Teacher not speaking/understanding English well

OP, you do need to be aware that maths is a very difficult subject to recruit for nationally. And teacher salaries often aren't enough to live on in Central London, even with the uplift, so shortages can be worse in London than elsewhere in the country.

I know a school I used to work for (not London, generally seen as a desirable place to live) lost half their maths department last year, and couldn't replace them. Those students are currently being taught by long term supply (who can leave at any time, causing inconsistent teaching and gaps) and non specialists. It's possible this teacher was on a supply contract, and that's why she left so quickly.

I totally get your concerns about communication etc, but I wouldn't be too quick to complain about a specialist maths teacher, personally. It's very easy for a maths teacher to find a different job, and hard for schools to replace them.

There's also a shortage of teachers training this year, so the problem is only going to get worse.

I'm not saying you were wrong to raise the issues with this teacher, and it sounds difficult for your son, but you do need to be aware of the wider context I think.

I would wait and see if it’s only the first lesson. They may get used to the accent and understand it better after a couple of days.

A lot of people who a great at maths are not very good at languages.

My cousin's English is not fantastic but he's doing ok a Maths professor at University of Texas at Austin.

I have a feeling it will be fine after some adjustment from both sides.

@saraclara I must admit I felt very conflicted towards the end in helping her. It was a favour to her mother who was extremely proud that her daughter was the first in the family to go to university, and they had paid her PGCE fees upfront. The girl got a C in English on her second attempt, did a degree through OU (she didn't do A levels) and another mug someone else helped her through that. I'm hoping that the school she's teaching in identify her weaknesses and send her on a course.

I started a very similar post a few years back, was a maths teacher too. I got absolutely annihilated! Was in AIBU though.

Oops. On a thread about language I wish I could edit or one of those 'severals'

For English language and English literature O levels, my teacher was a recent Kenyan Asian arrival.

My mum felt terrible about complaining, but when she saw her marking of my work she couldn't not. She had written several times "there is no such word" next to perfectly normal words on several occasions. For instance I used the word habitat. Next to it she wrote "there's is no such word. This is the name of a shop"

FFS. It's people like you who land the rest of us with colleagues that are a complete embarrassment. The stuff that went out to parents (and put on our website) from one of my colleagues was mortifying.

No wonder we're not respected as a profession any more.

@Delabruche yes she did, but only because I edited everything!

😮And she passed?

Maybe her question was a concept checking question.
Kids often come up with an answer that's correct, but they have no idea what the correct answer actually means or how to define it and explain it.
That's when we ask CCQs.
@thefamilyupstairs I remember having to point out to a not NQT who was working on my team that her reports, all containing "could of" etc needed to be rewritten. She was an English language teacher.

Twenty plus years ago I moved from one region of England to another. I barely understood half of what my y9 tutor group told me and we were all apparently speaking the same language!

A good subject specialist, especially in Maths, is worth her weight in gold. Hopefully as she relaxes with her new classes, and your DS gets more used to her accent, things will settle down. A meeting with her, perhaps wanting to build on what you found worked for DS in year 8 is a good call.

OP - I can understand why she may have misunderstood 'a half' especially if is she of African descent (which I am). We know it as 'half' not 'a half' and for mathematical purposes, asking the student to clarify isn't a bad thing. I won't be surprised if she asks them to clarify when they say 'one half' (1/2) to be sure they don't mean one and a half (1 1/2) interchangeably, just because 'one half' is not commonly used where I'm originally from. Obviously, if there are significant communication barriers, please raise it with the school, I just wanted to clarify your statement that Obviously not knowing the English for basic maths terms is an impediment.

Hi, as much as language is important, I do believe the teacher should have better subject knowledge. A teacher who isn't fluent is much worse than a teacher who doesn't know the subject.
Maybe you can fill in the gaps by helping DS do the homework or with the revision. You may also find topic-related videos online that can help DS understand better.
Hope this was helpful!

I wouldn't be that concerned for maths. If they find her hard to comprehend they shouldn't be afraid to ask her to repeat herself.
I proofread a PGCE secondary school English student's assignments. Consistently wrong usage of there/their/there, where/were/wear and lots of 'should of' 'could of'. No amount of me correcting 'Shakespeir' seemed to work. She has English as a first language and just started her first job. I recommended that she take a SPAG course over the summer but she was "to busy". I'm worried about the students she will be teaching.

As a teacher who was paired with a science teacher who had such a thick accent I couldn't understand her at all, it does a class/teacher no favours for behaviour and attainment for learning. I'm sure she is great at her subject, but, the lack of communication skills means that students don't understand, lose interest, and finally behaviour becomes a challenge.
Also, from experience they give less capable teachers top sets due to them not being able to manage a classroom. Which is why I'm leaving the profession, as I'm no longer picking up the slack for teachers who can't behaviour manage. Get your son to make notes and if any of his friends are in his class and you're friendly with their parents email the head teacher. To be honest, the lack of teachers and awful working conditions cause great teachers to leave. Get him a tutor as well if you can afford it.

I would give this a week and then escalate to the head of department.

Happened to my child over lockdown, admittedly that was worse as there's more of a barrier with online rather than face to face, but I assumed my DS was exaggerating (tbf he has form...) until I sat in his room during a lesson. Teacher couldn't understand the kids, kids couldn't understand the teacher, was made to feel racist for raising it, but then I found it many parents had also raised it... it was a really unpleasant situation, we got a tutor in the end.

Maybe the teacher doesn't understand the students' accents yet? She might need a while to 'tune in'?

Can you engage DS with trying to help the teacher and be a ‘translator’ when needed. It would mean he would have to concentrate extra hard to get the meaning and then help in a constructive manner when he could tell that the other kids didnt get it. It might be enough to bridge the ADHD attention gap

@TigersAndToucs I completely understand your concern with your son’s ADHD and his need to be engaged.

However the fact that this teacher has been given the top set in Year 9 is actually a very encouraging sign. I’m a Head of Department and I would never give a top set to a teacher I wasn’t sure about. So this suggests to me that they come with good experience and subject knowledge.

Putting the language issues to one side for the moment, given your son’s ADHD, if I were you, I’d make an appointment to see the maths teacher to discuss things from a SEN perspective during this first half term. Given the history in maths in particular, this is something they need to be aware of. I wouldn’t take it for granted that your son’s needs have been communicated to all
of his class teachers by the SENCo - some are useless at sharing info with colleagues and some schools’ reporting systems aren’t fit for purpose. There’s absolutely no harm in starting a conversation with the teacher now. If I were them, I’d be grateful you’d got in touch and enabled me to get off on the right foot with your child.

Good luck with it all - hopefully it’ll turn out to be a non issue.

Could you afford a tutor if the situation does not improve?

If the tutor was a couple of weeks ahead of the teacher DS would find the topic easier to understand as he would have some familiarity with what was being taught.