Although we didn’t formally “teach” anything during this meeting, we later realized that we had still learned a lot, just not in the traditional classroom sense. By sharing personal stories, our university experiences, and reasons for coming to Erasmus, we practiced spontaneous speaking and active listening. We both became more at ease expressing ourselves in another language since neither of us is a native speaker, so there was no fear of being judged. Additionally, explaining our habits, traditions, and experiences led us to teach each other new expressions and phrases in our native language, Spanish. The learning happened naturally through storytelling.
What set this session apart from others was the lack of pressure to perform or achieve a specific linguistic goal. I think our approach really helped reduce the usual self-consciousness that comes with speaking a foreign language or talking to someone you don’t know well. At first, we felt like maybe we should have been more productive, but later we realized that this informal start created a solid foundation. We were both excited and curious, and from that moment, we immediately connected, beginning to build the trust we needed to continue developing our English and French skills in the following sessions.
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