How do you practice English? What’s your story of first meeting with a foreigner? How did you start the conversation?

As the new semester began, some high school sophomores in Songjiang Experimental High School of East China Normal University shared their own stories of first-time conversations with foreigners.

“The foreigner I came across is an interesting person who even threw me a question,” one student said. “The foreigner I met is very talkative. On the topic of Spring Festival, we discussed for a long time,” another reported. “I was quite nervous when I racked my brains to talk with a foreigner for the first time,” a third recalled.

The students were reporting their assignment during the past winter vacation: how they managed to take a photo with a foreigner.

As their English class teacher, Mr. Xu required the teenagers to go out and take the initiative to chat with a foreign person, instead of staying at home to kill time. That was why he gave the assignment.

Though the described task sounds like a piece of cake in one of China’s most metropolitan cities, for the students it was not easy to pluck up the courage to talk to a foreign stranger. Besides overcoming the psychological obstacles, they had to make preparations for the conversations in advance.

“During the Spring Festival, I met several tall and handsome foreigners on Wenhui Road in Songjiang University City. After some hesitation, I finally had the courage to say hi to them. Since it was my first time to speak with foreigners, it did not go very well. Luckily, one of them could understand my broken English. I asked them where they were heading and how life in their own country is different from that in China. But I only understood part of their answers. My listening is so poor. I need to practice more,” said a student named Huang Jiaying in front of her classmates.

Thanks to the assignment, many students became more confident and they are happy that they made friends with foreigners.

A boy named Li Shiyue said, “I met John at a bus stop. I introduced myself to him and asked him where he came from. He asked me to guess from his accent. I shook my head. Then he told me, his eyes are green, so he is French. We also exchanged WeChat numbers when parting.”

Liu Yunzhou came across a foreigner from Australia while he was in Suzhou’s Master of the Nets Garden for holiday. “I took the courage to say hello to him, and he was so nice that my fears were eased. So we began our chat. I asked him why he traveled to China and his opinions on Chinese and Western cultures. He answered patiently and slowed down his speed for me,” said Li. “When it was time to say goodbye, he was very happy to take a photo with me. After this experience, I feel that speaking English is not so difficult as we thought. As long as we practice more and be braver, we can make it.”