Live and learn. I have had professors that can't even speak right. Besides, its econ~ read the book and you should be able to get 80% of that stuff. Any other questions? go to professor's office hours.
But I classify English as second language professors in a few categories:
Category 1: This is a professor that cannot speak English and relies on phrases or words. In fact, their English proficiency is sooo bad, that while you know they are an absolute genius in their respective field, you wouldn't doubt that a 3 year old would have a higher ability to comprehend in English. These professors feel bad and general give
sample tests that are very very very similar to the actual midterm and final. Therefore this SHOULD be a desirable teacher, but regretfully many people drop the class before they learn of this. But for those who stay it is heaven because you essentially have the answers, but at the same time its a bane because the average score is always above an 80 which means straight scale so if you want that A you have no room for mistakes
Category 2: This professor tries VERY hard to teach and help you guys. In fact, they will try and stutter (I?ve actually had a professor just start speaking in Japanese to finish off what he was trying to say hoping that we would understand somehow) trying to get their point across. and then usually turn lecture into a "learn by example" class. This is VERY good if you are the type that learna by example, and if the class is problem based (math is the perfect example). By doing many examples, and using general phrases such as "and then you do this. understand? Just watch, and after this I will do another" and by learning from these example they essentially give you the test. To me this is a desirable teacher providing that theory isn't something I?ll apply for the specific topic (if it is, I'll look to another professor), but students generally avoid category 2 professors
Category 3: This professor speaks fine...providing you stay on the subject of study. They can detail just fine for hours in their specific subject, but ask them what they did over the weekend and they begin to falter and stutter trying to apply the word "partial differential" to a daily task that they are not sure how to say. In general these are EXTREMELY good professors, but they also give challenging tests. This is the perfect class for those who really want to learn and get the material. I personally don't mind them (And they are my favorite for math class) because they spend a good deal of time preparing for lecture, and homework is usually pertinent for the subject.
In rare instances, sometimes the opposite is observed: my friends at University of New Mexico had a math professor who couldn't ENUNCIATE the terms properly. They would try, but it sounded horrible~ so things became a little basic. To integrate, differentiate, etc. etc. etc. all boiled down to a simple phrase: cook it. This actually forced the class to pay attention a little bit because you need to know what kind of "cooking" you were doing "Okay guys, you...in.... cook this, and x becomes x^2/2. "
Category 4: Professor has perfect proficiency, but a thick accent. The biggest transgressors are FOB Indians, especially if they have thick accents (a linear relationship on a logarithmic scale exists between the inability to understand lecture as a function of accent thickness). Why? Because they can have perfect grammar and word control, they often descend into monotonous, useless tangents (such as "native speaking? professors). The only thing that separates them and your ?native? professor, is that you can?t understand every 3rd word that exists their mouth. I've heard (and even experienced?my Cell/Mol Engr Discussion class... our Indian TA had such an accent that the Fob Indians who often read books in Sanskrit and listened only to Punjabi trance were complaining about how hard it was to understand him) many horror stories of these professors. People avoid them like the plague, but regretfully often you must live with the choice as they are the only teacher for the class.
All I can say for these professors is to utilize the TAs as much as possible! Skipping lecture is fine (since it usually amounts to fifty minutes of incoherence), so as long as you read the material and attend every discussion section and occasionally visit office hours to get things cleared up
These are also the most often kind of that appear. Words and pronunciation are beaten to death:
Work becomes "Waaaak" ;;; H+ for you chem majors becomes "Hash Plash" (that was from slashdot if anyone picked that up
);;; Any Organic compound becomes a mess of garble
;;; Energy becomes "Ennngeee" ...If i pulled out my rotational classical physics material I wrote down a MILLION of these, but they are in storage on campus right now so I don?t have access to them...
Though ultimately, anyone of than this professor:
English is a first language. He doesn?t know the meaning of PREPERATION, so he copies the pages in the textbook so it looks like he has his own notes, and begins to write down all the SENTENCES (This is a Linear Algebra class) from the book on the board PRESERVING the formatting.
After he rereads what the book has VERBATIM he tells us ?Go Home, think about it and I?m SURE you?ll get it?.
Don?t worry though, I reamed him in teacher evaluations...as did everyone.
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