Your first point was something I had never thought of until I started teaching Hispanic students last year. Most of them come from Guatemala, though we've gotte

Your first point was something I had never thought of until I started teaching Hispanic students last year. Most of them come from Guatemala, though we've gotten a few more from Mexico and Puerto Rico recently, and I never thought of how how difficult math must be until I tried to imagine myself in their shoes, trying to learn math through a second (for some, third) language that they often didn't even know well. Especially daunting when you're even discussing basic vocabulary that English-speaking students have heard forever that they might not know, which is something often taken for granted. It's much easier this year, in my opinion, as my class consists solely of the Hispanic students, and is co-taught with the ELL teacher. This makes it much easier to go through things slower, and make sure they understand the vocabulary that I'm using, which has facilitated their learning.