This is one of the real failings of language classrooms, I feel. There is never that sense of genuine need or relevance when you know full well you could just say it in your shared language, rather than fumble away in English.

Even at the language school I taught at in London, with students from all around, they would drift into groups of Italians, Chinese, Spanish + Latin Americans, so any dialogue in English was just play-acting, not the real 'my meal or bed for the night depends on this' stimulus that really helps or makes you learn.