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Foreign Student Flight Training Advice

Old 07-12-2010, 12:20 PM
  #1  
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Default Foreign Student Flight Training Advice

I'm a CFII who teaches primarily foreign students (mostly Chinese, some Japanese) and couldn't find much advice on this site about teaching foreign students, so I figured I would share some of the lessons I've learned from teaching several foreign students.

Everyone else, feel free to add your own experiences, advice and tips for overcoming language and culture barriers, as well as anything else you think would help any other CFIs reading this thread become better instructors when dealing with international students.

I just broke 100 hours dual given, so my experience is very limited, however, here's what I've either experienced, heard, or noticed, and how I adjusted.

-Just because an FBO is listed to be open at a certain time doesn't mean it will be, so teach your students how to use a self-serve fuel farm. I had one student get stuck at an airport where the FBO was supposed to be open when he arrived, but for some reason was closed. Even though I taught him how to use a self-serve fuel farm he either forgot or never learned. If the course doesn't allow me to do a cross-country flight before having to sign them off on a solo cross-country, I bring my foreign student to the gas station and teach them how to swipe a credit card, follow on-screen instructions, etc. It's not exactly the same as using a self-serve fuel farm, but it's better than nothing.

-The Chinese students are very book smart. All my students knew their flows better than I did when I was at that point in my training. However, their judgment is lacking. I had one advanced foreign student insist on flying VFR to an airport in the practice area to do landings while covered in a snow squall with very poor visibility as a result. I don't really know how to correct this, besides providing factual evidence of why it's a bad decision during the debrief.

-The language barrier is tough to overcome. I figured out early on that they will say 'Yes' or 'Ok' to almost any question you ask them. Instead when I tell them something to work on during a debrief for example, I have them repeat it to me so I know they understood what I just said. Also, in the plane, I try to talk as little as possible, and when I do speak, I try very hard to dumb down the English as much as possible. Thankfully a 172 doesn't have a CVR that could get pulled so people could hear how stupid it must sound .


These are just some things I've found work for me. I'm interested to hear what advice everyone else has.
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Old 07-12-2010, 02:46 PM
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I have nearly 1000 hours of dual given teaching students of many different countries. The best advice I can provide would be:

1) Draw, draw, draw!! Use a white board, pen and paper, anything. They will understand pictures much more than you talking to them because of the language barrier. I would tell my students if they understand what I'm saying then they should say "I understand". If they don't, have them say "sorry sir, no". Because in the cultures of many countries, saying you don't understand something or asking a question to a superior (which you are in their eyes because you are their teacher) is unacceptable and looked down upon, so they will say "ok" or nod yes when they don't understand at all. Just try to be very clear with them that asking questions is OK, that YOU want them to ask when they DON'T understand something.

2) Chinese students are very book smart and memorize things very easily, you are correct, but they have hard times making decisions. This is because the Chinese school systems are rather regimented. They have never really had to make decisions before (especially life/death decisions). You just have to be patient and teach them the logic about HOW to make a decision. You need to demonstrate an emergency and talk through EVERYTHING your thinking and why. It will take sometime, but it needs to be done.

3) Plan on everything taking twice as long to complete ground lessons, flights, and pre-/post briefings.

4) Patience, patience, patience. It's a virtue.


Hope this helps. As you gain experience you will figure out what works and what doesn't. And either way... it will make you a better pilot in many ways.

Good Luck!
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Old 07-12-2010, 02:56 PM
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Originally Posted by The701Express View Post
-The language barrier is tough to overcome. I figured out early on that they will say 'Yes' or 'Ok' to almost any question you ask them. Instead when I tell them something to work on during a debrief for example, I have them repeat it to me so I know they understood what I just said. Also, in the plane, I try to talk as little as possible, and when I do speak, I try very hard to dumb down the English as much as possible. Thankfully a 172 doesn't have a CVR that could get pulled so people could hear how stupid it must sound .
I'm sure other people do this, but Asians are basically taught from birth to say "yes" or "ok" when someone is talking to them or asking them a question. They are acknowledging that you are speaking to them; they are not answering the question. Your method of having them repeat things is helpful and confirms for both whether they understand what you want them to do. However, it is not necessary to dumb down English very much. Aviation has its own unique language and any aviator/flyer who is serious about flying needs to learn these terms sooner than later. Best way to learn is to start using it on them and they better pick it up real quick. Furthermore, the folks who have the fortitude, motivation, passion and wherewithal to come to this country for flight training are generally not stupid. They just can't pronounce "Engrish" well.

So, anybody want to meet me for Seafood Flied Lice (fried rice) and chicken blokli at the FBO tonight?
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Old 07-12-2010, 06:50 PM
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Originally Posted by vagabond View Post
I'm sure other people do this, but Asians are basically taught from birth to say "yes" or "ok" when someone is talking to them or asking them a question. They are acknowledging that you are speaking to them; they are not answering the question. Your method of having them repeat things is helpful and confirms for both whether they understand what you want them to do. However, it is not necessary to dumb down English very much. Aviation has its own unique language and any aviator/flyer who is serious about flying needs to learn these terms sooner than later. Best way to learn is to start using it on them and they better pick it up real quick. Furthermore, the folks who have the fortitude, motivation, passion and wherewithal to come to this country for flight training are generally not stupid. They just can't pronounce "Engrish" well.

So, anybody want to meet me for Seafood Flied Lice (fried rice) and chicken blokli at the FBO tonight?
+100... Speak the language. Try and always use aviation terminology and standard phraseology.
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Old 07-13-2010, 04:47 PM
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First of all, thanks for the responses. As a young instructor who's only trained a few students, the advice is really appreciated.

Walk:
1) We have whiteboards everywhere around the school, so I bring a dry erase marker to every lesson. I'm very fortunate that my new chinese private pilot student asks lots of questions. After my first Chinese student last year would barely talk to me, I made sure to make him understand that it's ok to ask me questions.

2) Besides teaching the DECIDE and PAVE models, I've tried to teach my students the building blocks of decision making and good judgment through experiences I and other people have had. I also try to have my students make as many decisions as they are capable of, depending on where they are in their training.

However, this hasn't always been enough. One student told me it was okay to fly a plane with a busted PFD on a cross-country flight. This was an instrument student who knew full well how to use an MEL, understood decisions making, and FARs, yet still felt it was a good idea to fly in order to satisfy external pressures. Besides metaphorically beating it into his head that doing so is very not okay, how else can you teach better judgment?

3) I don't really mind that much since i get paid for pre and post flight briefings. So it helps out my bank account.

Vagabond:

I guess I should rephrase "dumbing down" how I talk during the flight. I still use standard aviation phraseology, however, I try to make the sentences as simple as possible. Because most of the chinese pilots have never driven a car, they're very busy just trying to fly the plane and don't have much attention left to listen to me talk.

Thank you for the background information on Chinese culture though. I didn't know a lot of that. As a new hire last year I was never taught any of that during indoc, which has led to me having to learn a lot of this on my own or from other people.

And yes, I would love some chicken and blokli. I always get a kick out of hearing my student yell "Clear Prop!" for obvious reasons
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