An oral English class at a university in Sichuan province recently stumbled upon a way to improve communication skills: the students, from Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE) taught their foreign teacher how to play mahjong.

The unusual classroom activity was first publicized on the microblog of a SWUFE student surnamed Huang. In the picture he uploaded, a foreign lady is looking at the mahjong tile in her hand beside a makeshift table of three desks. Next to her is a Chinese girl, advising the woman on her next move.

According to Huang, the mahjong game happened as part of an oral English class for freshmen. The foreigner is a teacher named Mary, who is originally from Kenya. Huang said that Mary asked the students to bring a board game to class in order to improve their English communication ability. Mahjong proved to be the most popular.

Huang thought it was an interesting class. Though some people questioned the foreign teacher’s professionalism, Huang held that her unusual method stimulates students' desire for studying and actually did improve their communication skills.