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Carlos Viso had never stepped foot into an American hair salon before.

But Tuesday night the Spanish-speaking student told his stylist how he likes his hair cut, how often he washes it, and what products he uses, all in English.

After receiving an invitation from salon owner Sally Hill, Viso and fellow students from Uruguay, Mexico, Guatemala, Columbia, Costa Rica and Nicaragua sat in plush leather chairs inside Running with Scissors salon in North Naples.

The students were from a Literacy Council of Bonita Springs class taught by instructor Sally Smith, who teaches students conversational English.

“You’ll have a higher comfort level,” she told her students.

Smith designed her class for those who have been taking English lessons for more than a year and those who want to put their skills to the test in real life situations. She set up golf lessons with a golf pro and hosted a dinner at her home to teach them how to communicate either as servers or patrons of an English-speaking restaurant.

“Anything that can help accelerate their vocabulary out of the textbook and into real life experience,” Smith said.

Most of the students at the class either cut their hair themselves or go to Spanish-speaking salons.

Throughout the evening, as students watched Viso get his first American hair cut, they asked questioned about the differences between gel and mousse, and learned salon vocabulary such as blow dry, curling iron, scissors, hair clips, cape, glazing, massage and lean back.

As Viso had his wet, curly hair massaged during the shampoo session of the evening, he told his classmates: “I feel good.”

Hill’s shampoo assistant, Ana Morales, is a student at the Literacy Council, and Smith is a client of the salon. According to Hill, Morales didn’t speak any English when she started working at Running with Scissors. To communicate, often times Hill would call a bilingual friend to translate over the phone to Morales.

“We couldn’t communicate at all,” Hill explained.

During the event, Morales was speaking with her fellow students in English, explaining shampoo, dryers and other salon-related English words.

“It’s interesting because we learn about what they use for hair color, how they can cut your hair,” student Migdalia Salez, 24, said. She’s been taking English classes for one year, after moving to the United States from Guatemala. “It’s important for everything. If you’re in America, you need English.”