I am currently on prac in Kuching in Borneo and even though I’ve only been here for 2 days I have already learnt so much when it comes to communicating with people who speak very little, if any English. It is a private hospital and therefore only the wealthier people can afford to receive treatment there which means that most people speak some English however it is still so different. When I would normally babble on and give a patient a few instructions at once intermixed with a bit of conversation, ive now learnt that I just cant do this with some of these patients. Instructions and questioning often needs to be kept to the bare minimum and hand guestures have never been more helpful. It’s also forcing my facilitation to improve as this is often the easiest way to get a patient into a position without confusing them with too much English. This means that conversation to fill the silences can sometimes be difficult which is something I suppose I will just have to get use. With some people all you can really do is smile or use facial expressions to convey meaning or just rely on the tone of your voice to let them know if theyre doing an exercise right or not. Its been really helpful in developing my non verbal communication skills and has also showed me that I often rely on talking too much to explains things and need to improve my neuro facilitation.