I?m sorry, but I dislike having to deal with poor English speaking TA?s. At my university almost all the science TA?s are not native English speakers. I understand the reasons for this, and I don?t have a problem with it. However, Chemistry and Physics are difficult enough without having to deal with mispronunciations, ambiguous sounding words, incorrect inflections, and all around unintelligible speech. Some foreign TA?s are fine, and I have no problems with listening to them, but some are really bad. I have to pay a lot of money to go to school, and I expect to be taught by someone who speaks the same language in an intelligible way. If I can?t understand an instructor, it basically doubles my workload. Not only do I have to sit through their lecture, I have to go home and teach it to myself!
Interestingly enough, I had a Chinese Physics professor and although he had a thick accent, he was one of the best professors I had in college. I think it depends on whether or not they can pronounce the technical words correctly. He also used simple words to explain concepts, which eased the fact that he was not a native speaker.