Legal Commentary

I am currently teaching Business Torts to a class of about 25 American and 25 French students.  I've been thinking a lot this week about how to make sure my teaching methods meet the need of both groups of students, and I've been struck forcefully by how hard it is to reach an audience when you don't know what their base of background knowledge is.  I've also been struck by how hard it is to communicate to two audiences with different needs and interests at one time.  I find myself repeating every sentence at least twice, once in the way I would normally say it and once in simpler language with the excess verbiage stripped out.  It makes me wonder whether I should just start by saying it the simpler way.  The whole experience has reminded me that good teaching is good communication, and good communication begins and ends with getting into the head (or heads) of your audience.