With the continuous promotion of the Belt and Road Initiative and the introduction of various favorable policies on studying abroad, the number of students studying in China from countries along the Belt and Road has increased year by year. Civil engineering, as an important basic discipline to support the national economic development and guarantee the social livelihood, is becoming the choice of more and more students. However, at the present stage, the education level of overseas students in China is far from meeting the development needs of the international student industry. The source and structure of international students need to be optimized, the English level and teaching ability of teachers still need to be improved. Taking the importance basic course soil mechanics as an example, based on teaching practice, clarified the present problems of soil mechanics teaching of English, put forward the teaching reform method and class scheme, matching the students’ personality traits and learning habits .The feasibility of practicing ideological and political education in international students is explored. The relevant results and discussions can provide reference for the construction of English soil mechanics courses for international students.