I'm a Westerner living in Asia for 13 yrs. Training for about 10. As training professionals we've all been taught that adults like active learning, that adults need to be in control of their learning, trainers need to encourage open discussion, debate, new ideas in the classroom, etc. But when I put these Western ideas into practice they aren't as 100% successful as I would have hoped.

Most of the people who say this are Westerners or Asians living in the West.

When I open the training floor to ideas, thoughts, opinions, feedback, questions etc., many times I'm met by silence. Sometimes I have said or written incorrect things and no one corrected me until I caught it later. When I ask them to share their experiences, again, silence. The learners' English level is high, I can also speak their native language in the key concept areas.

To put it in a very personal perspective. I've trained 1/2 a day with my fly open and not a single person came up to me to tell me. I only caught it at lunch when I was wondering why some of the female learners were smiling.

Part of this fear of speaking is due:

1) 'Face' and the fear of embarrassment.
2) The education system here which is based on rote learning and not critical thinking or public speaking.
3) Workplace focus on towing the line and its chains of command.
4) Fear of conflict. Every thing must be in harmony. Disagreements are viewed uncomfortably.

I mainly train in Malaysia & Singapore. Over here some evals will state they wished I had called them individually (like in grade/high school). So now I do that and the eval scores have increased. Still it feels silly.

Some training strategies I've used:

1) Run lots of group activities as opposed to individual activities

2) Take control of the classroom as opposed to them having control. They are more comfortable that way. Select the group monitors / presenters.

3) Discuss, train, coach at tea breaks. Sometimes that's where you find the problems they are facing.

4) Give prizes. Asians love anything free. They are competitive if they get something.

5) Run a program with many activities. They usually don't like a lot of content. Content to them is work since they have to memorize it. They also rarely adapt, or create something new from it. Instead, they are excellent implementors of what you give them.

6) Tell them what to do. At one banking client, the head told me, "Hey, don't suggest things to us and let us decide. That's tough for us. Just tell us what to do." While the boss said this I watched the group and they nodded their heads in agreement. At the breaks they told me privately they concurred.

So, can you guys share:

1) Your Asian training strategies
2) Any training books relating to the E. Asian learner that you can recommend.
3) Are the learning concepts that most Western training experts (and Asian experts in the West) flawed as they are looking from their perspective and extrapolating that to the rest of the world?

Thank you for a very interesting discussion topic! Accelerated and active learning is a topic very near and dear to my heart. You mentioned the following reasons that participants in Asia may not readily jump on the "bandwagon"... the thing is, the same is true here (I'm in the USA).

1) 'Face' and the fear of embarrassment.

Same is true here. Facilitators must first establish a frame of a safe, comfortable environment so that people feel more at ease to share their learning.

2) The education system here which is based on rote learning and not critical thinking or public speaking.

I have to laugh (not at you) at the notion that the education system in the USA is any different. I see very little emphasis in anything but rote learning (having taught in public schools and from watching my son and friends' children and family members trudge through the realities of public school).

...and let's not forget that the number 1 fear (according to constant polls about this type of thing) is public speaking. Many report they'd rather eat worms or die than speak in front of a group of people. Of course, there are many ways to keep learning active without forcing someone to speak in front of the entire group!

3) Workplace focus on towing the line and its chains of command.

Again -- exactly the same thing in the USA for most people in most companies.

4) Fear of conflict. Every thing must be in harmony. Disagreements are viewed uncomfortably.

Same same same. That's a human condition. It's cultural, sure -- but it's also a very human thing.

I also wanted to say that accelerated and active learning often fails here because many facilitators fail to address all aspects of what must occur in a classroom to make it really work for the learners. I believe that comes primarily from a lack of true study and understanding of how and why active/accelerated learning works and how it needs to be framed. There's nothing more embarassing than watching a trainer attempt a learner-focused activity without first having established any trust or comfort in the social environment of the classroom. I could go on about this, but I'll shut up so others may jump in first.

I used to work with Boeing instructor pilots who taught airline crews how to fly the new airplanes, and observed from the flight deck that there were many, many differences in student response to instruction simply based on culture.

Student pilots from Japan Airlines arrived at the training center having already memorized the complete training manual - word for word. (They went way beyond rote learning!) They always walked behind the instructor - never side-by-side, and the Captain walked in front of the First Officer every time. They never asked a question because they felt that would show disrespect to the instructor pilot. When asked if they understood something, the answer was always yes - no matter how the question was phrased. They never questioned anything the plane's computers did - it was impossible to "train" them to question something the plane was doing that didn't seem quite right - this is considered absolutely vital when flying newer "glass cockpit" (all-computerized) aircraft. They simply would not do it. If there was some sort of emergency in flight, they would not try to problem solve - again, because computers (or technology) should not be questioned. If they programmed something incorrectly, that was just unfortunate. Quite often the instructor would have to take over control of the plane to prevent a mishap.

Pilots from China could not understand why so much emphasis was placed on landing the planes and were very reluctant to spend any time on it. They were former Chinese military pilots who were seldom trained to land the planes because many of their missions were expendable.

As you can see, my experiences with these pilots mirrors what you are seeing in your classes. I wouldn't try to force them to change by adopting more active learning strategies - especially where they are made to feel uncomfortable. Anxiety is quaranteed to ruin any learning that might have taken place. It simply won't happen.

Somehow Asian children surpass the U.S. in just about every endeavor. They must be learning something U.S. students are not - and in all areas, academics and the arts. Even here in the U.S., Asians do better in school.

Frankie,
I have been supporting a learning team in Asia for approximately 18 months. My experiences with the learning styles and management styles in Asia are very similar to yours.

While we try to maintain consistency of training materials both on and offshore, we have made modifications to the way it is delivered. More group activities and no sharing of errors with the larger group. We also have found unlike US learners, Asia trainees enjoy homework and prefer to have the materials in advance.

We have had difficulty with teaching tasks that require the use of critical thinking skills, as there seems to be little understanding/or desire to understand the implication of actions. The emphasis rather seems to be on completing tasks.

Elaine

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Elainemb:
there seems to be little understanding/or desire to understand the implication of actions. The emphasis rather seems to be on completing tasks./QUOTE]

This is an understatement! All you can hope for is rote memorization and spitting back something verbatum. No analysis of anything - even when there is a mistake or an obvious problem with the way things are going.