I decided to implement the following tasks:
• Discussion with the students about the etymology of their name, what their name tells about them, why nicknames or pseudonyms are used. They conducted a quick research about their name using Google and the site “Behind the name”.
• The students also explored the ‘Who is who’ Learningapps and they connected famous people with their professions.
• The reasons for using a pseudonym and the difference between a pseudonym and a nickname were also examined. After the discussion, the students used the Mentimeter Tool and created a word cloud (in Greek) answering the question “Why do people use pseudonyms?”. Then, using the same tool, they created a second word cloud “Describe your name in two words” (in Greek again).
• A Jamboard document was created, in which all the students wrote what they found most important about their names using key words on colorful post-it notes.
• The students were divided in groups and used the QR codes with links to the Europeana Collections in order to search for the biography of famous people that the learning scenario recommends, such as Edith Piaf, Maradona, Emily Bronte, Rafael, Mark Twain, Coco Chanel. Some students found it interesting to do the same for the famous singer “Lady Gaga”. The results of their searching were shown in beautiful mind maps , which were created with the aid of Popplet.

Learning Outcomes:

This learning scenario encouraged our students to wonder what is behind a name, which was a great opportunity for them to augment critical thinking: they looked up the etymology and story of their name and they also realized what the difference is between pseudonyms and nicknames. Moreover, they were encouraged to use the Europeana Collections to find the biographies of famous people of their choice and they made beautiful mindmaps, thus enriching their searching skills and creativity. All in all, the students learned to collaborate and communicate with amazing results. They worked in groups, organized information they found, created beautiful projects and then presented them in class using interesting ICT tools.

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edytabieniek says:

April 29, 2022 at 9:46 pm

Comment on the Learning Scenario “The story of your name”

This comment is based on the learning scenario “The story of your name” created by the Polish teacher Aneta Szadziewska. The students involved were 14 years old. The learning scenario was implemented in the English lesson since the sister of one student in the class was to give birth to a child and parents wondered what name to choose for their child. Choosing a name is not easy and that is why it is worth reading the meanings and origin of the names.
The aim of the lesson was to discover the etymology of students’ own names and learn how to say their names in English, as well as find out social reasons for using nicknames and pseudonyms.

As an introduction to the lesson, I used the learninaggs game in order to connect famous people with their professions. Then, students searched for their name using Google and the site “Behind the name” and focused on the difference between a pseudonym and a nickname. We talked about using a pseudonym and nicknames on the example of one of the most famous agents “Agent 007”. Moreover, students said what nicknames they had, how do their parents, friends and colleagues refer to them. We created a world cloud with all nicknames using the Mentimeter Tool. This tool was used again to see what names are in students family (parents, siblings and grandparents).
The last part of the lesson was about famous people so students used the QR codes with links to the Europeana Collections. They searched for biographies of famous people and discovered interesting facts connected with their names. Students worked together in 6 groups on one online document and created mindmaps in Popplet.

Learning outcomes
This learning scenario provoked the discharge of positive emotions and fun. Students could learn what is the meaning of a particular name because they looked up the etymology and story of their name. They also noticed the difference between pseudonyms and nicknames.
The students could play the game, search for biographies of famous people, work together and use ICT tools that caused a lot of emotions. They were very interested in the lessons. In other words, I encouraged them to look for the names parents give their children. As a result of the lesson, descriptions of names, word clouds, and mind maps were created.

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Pseudonyms and nicknames

The meaning of my name

Famous people and their nicknames

Skills and trends

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