1. Learning styles

Although students in Europe seem to be more comfortable with speaking on their own so if you want them to speak or listen then they will make noises when they feel like it. That’s not how Asians work! We usually try and learn as much as possible before we come up with our answers and will take some time to collect their thoughts before responding. This kind of thing can be frustrating as their response may show that they don’t really understand what you just said so, in many cases, you will need to repeat the lesson again or go back to explain everything again.

2. Timed practice

In both Asia and Europe, teachers always start by asking questions. They ask questions to gauge the level of understanding at their end. If the answer that you get is good enough then they will move onto the next question but in Asia, there is no space to play around with your ideas or see where you went wrong. You cannot find out whether you understood the instructions or not. In most cases, teachers simply ask themselves questions until they find the right words to describe the topic, such as ‘how is this fairing? This means, without any hesitation, you could walk into a classroom knowing exactly what you should do.

3. Feedback

In both cultures, feedback is very important. Some of the things they learn from each other are through writing exams where you compare tests so that everyone gets the same mark. However, in Asia, this is rarely done because every student learns differently and it’s hard for them to grasp your messages. So you need to ensure that you give every student time to absorb your message. Because in Asia schools are often very busy, most of them will forget about giving feedback to a few people while others won’t even bother. To avoid this, you need to set aside time and be open-minded about how to give feedback effectively. This is why getting used to being flexible in both of these cultures is essential in order to achieve successful results with kids.

4. Time management


Because of different cultural backgrounds, it is difficult to give the exact time of day to teach one individual on another. For example, an American teacher might set his lessons for 6am and another for 3pm in Chinese Culture and if the two individuals agree that 6 is best, which school would he go to? It would certainly be beneficial for him to choose either one but it takes a lot of thought to get that idea across to someone who’s schedule might be completely different from yours. That is why preparing yourself in advance for all kinds of situations is necessary. You may need to find appropriate places to assign certain tasks to get this done quicker.

5. Power distance

When it comes to power, there is no clear cut way to define this term but generally speaking, it is measured by the degree of respect people from less influential positions earn and by how long it takes them to respond to somebody with authority. When it comes to kids’ education, these two factors would definitely play a big role. Kids who are brought up with parents who hold strong views and those with parents who care about respecting authority and doing what they feel is right at all times would be more likely to follow directions correctly. As far as power goes, there are people from higher powers, meaning leaders like politicians, police officers, etc., making decisions for the society and adults at lower levels are expected to obey them. Although the influence of leaders, especially politicians, is more felt in developed countries, the power gap is still present especially among young people who tend to believe more in their independence.