As the number of international students in post-secondary education institutions in Canada and the United States continues to increase substantially, much scholarly attention is being paid to the wide variety of transitional challenges that international students face. At the same time frequent controversial conversations are occurring about whether and how instructors' teaching methods should be adapted to support international students' learning. Written from the perspective of an international student, this paper draws upon evidence from research articles to argue that although it is difficult for international students to deal with transitional challenges, nevertheless the transition can be successful if their instructors understand their challenges and develop teaching approaches to help them. I will first describe the transitional challenges faced by international students, these I call culture shock and learning shock, and then I will examine the teaching approaches, their theoretical basis, and how they can help international students to be successful. The approaches I will describe are: culturally relevant teaching practices, a bridging course called Learning about Learning; and the instructional approach of constructive controversy.