In China, learning is considered sacred. The classroom is a formal place and the teacher is a master whose authority must not be questioned. Addressing teachers by their names, or first names for Westerners, is considered impolite if not rude behaviour. The student is accustomed to a teacher-centred class and is often reticent to speak up with an opinion for fear of being perceived as being confrontational. Within the Chinese culture, confrontation in public or in a public situation is socially unacceptable.

In Chinese names, the family name comes first and the one or  two-syllable given name comes last. Most family names in Chinese are monosyllabic. When communicating with teachers, parents, or the elderly, a person to use the family or given name without a title, such as Mr., Ms., or Teacher, Uncle, would be seen as rude. Students or children are always referred to by either their first name, or by their whole name.

In the classroom, teachers better not sit on desks, toss or slide papers to another person, or use their feet to move objects or close doors. These actions are viewed as unbefitting a teacher's status. Chinese students consider actions that involve loss of honour, often referred to as face, seriously. Misbehaviour or reports of misbehaviour on the part of the immigrant child constitutes a loss of face for the whole family and is taken very seriously by the parents and elders of the family.

Chinese people do not like to be touched physically by those they do not know well socially. Chinese hand signals also differ from Canadian hand signals. Chinese people tend to point with their open hand rather than with one finger. The middle finger is at times used to point without implied meaning.

In the classroom, adult immigrant Chinese students are very modest. Adult students prefer to speak in the third person or about a third person. Immigrant Chinese students are for the most part not very different from other Canadian students. Sensitivities toward taboo subjects are very much the same. Overall, Chinese students are often perceived as reluctant to participate actively because they are shy or they are quiet, when in fact they may have many opinions, but are unsure of the cultural boundaries and limits set in Canadian society. They are often unaware of the expectations of the classroom until those expectations have been made explicit.