It’s a fact of life that many college faculty come from all parts of the globe.  Many of them will speak with an accent.  If you are like many students, this will be your first prolonged exposure to someone with a very strong accent.

Here is some guidance for how to deal with someone with a strong accent.

1. Give the professor a chance.  In most cases, you will quickly adapt to the accent.
2. If the professor speaks too fast, get together with your classmates and ask if the professor can slow down.
3. Use supplemental course material such as that found on khanacademy.org to help you understand the class.
4. Keep going to class.  Even though you might not understand everything, you can still benefit by knowing what is covered.
5. Start developing a pronunciation guide for the teacher.  You might find some common words or phrases that you recognize.  Once you recognize these, then other words or phrases will become clearer.
6. Think of the process of understanding the professor’s accent as part of  your multicultural education.  In the world economy you will be living in, you will have many similar experiences.

You will be surprised by how good many international faculty are.  Just give them a chance. .