NameCoach
Avoid Mispronounced Name Faux-Pas this Graduation Season
NameCoach is brand new product guaranteed to ensure a graduation ceremony’s success. NameCoach is a unique, flexible and easy to use service that organizes and consolidates much of the time-consuming work of saying students’ names correctly during the ceremony. Whether one is compiling voicemails, dealing with phonetic spellings on index cards or saying the name to the graduation announcer just before it is called, NameCoach provides the definitive solution. Schools and departments simply send one link to their students to record their names on a dedicated webpage for the ceremony. The graduation announcer can then hear the names, make notes and see any additional comments students have about how to correctly pronounce their names.
Research has demonstrated the difficulty involved when utilizing phonetic spellings and also points to the importance of learning by saying. NameCoach is a free and easy way to avoid the pitfalls associated with relying on methods that are less than accurate.
On March 19th, NameCoach held its first ever Pronounce-A-Thon at Stanford Venture Studios, where contestants attempted to say names they have never heard before—without assistance. The contest was an overwhelming success. As soon as they were given the opportunity to use NameCoach their ability to pronounce the names correctly increased dramatically.
The NameCoach service has been successfully used at graduations and in classrooms internationally. The testimonials speak for themselves:
“The Graduation Ceremony Service is a very nice program. But it’s one thing to have your name mispronounced at Graduation; it’s another to have your name mispronounced every day in class. I look forward to inviting all of my students to use the resource in anticipation of the first day of school. My teachers will be asked to review their class rosters and if they come across a name they feel would be hard to pronounce, they can listen to the name before the student even enters class! This, I feel, would go a long way to helping to create an inclusive, safe learning environment.”
~Greg Louie, Principal, Santa Teresa High School
“NameCoach was a wonderful resource for our faculty, staff and students for our Commencement ceremony. Easy to use, and it was helpful to have our students record their name pronunciations for our faculty. It was one less thing we had to worry about! This is such an important event for our students, and using NameCoach certainly contributed to the success of our program. Their customer service was exceptional and they replied to our questions/concerns in a timely manner. We are excited to use the new Student Name Directory service for upcoming orientation and recruitment events!”
~Olgalydia Winegar, Student Services Manager
“NameCoach was a huge asset to the success of our graduation ceremony. It’s a simple, intuitive, and most importantly helpful tool to make sure that each person hears their name pronounced correctly during their moment of honor. I look forward to continuing to use the service to make sure that students are respected and announced accurately at our future events.”
~ Mike Wilson, Faculty, Haltom High School
The NameCoach Team looks forward to helping students, teachers, and announcers respect each other’s unique identities and culture.
For more information visit: www.name-coach.com or
Email us at info@name-coach.com
This article was published on 5th June: World Environmental Day, in Global Education Magazine.