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Home : 2004 : July : 22

about Asian
By Eva

Hello there,
let me just introduce myself briefly..I am an Taiwanese and now I am doing my teaching course in Australia. I taught Grade 5 and 6 kids for an year when I was in Taiwan.

The first thing I would advise
you is try to understand the cultural differences and do some research about the country that you are going to.
I know it is very hard to get Asian kids to talk.
The reason that Asian kids hardly talk in the classroom are because...
Firstly, our culture do not encourage us to talk especially in front of the authority (i.e. teachers). Or I should say,Asian kids allow to talk in

front of the authority but just when they are sure what they are saying is correct and not offend to the authority.
Secondly, Asian people do not like the people who are too active in the groups. Asian culture more value "silience is gold" and "modest". Generally, we do not value people who talk all the time, but we value people who work hard and quiet.
Thirdly, Asian kids hardly be encouraged to have a go.

To answer your question, I would say that making friends with kids is the first thing, but it also very important for you to let kids aware that you are a teacher not just a friend.
Try to ask some closed questions to start with, it will help students to know how to respond and not feeling lost.
Give more instruction or explainions before you ask an open-ended questions, it would help kids to develop their thinking strategies. (because Asian teachers seldom encourage kids to be creative or express their own thoughts freely. )

Asian students are all hard workers, they spend long time to do their homeworks and preparing for all kinds of tests. However, they lack of creative thinking and the confidence of having a go.
If you wish to have lots of oral responds form Asain kids, it would be better to teach them how to do it without any anxious.