The first time you lead a discussion section, oversee a lab, or teach a class can feel like jumping into the deep end of a swimming pool when you re not sure you can swim to the other side.
Some don t speak English as their first language.
All bring a whole different set of experiences and expectations to the classroom. Yet for all these differences, any GSI can learn from their international colleagues adaptability and resilience. For the undergraduates they teach, IGSIs bring something extra to the classroom above and beyond their expertise in their fields, says Sharon Waller, the assistant director of the Graduate Division s GSI Teaching and Resource Center and director of the International GSI Program. The most obvious advantage, she says, is a different perspective, a different approach to thinking and looking at issues and bodies of knowledge. Accent on Learning The California Legislature in 1989 mandated that all teaching assistants for whom English is not a native language pass a language proficiency test.