The Importance of Learning Your Students' Names

Students come to group classes to be seen. One of the best ways to show you see them is to learn and use their names. In this episode of Yoga Teacher Confidential, Sage Rountree discusses the significance of addressing your students by name—and pronouncing their names correctly. From personal anecdotes to practical tips, Sage explains how getting names right can enhance the student-teacher connection and create a more welcoming classroom experience.

You’ll hear:

• Why names matter in building connection in your yoga class

• Practical strategies for learning and remembering your students’ names

• How to create a welcoming environment by using names thoughtfully

Do you have tips for learning your students’ names? Share them with me on Instagram at @sagerountree, and don’t forget to visit sagerountree.com for more resources to support your growth as a yoga teacher.

Links:

• Sage’s website for yoga resources

• Connect with Sage on Instagram

• Yoga Teacher Confidential podcast site

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Want to become (almost) everyone's favorite yoga teacher? Explore my continuing education workshops and 300/500-hour teacher training programs. It's all at sagerountree.com.

Transcript

Can I tell you something? I have nicknames for my students. They aren't mean—they just might not be the right names. Let's talk about how you can learn names. So you can be a welcoming host for your students. This is Yoga Teacher Confidential. I'm Sage Rountree. Thank you so much for listening. What's in a name. 

Well, when you learn and use your students' names and when you take the time to learn how to pronounce them correctly, you are being a good host for your yoga class. You are showing people that you value them. And I know that's exactly how you want your students to feel when they show up to your class to be seen. Part of why they're coming to class in person is to be seen to feel that sense of connection. And community that going to class with other people can offer. 

So names are super important. Let me tell you a few stories about my name, starting with why it is the perfect name for a yoga teacher [00:01:00] and how I came to have it. My first name is Sage. Sage, like the herb. My parents wanted a flower name. So they looked in the Burpee Seed catalog. Paged through until they found some flower names that they liked and they landed on Sage. 

I could have been Nasturtium or Chrysanthemum, but wound up with Sage. 

They then went and named my brother extremely creatively. 

John Hamilton. At any rate, I married a man still married to him, named Wes Rountree, and Rountree is spelled with no D. I know it sounds, especially in conjunction with Sage, like Round- tree. Um, like it might be some kind of Native name or like pulled wholesale as a, an assumed name, um, taken because it sounds so botanical or floral. Uh, but Rountree is actually a corruption of Rowan tree. 

It's an English name. And some folks in England will still spell it with a w R O w N T R E [00:02:00] E. Rowan is a kind of holly bush. And just a quick sidebar. I did name both of my daughters with flower names as well. My older daughter is Lily or Lillian, and my younger daughter is Vivian Iris. And my niece is Jasmine. I do understand that when people hear my name, especially given my work as a yoga teacher, they think that it's a name that I chose for myself or a name that was given to me by my guru. Neither is so, unless you want to call my parents my gurus. They were the ones who gave me the first name and Wes was the one who gave me the last name. 

My name is relatively easy to pronounce. I did hear it mispronounced one time. Amazingly, it was turning onto Central Park South running the New York marathon. So that is almost to mile 26 of the marathon. I had had a pretty decent day started kind of at the front of the second wave. So most of my day involved moving side to side to get around people [00:03:00] who were at the back of the front wave and, uh, dying. 

And so I was really in a lot of pain from all the sideways movement I had to do in that race and my calves were locking down. And I know I was feeling a little bit like, oh, I'm just so close to coming in in a Boston qualifying time. And I was probably looking in my, um, body language exactly like I felt. Turned onto Central Park South. 

And along the way I had —the whole race—I had heard people say, you got this, Sage, you're strong , Sage. You're a freaking athlete, Sage! It was amazing. Turn onto Central Park South looking pretty much like I felt, and I heard a voice from the crowd call out to me: GOOOO SAGGGGGYYYYY!. 

