Higher Education in the US: Life as a Teaching Assistant

Graduate students often work as teaching assistants while they study in the United States. Teaching assistants may get money or get to take classes for free, or both.

A T.A. usually works about twenty hours each week. In some cases, the professors they assist have big undergraduate classes with hundreds of students. The professor gives one or two lectures a week, and teaching assistants lead smaller discussions at other times.

They also give tests, grade work, provide laboratory assistance and meet with students who need help. And they have their own educations to think about.

Labor unions have been working to organize teaching assistants who feel overworked and underpaid. Some schools have had strikes.

Another issue is the language barrier. Many states have proposed to require that teaching assistants be able to speak English well enough for students to understand them. Universities have increased their efforts to deal with this problem.

Our example school this week is the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles. The Institute of International Education says more foreign students go to USC than any other American university.

The American Language Institute at USC provides training to help international teaching assistants improve their English. The university requires most non-native English speakers to pass a test before they can become a T.A.

Those who went to college in an English-speaking country do not have to take the test. The same is true for those who scored at least twenty-seven on the speaking part of the TOEFL Internet-based test.

The exam at USC is a fifteen-minute spoken test that involves two examiners. Students talk about their education and interest in the school. Then they present some issue or idea from their area of study, and answer questions about it from the examiners.

Those who do not score high enough on the test have to take classes to improve their English. Until their English is better, some departments give them jobs that do not require them to communicate with students.

Studying in the US: Four Kinds of Financial Aid

An assistantship at a university is a job that is paid with money or free classes. These positions usually go to graduate students to assist a professor for about twenty hours a week. The assistants may teach, grade papers and tests, or do research in a laboratory.

A grant is a gift of money. Unlike a loan, a grant does not have to be repaid. Grants can come from public or private organizations. Schools often receive donations for this purpose. Some grants are for general purposes of paying for school, while others are offered in a subject area.

Scholarships and fellowships do not have to be repaid either. A scholarship is financial aid to undergraduates; a fellowship is for graduate students.

Scholarships and fellowships are generally for students with special abilities or interests. Some are based on financial need. Others may go to students who live in a certain area or meet other conditions.

Our example this week is the University of Missouri-Columbia, or Mizzou. That school has a number of financial aid programs for international students. One of them is the Global Heritage Scholarship. It pays up to about seven thousand five hundred dollars a year. But this scholarship goes only to foreign students whose mother or father graduated from Mizzou.

Another aid program is called the Global Tiger Scholarship. This one is supported by the Mizzou Alumni Association. International students can receive one thousand dollars. In return they agree to provide service to the association during the school year.

Still another program for international students at Mizzou is called the Curators Grant-in-Aid Program. This is for undergraduate or graduate students who get good grades and take part in university activities. The program is especially for those who have unexpected or unusual financial needs that can affect their progress at school.

Colleges and universities may provide all the details of their financial aid programs online. You can find a link to the Web site of the University of Missouri-Columbia at voaspecialenglish.com.