Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Teachers that can't speak English
I love walking into class that first day of the semester, sitting down in a cramped seat and waiting for your teacher to walk in. All you know about your professor as of now s that his last name sounds Russian and he gives out almost all B's and C's. That's if you've done your research of course. As you sit there waiting impatiently, the chatter and slamming of armrest begins to grow. Suddenly the loud door to the right of the auditorium clicks open and in walk what appears to be Jaws from James Bond The Spy Who Loved Me. As I wait for him to flash his steel teeth at me I begin to pack my bags a in preparation of leaving. The six foot seven monster was highly intimidating. I was worried this russian beast was going to just eat the little kids in front and leave. Luckily for them he whipped out a little notepad like a nine year old girl and began scribbling down some little notes. He then preceded to pull a pack of Dollar General stickers that included an array of green smiley faces, sparkly thumb's up, and the classic golden stars. My perspective on the supposed beast quickly subsided. Unfortunately all of my worries still weren't gone. The friendly giant still had yet to talk and my ears feared that when those first words parted his mouth that I would need one of those little translators from the Olympics every time I came to class. The Russian hiked up his jeans, tucked in his plain black shirt and patted down his thin brown hair before starting his lecture. He turned to the class gave a quick nod and said "Thhus Reedy uh bee geen?" Which to this day I still must assume to be "Who's ready to begin?" For the remainder of the class I stared blankly at the friendly giant trying to decipher the language that came from his mouth. I, along with my friends soon gave up trying and rapidly pulled out our laptops and began Stumbling. It's almost as if my parents can't blame me when I let them know I didn't do so well on a test. If you want me to pay attention in class or at least undertand anything that we are talking about I first have to know what the hell my teacher is saying. If you have ever experienced a similar situation to mine it's extremely miserable. I've experienced roughly three teachers this year that have struggle to speak a full sentence of correct English grammer. I know I'm not perfect grammatically but if I'm going to pay to attend this University I at least expect the school to hire professors that can speak English. Is it seriously not a requirement? Do they not talk to these professors during the interview or is it just all written on paper with occasional nods of agreement and understanding. Maybe I'm being overly critical but this is one thing that really pisses me off.
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I totally understand where you are coming from. My TA for physics lab is from Armenia. He is definitely not “beastly” looking but he does have trouble speaking English. My first day of lab, I thought I was going to die in that class, but I have definitely gotten used to it and I am totally fine with it. I guess his speaking is not as bad as you portray your teacher’s speaking to be. My TA definitely does try though. He usually has to just stop and take a breather or just talk slowly or take many pauses so he can think of what he is trying to say. Personally, if I had the option, I would definitely take his lab/class again because although his English is not close to perfect, he makes the lab so much better and he teaches the material for the lab very well and that is all I can really ask for from a TA. Good luck with your class, I hope it gets a little bit better and if it does not, just look on the bright side: you have like 30 some days left in the semester.
ReplyDeleteWow this was definitely a big problem this year. First semester I had a first year seminar with this German Classics professor. His English wasn’t that bad but the way he pronounced some things just bothered me at time. I thought this was bad but that was nothing compared to what I had to deal with so far this semester. I have a Chinese statistics teacher and it’s a bit hard to understand what she’s saying all the time. Although I try to pay attention in class I usually end up just reading the book while she gives her lecture because I can understand from the book so much better than she teaches. At least she writes everything on the board so I can copy it all down and review it after class. But at the beginning of the year it was almost impossible to understand what she was saying most of the time.
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