Blog prompt: November 19th

Working with students who speak English as a second language is going to be a problem. not only am i not going to understand them, I get frustrated when I cant understand what someone is saying. The cultural differences I look forward to, I love learning about different cultures. The problem will souly be the language barrier. Having to say "excuse me" and "what was that" gets on my nerves. Grading their papers will also be a problem. They will not be on the same english level as the rest of the students which is unfair to the foreign speaking student. The question is; do you grade them the same. My answer is no. Our job is to be teachers, not language enforcers. We are there to teach students english and how to use the language. I feel that if the teacher sets a goal for the student for the next paper and expresses that goal to the student, then that is what the teacher should be grading on. So is this a lower standard to that student? Yes, but knowing the basics is the only way for that student to learn any further. The other students will feel as though they are being treated unfair by one student having a different way of being graded, but all students should be graded on what they learn based on the goals set by the teacher.