Originally Posted by vagabond

People from Asia are culturally taught to say "yes" to just about anything, at least initially. They are acknowledging that you are speaking to them and not answering your question. I went to college, graduate school and law school with many non-English speakers or LEPs (limited English proficiency) or people whose first language is not English. They all said "yes" whenever I spoke to them. After we got over this, then we had real conversations. I recall an incident when I took an elderly Chinese client to immigration. The security guard asked her if she had a gun or knife on her. She said "yes." So the guard, being rather stupid, frisked her and rooted around her handbag. I was infuriated. How asinine can he be?

A good teacher, whether you are teaching someone to fly or teaching them law, recognizes his own limitations and those of his students. If it's obvious that the student's English abilities are not up to par, the best thing is to tell him so and suggest he improve them before coming back to flight lessons. Many of them actually do quite well when it comes to "technical" stuff; they just have difficulty with conversation.

Understanding all this, a little empathy and putting yourself in their shoes can go a long way. We all know learning to fly is not easy and not cheap. For someone to come halfway around the world to do this says something about his motivation and passion.