<p>Hi all I am new to the forums and just looking for some advice about what I should do with my teacher or if I am over reacting a bit. I am a biology major and currently taking physics and the teacher I have now doesn't speak english well. He is from china and has a heavy accent which really is not the problem, it is that he can't formulate complete sentences half the time and mangles words. His english is so bad at times that he cannot explain certain concepts in class and clearly gets frustrated. He also does not really teach. We go home and read the chapter from the book and the day of class we get 2 quizzes on what we read without discussing what the chapter was about or any key points, in other words we teach ourselves. We are expected to already know how to use all the lab equipment and how to conduct experiments and when we don't understand any of the concepts we get reprimanded and he tells us that he "doesn't understand why we don't know this". My other teachers are perfectly fine and they have accents too. So what should I do? Am I overreacting?</p>
<p>Know that you’re not alone. The rest of the class is dealing with the same thing so you are not at any disadvantage compared to the others in your class. I’m surprised he is also teaching the lab section. Usually, a grad student teaches the labs.</p>
<p>Chalk this up to bad luck. Make sure you never sign up for another one of his classes.
If it’s too late to switch into another course section, I think you just have to do the best you can with your situation. Form study groups with other class members. Sit towards the front of the class. Read the information before you go over it in class so at least you have some background into what he’s trying to say. Visit him during office hours at least once to see if he’s more patient one-on-one as compared to when he’s in front of a number of students. If he seems more tolerable one-on-one, than make a point to continue using his office hours to clear up any of your questions.</p>
<p>Well trying to form a study group sounds like it would have to suffice, that or a tutor. I understand that I have to do a lot of learning and self study but when a teacher doesn’t go over anything and waste class time reprimanding us instead of talking about concepts of physics, I find that kind of odd. Thanks for the advice and will have to really go it without the teacher…that sounds so odd to do so.</p>
<p>Sounds like something one should have taken at a community college. This way, if one winds up with a horse’s arse, one can drop and not lose too much money.</p>
<p>If you can’t drop the class or switch to another professor, get tutoring and be in a study group. Also get a group together and en masse complain to the department head.</p>
<p>There’s only so much that he can ask of you on tests. Don’t you have a lab book? Usually the labs are explained in those, there’s no physics teacher I’ve heard of that make up their own labs. All you have to do is study your textbook and do the problems at the end.</p>
<p>Also, math and physics are two subjects that give lots of students trouble. That’s pretty fortunate because that means there are lots of resources, especially on the internet, to help people with that. Look online and make use of tutors. If you do everything right with the right attitude and study hard and effectively, you can ace the class easily. Bad teachers can’t ever be used as an excuse, it’s college after all.</p>