Here's my secret method:
Go to the search icon at the bottom.
Now you have choices of: posts, hashtags, news, local, and for you.
Click on local.
My local is packed out with people speaking in nine different languages. It doesn't seem to be very local at all, and I am instantly reminded that there are Mastodonians from all over the world.
In among the languages I don't speak, there's an eclectic selection of English speakers.
I don't do it too often, but I enjoy it there.