Teacher not speaking/understanding English well

[TigersAndToucs]

DS has just started Year 9. He has a maths teacher who is new to the school.
He had his first lesson with her today. Afterwards he and the rest of the class were concerned that although the teacher seems to be fairly fluent in English, she speaks with an accent that is very hard to understand. And more importantly, she did not seem to understand some simple words that the students used.

For context, this is an inner city London comp with a very mixed demographic. Many of the children have English as a second language or have parents for whom English is a second language. So its a not a cohort who aren't used to different accents.

The most worrying example: she was doing a maths problem on the board where the answer was 1/2. She asked what the answer was and most of the class called out "a half". They repeated this a few times. The teacher then asked, "what's a half?"

Obviously not knowing the English for basic maths terms is an impediment. But she could have been particularly anxious today and got easily confused. DH and I have told DS to give it at least a week, and to make surreptitious notes of any other examples where there's a language problem between the teacher and the class. If this issue continues, DH and I will then speak to the school's SLT.

Any other advice of how to proceed?

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.

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.