Foreign educators working in Uzbekistan encounter a number of unique cultural and daily life aspects that compel them to adapt and learn new things. A correspondent from Podrobno.uz interviewed six teachers from three universities in Tashkent ahead of Teacher's Day to find out what surprises them about this country.
Today, foreign specialists are no longer rare guests in the education system of Uzbekistan. According to data from the Ministry of Preschool and School Education, by mid-September, over 1,400 foreign employees from more than 40 countries are working in the country's general education schools. In Tashkent schools, there are more than 35 foreign teachers who teach languages such as English, Korean, French, Chinese, German, and Japanese, and participate in joint language programs.
It is planned that by the 2026/2027 academic year, the number of foreign specialists in schools will reach 2,000. Over the period from 2023 to 2026, about 2,200 foreign experts have been attracted to the country's schools, approximately 1,100 of whom work in Tashkent. The Ministry also noted successes in language training: in the 2025/2026 academic year, over 10,000 high school students in the capital who took foreign language certification reached B1 level or higher.
However, the interviewed subjects work not in schools, but in higher educational institutions, so official statistics only give an idea of the scale, not the specifics of their working environment. The authors of the study deliberately did not aim to create a single portrait, emphasizing the diversity of paths people took to end up in one city: some came on assignment, some followed family, some searched for opportunities in Central Asia for a long time, and some simply chose from several job offers.
University of World Languages
Three teachers were met at the Uzbek State University of World Languages: two female teachers from China and Professor Na Samil from South Korea. Although all of them work with languages, it quickly becomes apparent that language is only a superficial aspect of their work. Discussions inevitably turn to family traditions, discipline issues, nutrition, attitude towards time, and how students absorb elements of the teacher's culture, and how teachers absorb the students' culture.
Ma Lei, originally from Hebei province, arrived in Tashkent in 2018, initially teaching Chinese at a cultural center, and later working at the university. She first came to Uzbekistan while studying Russian in China. Later, she met her husband here, also Chinese, who moved to Uzbekistan with his parents and started a business. After the birth of their children, Ma Lei temporarily paused her career but then decided to return to work, realizing the need to take care of herself, not just her family.
Her first lessons were filled with nervousness, and she feared making mistakes in Russian. However, the students helped her relieve the tension, allowing her to abandon her initial intention of being a 'strict Chinese teacher.' Ma Lei admits that teachers in China are very strict, but she found it difficult to scold students; she preferred to be their friend without lowering academic standards. In her first year, she helps students with Russian, and in the second year, she tries to conduct classes exclusively in Chinese, noting the high intelligence and diligence of the students.
One of the first cultural contrasts for her was the personal lives of the students: she was surprised that some girls marry while studying, whereas in the Chinese educational experience, students usually finish their studies before considering marriage or family. An even deeper impression was the case where a student told her he gave his younger brother about $100 without expecting it back, explaining that 'he is my little brother. I must help him,' which showed her the importance of family in the local culture.
Tashkent has changed her daily habits. Before moving, Ma Lei rarely drank coffee, but here she saw colleagues replacing a full meal with coffee, bread, salad, or samsa. For someone from a culture where 'eating is paramount,' this pace of work seemed unusual, but now she can maintain a similar routine herself. Ma Lei's children grow up bilingual: Chinese is their native language, and Russian, acquired in the Tashkent environment, has become so natural that they freely mix both languages. Work and family are the reasons why she sees no reason to leave soon, and she advises her Chinese acquaintances to come and see Uzbekistan.
The story of Liu Xiaomei, who arrived from Beijing in 2022 for professional purposes, developed differently: she initially viewed Tashkent as a new audience. At the University of World Languages, she teaches Chinese and quickly noticed that many students already exist in multiple linguistic environments, speaking fluent Uzbek, Russian, and English, and sometimes studying Turkish or Arabic.
Liu Xiaomei notes that the teaching approaches differ from those in China, and although Chinese students seem more diligent to her, the locals stand out for their openness to communication and desire to master new languages. Her first impression was not related to the curriculum but to the curiosity of the students, who wanted to learn not only the rules of Chinese but also the entire culture, history, and daily life of another country. She emphasizes that 'by loving me, they loved the Chinese language.'
Due to a lack of multimedia equipment in classrooms, she has to combine online and offline methods, striving to make learning fun and memorable rather than mechanical memorization. Liu Xiaomei is proud of her students' achievements, some of whom received the HSK 4 certificate in a year, and second-year students achieved HSK 5 level and passed the HSKK oral exam. She sees a process of mutual learning: 'They teach me Uzbek and Russian, and in return, I teach them Chinese. We help each other and achieve progress together.'
Professor Na Samil, who teaches Korean at the Department of Korean Studies, came to Uzbekistan after participating in international conferences in Kyrgyzstan and working with Korean language teachers in Kazakhstan. His interest in Central Asia arose long before coming to Uzbekistan, and he aims to deal not only with the language but also with the methodology of teacher training. His first experience in the country was in Fergana, where he taught at the Korean International University, and then he moved to Tashkent and continued working at the University of World Languages.
Na Samil was struck by the first lesson: there were about 26 people on the list, but only three or four were sitting in the classroom; the rest came one by one. What surprised him was not so much the lateness, but the process of entering the class itself, since in Korea, a late student tries to enter as quietly as possible.
