Nick-names in Rasha

Russian are very into nick-names and I'm quite intrigued by their choices in them. When I say they're into nick-names, what I really mean is about a third of the people here have a nick-name/affectionate name that is a shortened version of they're real first name (some common favs.: Dimitri-> Dima. Anastaia-> Nastya.) and then probably half of Russia has random nick-names that all end in 'asha' and do not appear (at least to me ) to be obviously derived from their real names in any way. The favorite of these 'asha' names is Sasha, which is commonly used for (but not limited to) people whose real name is Alexandra/Alexander. I teach three little kids (2 boys, one girl) and two university guys named Sasha, the guard at our school is named Sasha, and I've heard some adults at our school refer to one of the head coordinators at our school as Sasha. So, basically, everywhere I go here, I am bound to meet someone named Sasha. On the bright side of this, if I ever forget someone's name here, as long as I guess Sasha, I will probably have an extremely good shot of being right.



While Sasha is the favorite 'asha' name, it is certainly not the only one. I also teach a Masha, an Imasha, and a Yasha at the kindergarten. In my home group of kids, I have two Sashas, plus, Imasha and Masha both. This means that four of my six main kids have 'asha' names. Which means, as you've probably already guessed, I confuse myself and the kids alot by accidently letting the wrong name slip out when talking to them. Scenes like this are not uncommon in my class:

ME to Sasha (boy): Sasha, sit down please.

Sasha (girl) looks confused because she's already sitting down.

Masha: random rumbling in Russian (remember, speaking Russian isn't aloud in English class) which probably translates into something like, "This American lady is absolutely crazy."

Sasha (boy) finally sits down.

Me to Masha: Imasha, no Russian!

Imasha: I be good! I be good!

Me: Oh, sorry. Masha, no Russian!

Sasha (girl) is now dancing around the room.

ME to Sasha (girl): Sasha, sit down!

Sasha (boy), : Ms. Amy, looook, I'm sit.

ME: No, not you, Masha- I mean Sasha- that Sasha!



The confusion only increases on days when a boy name Sava is put in my group because then I'm accidently calling him Sasha, and Sasha (boy) Sava. My poor students- if they never become fluent in English it will probably be do to the fact that I kept accidently calling them by the wrong names.