Does English language ability matter in a math tutor?

[Jean in Newcastle]

I'm looking for a new algebra/geometry/chemistry tutor. A portion of the tutor biographical sketches that come up are of non-native English speakers. Their writing has many of the common mistakes of a non-native English speaker - missing helping verbs, problems with subject-verb agreement, small things like that. Does that matter, do you think? Obviously their proficiency in math would be most important but I'm just wondering in terms of communication since they would be teaching my ds14.

[regentrude]

I'm looking for a new algebra/geometry/chemistry tutor. A portion of the tutor biographical sketches that come up are of non-native English speakers. Their writing has many of the common mistakes of a non-native English speaker - missing helping verbs, problems with subject-verb agreement, small things like that. Does that matter, do you think? Obviously their proficiency in math would be most important but I'm just wondering in terms of communication since they would be teaching my ds14.

 

No, I do not think it would matter too much (provided he is really fluent), unless he is speaking with such a heavy accent that he is impossible to understand.

I suggest you meet with the candidate and then ask your son's opinion. If he can establish a relationship with the tutor and can understand him well, this does not have to be an obstacle. If, OTOH, your son feels very distracted by the accent and grammatical mistakes, you might need to choose somebody else. But I would not rule out any candidate just based on this.

I have many international colleagues whose English is not perfect, but who are great teachers. (I am not a native speaker either, and, despite of living in the US for 13 years, still have an accent)

[Teachin'Mine]

I wouldn't think that's a problem. Meet with them for the first lesson, and as long as your son can understand them well enough, that's fine. IMO it's great to give our kids opportunities to meet with people from other countries. An added benefit could be that the more you're exposed to different accents, the easier it is to understand. Which is a helpful for college classes as many professors are from overseas. :)

[dirty ethel rackham]

As someone who was a math major in college and who took many classes from TAs from outside this country, I would say it does matter. Many times I did not understand a nuance that made a big difference. Once I got downgraded on an assignment because I did not understand the instructions. You may not think messing up tenses matters, but clarity is important (the assignment is due tomorrow, not next week.) If you need a tutor so your child can learn something better, that person better be able to communicate in a way that the child can understand. I would interview them with the 14 yo present. You can get a good idea about their ability to communicate and whether or not it would work out.

[Ester Maria]

Their speech has to be reasonably fluent and without too many small irritating mistakes and they have to be proficient as far as their field is concerned (i.e. all the relevant linguistic nuances / scientific terms have to be correct, they should not confuse the child with "invented" terms). Beyond that, perfection is not needed - knowledge of what they teach and pedagogical skills are a lot more important.

[flyingiguana]

It definitely does matter.

 

However, I'm not sure you can tell from their writing. I know plenty of people who would be able to tutor just fine and be understood, but their English writing is nearly incomprehensible.

 

Then I've known others who could write English very well, but I would never hire them as a tutor due to their poor oral skills.

 

Another thing to check for is whether their printing is legible. With math, you can write a lot down and have it make sense. But this becomes impossible if the writing is illegible AND the speech is difficult.

 

I've had too many TAs who could neither speak English coherently, nor write on the board.

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

I agree-it matters but you would need to meet with them to determine if it would work. Written language ability doesn't necessarily match verbal ability. For math it would be about their ability to verbally communicate that would matter.

[cathmom]

Yes! It matters!

 

When I was a freshman, my science teacher had a heart attack just before the beginning of the school year. We had a Chinese substitute for the first marking period. We would ask her questions and she would stand there silent for a minute or two. We eventually figured out that she was translating our questions into Chinese and then getting the answer and translating that back into English, English that did not make sense! The entire class was lost and confused. We never understood her. When our regular teacher came back he thought we were all a bunch of dunderbolts who were somehow put into the higher level class.