The Power of Praise: An Expat’s Insights to Education in Asia

Moving to a new country can be challenging – and culture shock is a common denominator when it comes to challenges faced amongst expats. When you take into account navigating the world of education as a person placed in a new environment where the language isn’t their own, often times you’ll find that expats are riding the waves of culture change right alongside their children.

Whether you’re trying to find the right school for your children, or are an educator who’s trying to find the right teaching methods for a brand-new classroom atmosphere in Asia, it is guaranteed that the journey will be filled with perspective-shifting discoveries.

To help ease these worries and offer an inside perspective, we sit down with award winning author, Richard James Rogers, to talk about transforming the classroom experience, and all things education for expats.

Rogers, who originally hails from a town called Flint in Wales, discovered his passion for teaching during his days involved in the Army Cadet Force.

“The genesis of my ambition to be an educator and to train people and teach people, and specifically to teach young people I think came from the Army Cadet Force,” he shares.

In 2008, Rogers made his move to Thailand, fell in love with the accreditation of the International schools here, and the rest is history.

Tell me more about what you aimed to convey with The Power of Praise and The Quick Guide to Classroom Management?
So, the Quick Guide to Classroom Management: 45 Secrets that All High School Teachers Need to Know is my most famous and most popular book, and won the Reader’s Favorite bronze medal for non-fiction. I wrote that book in 2020 and the aim was really to provide practical, usable, highly applicable teaching tips and strategies for high school teachers based on my own experiences being on the frontline in the classroom, which is perhaps the reason why this book is so popular and has sold over 10,000 copies around the world.

The Power of Praise: Empowering Students through Positive Feedback focuses specifically on feedback mechanisms and looking at the work the students do and how we provide these positive, sincere, analyses of student work to empower them. That won the Reader’s Favorite 5 Star award.

One of the biggest mistakes that teachers, corporate trainers, and educators make with their praise is that it’s often insincere. Praise must be specific, meaningful, and personal to each student. Praise must be collective to be effective.

How do you see the role of educators (in Asia) evolving over the next 5-10 years?
I think going forward, unless there’s a change in government policy and more expats can be brought into Asia, we’re going to see numbers of children going to [international] school declining. What this is going to mean for educators, in my opinion, is that there’s going to be much greater competition for jobs, which means that educators are going to have to have a proven track record of enacting excellence in the classroom and achieving good attainment. So I think teachers are going to have to start thinking about building up their portfolio of evidence, which shows what they have achieved in the classroom over time.

The next one is the impact of AI and technology in education. I actually think that AI is quickly reaching a saturation point. I think people are getting quite fed up, to be honest, of fake images, fake articles, fake content. So I think AI is not as big of a threat as we once thought it was. We as educators are going to have to think carefully about how we utilise new technology in the classroom, and how students make notes.

What can expat teachers do to adapt to the education system in Thailand (or countries like Thailand)?
Probably the first thing that teachers can do to adapt is to think clearly about how they sound in the classroom – how clear is your voice? How clear is your accent? Are you speaking slowly? Are you speaking loudly?

When I moved to Thailand in 2008, I had to modify my accent. I do not speak to my students the way I would speak to the locals in my hometown because it’s too colloquial, the accent is too strong. People want to hear clear English when we’re teaching. So that’s a challenge for many expat teachers when they come here.

The second thing is to utilise engagement strategies. Students need to move as they learn. When they’re in the classroom, learning games need to be present. Very clear instructions, explanations and descriptions need to be present, as well as good visuals – this is called dual coding in pedagogy. This is very crucial going forward.

As an expat yourself, what advice would you give to expat parents who are in the process of selecting a school for their child?
First and foremost, look at the school’s Vision, Mission, and Core Values as published on their website and make sure that those align with your own beliefs as a parent.

Secondly, look at the school’s accreditation. Are they officially recognised by an accrediting body? This means that the school has been assessed against criteria and it’s a badge of trust for the school.

Thirdly, visit the school and get a feel for the physical environment. Also, don’t just speak to the senior management or admissions team, talk to the everyday teachers that work there and talk to the students who attend there and really get a holistic view of the school before you send your children there.

You’re an author, a teacher, a coach – how do you balance it all?
The simple answer to that is consistent self-discipline.

I use calendars a lot. I use Google Calendar and I plan ahead. A big shift in my productivity came when I went from planning day-to-day to planning months and months in advance.

When I’m writing a book, for example, I force myself to write 200 words per day, even if I’ve got writer’s block. If I can’t think of anything, I just write out whatever’s in my mind. I can always edit it later.

When it comes to podcasting, every single day I’m writing out ideas and thinking of subtopics. It’s self-discipline.

I think there are a lot of self-help books and youtube videos these days that beat around the bush when it comes to how to be successful, and it’s really all down to consistent self-discipline.

What’s next for you?
I’ve got a few things in the pipeline. I do a lot of corporate training workshops now in agile project management and public speaking. I also do executive workshops and train the trainer, which is becoming incredibly popular, particularly with the British Chamber of Commerce, Thailand and their member organisations.

My next book, which is expected to be finished towards the end of 2025, will cover public speaking. I’ve also got some workshops coming up with British Chamber of Commerce, Thailand. Also, just more podcast episodes. My next one is going to be all about ways in which teachers can use everyday technology in the classroom.