Usually when I teach in the States I have my students give research presentations. Here, I decided the students would work in teams and we'd have a poster session where they could present their work without having to give a formal talk. One aim of my course was to get the students much more involved. I think the challenge here is to get the students to start thinking and working independently and to take more responsibility for their education. Getting the students involved in research projects is probably a good way to go, even in the second year.
American students are much more accustomed to interacting in class.
There's not just a teacher lecturing. If you ask the students a question, you get responses. That's not the natural way here. I think there's a reticence that's partly cultural and partly due to their pre-university training, which doesn't encourage a lot of interaction with teachers. It's also not so comfortable for students here to be speaking in English.