Here is a blog that I wrote for our host’s ministry in the Dominican Republic about the difference between teaching in Cambodia and the DR:
Culture shock often happens when a person goes from their native culture to a foreign one, but after spending five months in Asia and then coming to the Dominican Republic, I can safely say that it happens between foreign cultures, too.
As soon as I entered the unfinished cement house that is the classroom up here on the mountain, I knew that I had entered a whole new world. The kids were joking around, talking and laughing with each other. It took a couple of tries to settle them down and start class. In Cambodia, where respect for authority is deeply engrained in the culture, our little students would stand at attention at the start of class and belt out an orderly, “Good morning classmates! Good morning teacher! How are you?” before sitting down silently each and every day.
Although the Dominican students are a bit more rowdy and a bit less inclined to pay attention, they go after learning English with a boldness I never saw in Cambodia. Here, very few are too shy to answer a question that I pose, and when I ask them to repeat after me a loud chorus echoes down the street instead of a timid response. These kids have a desire to learn and aren’t afraid of making mistakes if that’s what it takes to get there.
It amazes me how God has crafted mankind to be so different and yet so alike. Although the differences between the Cambodian classroom and the Dominican one are great, some aspects remain the same: the smiles on the children’s faces, the hugs they give on their way out, the way they laugh at the silliest things. They may learn English differently, but still both of their hearts long to love and be loved.
