Good post about T.A.s. When I teach middle school I prefer not to have a T.A. so my students will be forced to pay attention to my instructions so they will know what we are about to do. But when I teach little kids a T.A. is essential. Children have a short attention span and you need someone to tell the children, in their own language, to stop throwing things or fighting with each other.

I was a T.A. in the USA in E.S.L. for three years before coming to China. So yes, T.A. are definitely needed in some classroom settings. As to the quality of T.A.s, the best ones that I have had are younger girls who help me keep order- not so much for their English skills. My worst T.A.s were Chinese English teachers who just sat in the back correcting papers. In my first year of teaching at a middle school in China I kicked all of my T.A.s out of class.

One teacher even confronted me on this. "You don't want any teacher in your classes and that is why you kicked all of us out," she said. Of course that was the reason, and I don't regret it.