I took charge of my learning, and stopped relying on my teachers. The teacher was only one of many resources available to me in a city like Montreal. All of a sudden, with no tests, no questions from teachers, and no grammar drills, my French skills took a great leap forward! I had achieved my first language breakthrough. I could feel the improvements in fluency, comprehension and pronunciation. This made language learning exciting. I was speaking and listening to French in situations that interested me. I spoke to myself in French, imitating proper pronunciation as much as I could. Even when I did not understand what was said or had trouble expressing myself, it did not frustrate me. I was committed and I was enjoying the experience of communicating. There was no turning back. By taking my language learning out of the classroom, I had made it real.
I have held onto this central principle: learning done in real situations is always far superior to artificial contexts such as exercises, drills, or material specially designed for learners. Time spent in genuine and interesting conversation is a better learning environment than the formal classroom. I also discovered another important principle of language learning: the learner has to be in charge, seeking out the language, the people, the content. As the learner, I have to discover the words and the phrases that I am going to need. All too often it is the teacher or text books who decide which words you should learn. These words have no importance, and as a consequence are quickly forgotten.
