<p>intparent, you must have gone to Michigan in the 80s. When I went to Michigan in the early 90s, there was a minimum language requirement for TAs put in places. It has been highly unlikely to get a TA who does not speak English perfectly for the least 20 years. Of course, that one may have the misfortune of having a TA who is not fluent in English, but it is very rare.</p>
<p>Also, TAs do not teach classes at Michigan. They may lead discussion sections, but even that is rare past the intro level.</p>
<p>That being said, Michigan has large lectures at the intro level, but that is to be expected of any major research university. Even my friends at schools like Columbia, Harvard, Northwestern and Stanford complained of Freshman classes with 300 students. I personally did my graduate studies at Cornell and I saw first hand how even smaller private universities has as many large lectures and use TAs as frequently as Michigan. </p>
<p>To the OP, the thread named “Is Michigan weak in any way” at the top of the page answers many of your questions.</p>