Yeah, I felt pretty saggy. And my family sometimes likes to call me Saggy in reference to that story. So saggy is a mispronunciation of my name. Have you ever had your name [00:04:00] mispronounced and how does it feel? People call me Page sometimes they call me Sadie sometimes I'm so used to those. Or Shea that I don't even really register them. 

But if you are sensitive, as you have a right to be about the way your name is pronounced, I bet you have corrected people in the past. Now, flip that and think about how you are creating a warm environment for your students. By learning their names and pronouncing their names correctly. At my studio, we now require pre-registration for every class and that makes it pretty easy to assign names to faces. That said sometimes I have a little bit of a question mark about people's names as they come in. 

And if they come in toward the end of the students arriving for class, I'm grateful because then I've been able to use the process of elimination. To figure out what their names are. It's also really useful for my memory to see the student's name on the roster before class [00:05:00] to see the student coming in. 

So I can associate their face with their name and to greet them by name. It's like a triple whammy of the visual of the word, the visual of the face. And then hearing myself say their name that I find is really useful for, um, for my memory. And of course, for welcoming the students into class. What do you do? 

If you have a student come in and they're totally new to you. Or you think they are? Here's something I learned from my colleague Alexandra—I stole it from her wholesale. I think it's just a wonderful way to greet somebody is to say, hi, are you a new face for me? And if they are, then the followup question is: awesome, 

are you new to town or are you just new to us or to me or to the studio? And I have witnessed her say this to dozens, if not hundreds of students over the years. And I have said it myself to dozens, if not hundreds of students, I find this a very warm and easy way [00:06:00] to connect to people. So, hi, are you a new face for me? 

And if they are, then they say, yes, you know, my name is Jeff or my name is José. If you aren't sure whether you have had these folks in class before you could say, oh, help me remember your name. This is really important because the longer you go calling somebody in your head by the wrong name, the longer you are going, keeping them feeling less than perfectly seen by you. So get over yourself. 

Don't be too proud to ask people. Please tell me, um, remind me what your name is or I want to make sure I'm pronouncing your name correctly. Will you please say it for me? 

 If your student has a name that isn't so familiar to you or is hard to pronounce, I suggest you find ways to help yourself. Remember maybe you write it down phonetically or put it in your notes app phonetically. 

Maybe you repeat it to yourself a few times. Maybe you make a voice [00:07:00] memo so that you can remind yourself how that name is pronounced, whatever it takes so that you can give your best faith effort at pronouncing your student's name correctly. I think it might still make sense after the second or third time that they've come to your class. For you to ask them to confirm that you're saying it properly. 

We've established how important it is to welcome your students by name. You can also say goodbye to them by name, will I see you next week, José? I'll see you next week, Gloria. And so on that way, you've greeted them at both ends. It helps to foster the connection between you and the student. Let's talk about whether you should be using students' names in class. 

It depends on the context. I suggest you do not call someone out by name. If it would make them feel like they're being called out or singled out by name. That is: I suggest you don't give anybody a direction that starts with their name. If [00:08:00] you are issuing a correction. 

On the other hand. Should you be praising students by name? If you have a small class and you can make a point of praising every single student by name. I guess that's fair. Right. But it wouldn't make sense to praise one student have a teacher's pet and then Le leave the other students wondering when they are going to get your praise. On the topic of praise though. Do you want to encourage your students to perform. To receive your approval. 

I think not. Remember your job as their teacher is to guide your students to inner connection, not to have them dancing for you, jumping through hoops, showing you how beautifully they can express the pose so that you validate them. Here's an affirmation for you. I greet my students by name. [00:09:00] I see my students. You are giving the message to your students that you see and value them when you learn their names, use their names and pronounce them correctly. 

Thanks so much for listening. Let's connect. You can find me at Sage Rountree on socials with no letter D in my last name as you now know, at sagerountree.com, or directly at the podcast website, yogateacherconfidential.com. Thank you so much for being with me.