Your First Weeks Abroad: The Small Things That Build Trust

New teachers usually prepare for the paperwork and forget the etiquette. Yet the small customs are often what colleagues notice first, and what makes the difference between feeling like a visitor and feeling like part of the staff room.

Greetings and hospitality

• Cambodia: return the sampeah (palms together, a slight bow) when it is offered.
• Costa Rica: accept the coffee or snack you are offered in someone's home. Refusing can come across as impolite.
• Brazil: expect warmer, closer greetings than you may be used to, sometimes with cheek kisses between friends, and don't stand back excessively during conversation.

Shared rituals

In Argentina, mate is passed around a group. Accept it graciously, hand it back without a word to stay in the rotation, and say "gracias" only when you are ready to stop.

Timing and pace

Dinner in Argentina rarely happens before 9 or 10pm. In Brazil, arriving 15 to 30 minutes late to a dinner invitation is normal. In France, meals are treated as real occasions and rarely rushed.

Topics to leave to your colleagues

Some subjects are painful for many families. In Cambodia and Chile, let colleagues raise the country's 20th-century history themselves, and listen with care if they do.

Protect other people's dignity

In China, protecting someone's face matters enormously, in the classroom too. Give feedback privately rather than in front of others.

None of this needs to be perfect. Being visibly willing to learn is what earns goodwill. Our country guides include a Do's and Don'ts list for each destination to help you prepare.