of finding a native English speaker to practice speaking with. And I know that that's important

for me as I seek to improve, for example, my Spanish skills. But sometimes it's kind

of intimidating, knowing that I'm not fluent in Spanish, but the other person is.

And I'm recognizing this other person's going to have to be patient with me, and so I may

feel hesitation. I do feel hesitation when I approach someone who is fluent in Spanish,

but I want to speak Spanish with that person. So I imagine that there are also English speakers--or

English learners--who feel hesitation, who feel fear. They get nervous when they're around

native English speakers but they still want to practice English with that person. What

do you you recommend for that person to overcome that nervousness?

I would hope that their love for English and learning English--their love for that is greater

than their fear of a foreigner or a native English speaker. Often in China I'll need

help with a Chinese word or phrase, and I'll ask my students for help and they're happy

to help me. I will ask them [Chinese], which, I think it means in Chinese, "Can you help

me?"

I have no idea if it means that.

Well, they usually say, "Yes, teacher. We can help you." [Chinese] "What do you want?"

And so I'll tell them in English and they'll help me in Chinese. And they're happy to help

me. The same thing for most native English speakers in a foreign country: We are happy

to help students learn English.

Okay.

We know it's difficult to learn English because we are having difficulty learning that language.

And so when they come to us for help, we're happy to help them learn English.

So when they come to you and they try to speak English, it's like, you understand their frustration,

or you understand their hesitation because you are surrounded by people who know a language

that you were not quite fluent in. And you're nervous about it, but they're nervous about

speaking in English, and so you can both overcome that hesitation.

And many times in Chinese, I will know the right words, but I won't know how to say them

in the exact way that they should be said because pronunciation in Chinese is very difficult

for me at a Westerner. But the students are very patient, and they're very helpful, trying

to help me learn their language. And likewise I as an English teacher want to help my students

and any Chinese student wanting to learn English to speak better, to listen better, to help

find resources that they can utilize for their English learning process.