Thread by @vivschwarz

I am looking back over my workshop notes and I feel like making a thread about social things I wish I had known before coming to the UK 20 years ago to study with and then run workshops for people here.

I don't know if this is the way people are across Britain, so, will talk about England, as that's where I've studied and instructed.

MAIN THING about group of English people taking a (creative) workshop. Their need to maintain social structures is so strong that it will override everything else. They will want to chat, and they will make time for that no matter what. Calculate that in.

They will ask each other "how are you doing" and "have we met before" WHILE YOU ARE GIVING INSTRUCTIONS because of this need. If you stop them they may become so stressed that they cannot take in simple instructions.

Some of them will find this so abhorrent that they will start apologising profusely, or go the other way and just look at you and repeat "I am fine, thanks" while going ahead without important instructions. This can even be a health and safety risk!

If you come from somewhere with a high health and safety awareness generally, be very careful running stuff with sharp things or fragile things in England. Have an assistant who monitors that people are keeping safety precautions and have them remind them OVER AND OVER.

That person will have to deal with all the apologies and the "thank you, I am fine" and just calmly make them not chop their limbs off anyway. They are just overloaded with trying to socialise and learn simultaneously. Be firm, don't get irate.

Giving them a straight-up instruction might shock them if you somehow managed to get the tone a bit wrong - remember they will often craft their own requests very carefully ("Would you like to close the window?" - "I know I am being very silly but have you considered...") etc

If you don't have that skill, don't worry, just understand that's why they look so shocked sometimes. They get used to it pretty quickly usually.

They may also try to please you, to maintain the social contract, by pretending that something is working when it really isn't. You may miss that some of them started struggling twenty minutes ago, are just making it up now and may still tell you that it is working fine.

I noticed when running kite building workshops that often people will make mistakes (while chatting probably), and when I tell them that the kite cannot fly like that they say "it will be fine". It can be hard to work out what they mean by that.

It may be "I don't even want to make a kite, I am just here to socialise", "Surely these kites are just decorative and when you say FLY you mean that figuratively" or "I really think this will fly because it looks like a kite to me".
It's fascinating!

In effect, they seem to be constantly dealing with a complicated social web, and they may accept that they will learn less, and then still smile and say "I learned so much!" in the end! Anonymous feedback, however, may yield useful complaints.

I think that's it, things I would like to have understood right away, then I would've felt less confused in college and avoided a lot of stress later! Maybe it helps someone :) I had some great times here creatively, thank you for that, UK!

Addendum, I am so sure there is an alternative thread for "how to deal with rude foreign instructors", and that's also good.

I just remembered one more thing that I found EXTREMELY confusing: the liberal use of the word MAGIC.
So... turns out "magic" can have many subtle meanings, and if you miss them, miscommunication ensues. Even if you don't think they're being literal.

A student calling something "magic" may signal:
This tool is unlike the one I know. I have never seen it before and admire it/dislike it very politely. It is not my fault if I am using it wrong/I know to use it and love it!
E.g. "Could you pass me the magic scissors".

The word "magic" may also signal:
A) A process that is surprisingly effective, and I am complimenting it.
B) A process that I have not mastered it but please accept that it is unusual to me and explain it again.
C) I do not ever want this process explaining, please don't.

If an English person who is learning a new thing uses the word "magic", pay attention. They may be absolutely lost.
They also use "magic" to refer to "a useful thing belonging to someone else", so it might just be a polite gesture!

Whatever you do, don't assume that it means they want to have it explained, or that they think you literally are a wizard.

I absolutely will not explain what "nice" means.

Oh yeah, and, similar to "magic": "This pen you gave me does not want to draw" rather than "This pen you gave me doesn't work".
Sometimes by calling a thing alive, they offer to shift responsibility to it but it is generally meant to be polite!

Stopping now because I have gone from "useful advice" to "musings"