Teacher difficulties

searcher30

a friend's teenager has difficulty understanding the teacher's accent in Maths...(he is from the caribbean)
has anyone come accross this issue before? he has to take extra lessons because of this. what would you recommend?
thanks

Optimist

How do the other students manage ?

searcher30

Not sure, will find out

Morn

I would check to see if the teacher is a tutor in a tutorial group or whether they are the main lecturer.

I have had a similar issue with a tutorial lecturer and I simply got transferred to another group.

I would suggest that the person involved speaks to their course leader or year head ASAP.

Good luck

Jazzbiondi

I experienced the same problem too ... lecturer from Iraq and her proficiency in English is below average. I respect her profession in teaching but it's not helping the students. Spoke to the principal ... no outcome, she still carry on teaching and we're suffering in silence @ self-study.

Can we raise up this issue with Ministry of Education etc?

Diminutive

Hi, is there a Student-Staff committee or something similar? We can bring this type of thing up at our meetings and they will talk to the lecturer in question and its always proved helpful in the past. Simple things like changing the style of the lecture notes can really help with following the class. Though it sounds more like a school environment but it could still be applicable.

Sigur_2

Jazzbiondi wrote:

Can we raise up this issue with Ministry of Education etc?

Yes, just send her an e-mail. She'll probably look into the case specifically, I mean, she's got nothing else to do all day but reply to students who are having difficulties with their lecturers right?

I mean, why talk to your Head of Department or go to the next Student-Staff Committee meeting. Just go straight to parliament!:beer:

Jazzbiondi

Appreciate your kind advice ...

Yes, we do have a Student-Staff Comitttee here ... and as a conclusion after the meeting, we brought up the matter to the principal. He was saying, he'll look into it .. till now, there's no outcome. Students are missing from classes (they rather spend time at the library) .. i'm the minority few that still attend classes .. but struggling hard.

michael_iain_elliott

It depends on the situation.

In a university situation, I had the same problem with a Danish lecturer (lecturing in French as well :eek:) - but I got on well with him. Other people were suffering in silence so I decided to have a quiet (and pleasant) word with him (we're all adults, after all, in university) and he immediately understood and modified his accent. I thought this was particularly respectable, and I do now get more out of my courses (and commented positively on this).

Otherwise, there should be a Staff-Student committee (we have for all courses at Aberdeen Uni). Have a word with the student rep, and they can raise this in the next meeting (although not effective for immediate improvement). Other than that, a (carefully worded) email to the Head of the Department or Head of School should resolve the situation.

In a school situation, it's more difficult. I'd have a word with the Deputy Head or Headmaster/mistress themselves (obviously the parent...) - this could be effective, although it's not guaranteed to work. If you can get other people to attest to the situation (another difficult scenario), there's more chance of change.

HTH

Mike