Some have voiced displeasure with their experiences or lack of success at 
understanding instruction delivered by persons whose first language was 
something other than English, and who spoke the language with difficulty.

First, I have had difficulty understanding the spoken English of quite a few 
people who grew up in the U.S. and who considered themselves to be native 
speakers of English.  That includes some who were my instructors in college.

I have also experienced instruction from Oriental persons.  I'll relate one as 
an example.  I had a laboratory instructor for a statistics course whose first 
language was Chinese, and I do not know which dialect.  Understanding his 
speech was difficult for this Texan (a good many people have had difficulty 
understanding me, also).  Some of the students in the class complained, first 
among themselves, then to the professor in charge of the course, and eventually 
to the department chair and the dean.  They spent a lot of time and energy on 
their complaints.  Meanwhile, I visited the instructor in his office hours.  He 
said I was the only student in the course who came to him for assistance.  His 
office hours became my personal tutoring session.  He asked me to forgive him 
for not speaking better English.  I did, and told him I just wanted to learn 
the subject matter.  He worked hard to help me, and I worked hard to understand 
him, and learn the material.

I earned an "A" in the course, and got to know a kind, caring, and helpful 
person, who gave me his time and attention.  He was trying to do a difficult 
job (teach), while laboring under the handicap of poor communication between 
himself and his students.  He and I both learned a lot that semester.

David McNeely

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