ore than 50 students of Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) gather every Thursday at five p.m. in the open area west to the No.1 teaching building in Songjiang campus to enjoy a break from their mother tongue.

They voluntarily form groups of 5-10 students each, and then talk in English on whatever topics they like. There is no time limit, so students usually talk until the night falls.

The English Corner, founded in 2010, is a weekly activity which is popular among SISU students. Lee, a student of School of Education, said that English Corner helped him a lot in improving his oral English.

The English Conversation Group (ECG) of Australia’s University of Wollongong, similar with SISU’s English Corner, is a non-profit activity held to help international students improve oral English and ability to quickly adapt to living abroad. ECG, hosted by Illwarra Committee for International Students (ICIS), is organized by volunteers, many of whom are local community members and international students.

Ann Jane, one of the volunteers, and a current exchange student from Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, said international students tried their best to speak English in ECG, and she managed to improve her oral English skills at this volunteer work as well.

According to Jane, the ECG meetings are held in a classroom and accompanied by refreshments - food and drinks. Students are divided into groups and talk with each other. A native English speaker is included in each group. Eddie Robinson, a retired teacher of UOW who attends ECG regularly, said that their topics are “random and free”. “It brings me lots of fun of to my retiring life, and I make many friends here,” he said.

In SISU, however, few native speakers usually attend the English Corner of SISU except for David, a teacher who now and then sometimes comes with his family after being invited by one of his students in 2013. Lee called for more native speakers to join the English Corner and help improve the students’ pronunciation.

Ruby Qian, a student exchanging from SISU to UOW, said that ECG is more well-organized than English Corner in SISU, as it gave her a intercultural experience.

The mentor of the English Corner in SISU, Professor Li Xiaokang, said he is not sure whether it is better to get more foreigners involved because students may prefer listening to speaking in such circumstance. He also suggested drawing more people to the English corner to create a better learning atmosphere.

Guo Yuhui, the administrator of the English Corner, said that he was seeking ways to attract more students to the weekly activity and make it better.