To me , I have learned English for so many years, and I find there are several ways to learn a foreign language,.
First, you must be brave enough. Most of my ESL students are quite shy, and they don't dare to express themselves well. Sometimes they would like to show their own opinion after preparing a long time. Therefore, in my class, I will give them several minutes to prepare and then encourage them to speak their attitudes on topic.
Second, the environment is quite important. Many of my ESL students from China have large amount of vocabulary, and their writing and reading are well while listening and speaking are very poor. To learn the cause, I find that environment is really important for second language acquisition. Once they have immersed into an English-speaking community, it is natural for them to understand well and speak fluently.
Third, different people may use different approaches in language acquisition. Some students may use step-by-step approach, while others may improve their language by big leap. When I was about fifteen years old, I began to study oral English in evening school. At that time, I was in the low-level class with Chinese teacher. However, when I noticed that there was a foreigner teacher in the medium-level class, I went to that class. For the next two month, I experienced a hard time and I felt headache each time after class since that foreigner teacher cannot speak any Chinese.
To my surprise, about three months later, I suddenly found that I could understand most of his class and even I could express myself. Maybe I am an example for some students that it is not necessary for him/her to study second language step by step.
Fourth, I think the most important one is to understand the culture of targeted language.
I have found that it is difficult for one to learn a foreign language without knowing anything about the culture. In order to study English, I have to learn American drama, Bible, etc. Of course, if someone wants to learn Chinese, he/she must learn some cultural background to understand the meaning of the words. Culture and language cannot be separated.
"'If you talk to a man in a
language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in
his own language, that goes to his heart.'" - Nelson Mandela
Here is a good paper that illustrate how important is the culture to second language acquisition.
