the u.s. classroom

’24 undergrad enrollment reached over 10,000.

62% of students are from Maine.

UMaine is a classified Carnegie R1 Top-Tier Research University.

Working as a Teaching Assistant comes with a unique set of difficulties for international graduate students. All TAs share the challenges of teaching and managing time.  International TAs, in addition to language differences, additional financial stressors, culture shock and being long distances from family and friends, must also navigate cultural differences in how we teach and learn in the US, and an unfamiliar university structure. Below is an overview of the components of higher education in the United States and some common issues faced by international TAs. 

Rear view of female teacher giving a lecture in the classroom. There are people in the background.

At UMaine

In the United States, most undergraduate study programs are four years of study, dependent upon the completion of the appropriate number of credit hours. The years of study are termed freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior. College is expensive in the US, with UMaine in-state students paying a rate of $11,940/year and out-of-state students paying $34,080/year in the 2022-23 academic year. Classrooms range in size from “seminar”-style classrooms (typically under 20) which often facilitate discussions to large enrollment lecture halls  – at UMaine the largest seats ~300 students.  In addition, there are teaching labs, active learning classrooms, computer labs, a makerspace and other places for learning throughout campus. The registrar’s office has a list of all the classrooms that are centrally scheduled for their technology and capacity. At UMaine courses are also taught in a variety of modalities, from face-to-face to asynchronous online. 

UMaine website

Students in the United States often dress casually for class and interact informally with their peers and instructors. Instructors encourage students to ask questions and share their opinions, and classrooms may physically be organized as a discussion circle instead of a lecture hall.  Student-centered and active-learning approaches are common ways to increase engagement and learning with your students. These approaches shift away from the instructor as the central figure, delivering content and include interactions between students, opportunities for questioning, practice, application.  Students may refer to instructors by their first names––if you prefer to be called by your surname, make this clear to your students on the first day of class. American students are accustomed to instructors that smile, make eye contact, are generally encouraging in their feedback, and use other positive verbal and non-verbal cues. When instructors correct a misunderstanding, they often begin their remark with a positive statement before following up with correcting the mistake. The informal nature of US classrooms may feel unfamiliar to you at first, but time spent teaching will help you learn and feel more comfortable throughout your teaching experience.

Students in the US are accustomed to classes where they complete multiple assignments throughout the semester, including tasks like weekly homework and semester-long projects. This can differ from countries where students take a final assessment at the end of the semester as their only grade. That said, first year students coming from K-12 schools may need very clear expectations to ensure they do not assume the same practices from their high school apply in their college classrooms.

You might notice that some of your students are more familiar with the topic of your course than others. This can be due to several factors. First, US students are encouraged (and sometimes required) to take introductory courses outside of their major. Further, some UMaine first and second year students will not have yet chosen a major, and may be taking a sampling of classes to determine what they are interested in. Finally, US high school students do not typically specialize in any subject, but will take several mandatory subjects including math, science, social science, history, and English. The quality of high school education also varies across the country, meaning that some of your students will be at an advantage to others because of their background. The uneven levels of preparation for a course, common in US classrooms, can differ from countries where students are more likely to have studied the subject previously. It can be challenging to teach to students with differing levels of understanding, but the diversity of perspectives brought to the classroom by your students can contribute to the learning environment.

Teaching Assistants who do not speak English as a first language often experience a language barrier between them and their students. TAs may have difficulty understanding students who speak quickly, quietly, or use slang, while students may be accustomed to listening to a particular accent. To help mitigate these issues, let your students know that English is not your first language and invite them to speak up when they haven’t understood something. Other tips include making eye contact with students in order to gauge their understanding, work very hard to not talk while facing a chalk or whiteboard, use a microphone (nearly all classrooms should have noe), use demonstrations and/or illustrations to make your points, and provide important information both verbally and in written form. Videos are a great tool, as they can help your students get used to your accent and pause and replay information as needed. While you may face bias for having an accent, know that most students are there to learn and want you to succeed as an instructor. 

Conversely, many of you may have international students in your classes. Similar considerations apply. If you have difficulty understanding a student, ask them to repeat or rephrase their question or statement, or work to repeat back what you think you heard “I want to make sure I understood you..are you saying…”.

Language Resources:

  • The Intensive English Institute at UMaine offers a variety of language courses and programs that help international students develop English language skills, including an academic writing course (IEI 99) and an 8-week language program. 
  • The UMaine Writing Center offers free writing help, and can assist with developing course materials and with any writing you are doing for your own coursework and research. 
  • UMaine Conley Speech, Language and Hearing Center can help with modifying accents and is free for UMaine students.

Rules of what constitutes plagiarism and appropriate citation practices in the US differ from other countries. This can be a common source of frustration for TAs working with international undergraduates and for international graduate students adapting to US classroom culture. International students often do not understand what constitutes plagiarism, why it is considered unethical, and why it often has significant negative consequences (failure of assignments, classes, expulsion). Both as a student and as a TA assessing student work, it will be critical to understand what constitutes plagiarism in the US classroom. Fogler Library has some resources to help you understand this concept better, and the Purdue Owl guide has recommendations on how to avoid inadvertent plagiarism. The writing center on campus, advisors, and fellow graduate students can all help!