During my very first day at school, when I was almost 7, my teacher did not use my name at all. She spoke to the other pupils, but not directly to me. I could understand her when she spoke in English, but quickly picked up that there were others in the class who could not understand what she was saying.
I became very talkative and noisy, just so that she would notice me and address me. I did not make friends with anyone, just talked at anyone who was around me. I asked one of the girls what her name was, in an effort to be friendly, but when her response was an alarmed, “AHH!” I knew that I was wasting my time with her, and in any case, she looked as though she was going to burst into tears.
Two weeks later, we had a different teacher – quite suddenly, and without announcement. I kept looking around the corner for the first teacher to return, but she never did. Oh good, as she was rather stern anyhow. The second teacher introduced herself. “My name is Mrs Tan,” she said with a smile. Then she went around in turn, pointing to each child and reading out their name from the name badges. I proudly stuck out my chest for her to read my name label. She studied it for a few moments longer than she had for the others.
She hesitated, then asked me what my mother called me at home. “Ann” I replied. She looked at my badge again. It did not make sense. Then she found her solution. She did not know how to pronounce “Annette”, so she called me by my middle name then and for the rest of the year. That was how I knew that my name was not only “Ann” but also “Leonie”, though it was not until a year later that I found out that my name actually was “Annette”!