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It wasn't the subject matter that was hard for student David Gay to grasp. It was his University of New Mexico professor's accent.

"I could only understand every other word," said Gay, a senior in economics.

So, he just wrote down the lecture notes from the board, studied his textbook and taught himself most of the time.

Viola Florez, interim provost at UNM, said having international professors and teaching assistants with thick accents is nothing new, and programs are in place to help them overcome language barriers.

But Florez said she and other UNM administrators are looking into what more can be done with heavily accented international graduate students who become teaching assistants at the state's largest university.

"Their ability to teach a course in a second language is difficult, and we're seeing how we can support them," Florez said.

Just about every university in the country has foreign professors and teaching assistants, she said.

"We provide them an opportunity to teach," Florez said.

However, if they are going to teach, their ability to speak English needs to be examined, she said.

"You have to make sure they are proficient in the language," Florez said.

Charles Fleddermann, acting dean of Graduate Studies, said some students have raised the issue of professors having accents so thick as to be difficult to understand.

"We love having students from overseas," he said. "Unfortunately, there are a few who have language issues when they're in the country."

Fleddermann said UNM has more than 4,300 graduate students, including about 700 from other countries. Of the 667 graduate students with teaching assistant assignments, nearly a quarter of them — 148 — are international students.

"But it's hard to say how many are just grading papers," Fleddermann said. Some might run discussion sessions for a course or run lab sessions, and some teach courses, he said.

With international grad students teaching classes, there is always concern from students about difficulties in communication, Fleddermann said.

"Every fall, we get a few complaints about foreign teachers from students who say they can't understand them," he said.

In general, the complaints stop after a month, Fleddermann said.

Students get more accustomed to their professors' accents and start catching on, or the teaching assistants will slow down and try to make their students understand.

Before international students are admitted to graduate school at UNM, Fleddermann said, they are required to pass an English proficiency exam.

The Test of English as a Foreign Language evaluates reading and writing ability, but does not examine oral ability.

"The issue, however, becomes the accent," he said.

If foreign teaching assistants aren't making progress in becoming more understandable, the university has resources available.

Those students can get help at the Teaching Assistant Resource Center. It provides videotaping service for teaching assistants at work so the graduate students can sit down with an adviser and go over their performance.

"In really severe teaching cases, the teaching assistant is referred to speech and learning classes to work on their accents," Fleddermann said.

But the resources are voluntary.

"You can't force students to access these services," he said.

Fleddermann said he hopes the university can offer more courses and make them something teaching assistants want to complete to become more proficient in English.

Florez said she acknowledges that additional training might be needed for some foreign teaching assistants.

"Some institutions require advanced training and a certain level of proficiency," she said. "Mostly it's training seminars."

Administrators are in the process of looking at how many graduate students are teaching undergraduate classes and how much training and support they need to be successful.

Fleddermann said it's important for teaching assistants to get that support, because standing in front of a classroom of native English speakers can be a culture shock for them, too.

Khawar Abbas, a graduate student from Pakistan, said he hasn't heard any complaints from students yet.

However, because English is his second language, he doesn't rule out any future problems concerning language.

"It (English) doesn't come as naturally to me as it does to some of the students," he said.

Abbas, who is working on his master's degree in mechanical engineering, has been teaching UNM undergraduate students for two years, he said.

He says he has enjoyed his experience teaching in the United States.

"Students are pretty much the same all over the world," he said. "They fill the back seats first, before the front ones."

However, Abbas also finds it difficult to understand his students sometimes.

"I've asked them to repeat the questions," he said. "Sometimes, I don't get the jokes they say. I think the students might have the same problem with me."