Learning Languages

My experience as a learner of a second language has been very different depending on the environment in which I was learning.
Although I have taken courses on different languages through all my life such as Italian, French or Arabic, these courses were just sort of an introduction but never a continuous learning process. It was with English when I did study it thoroughly and in different ways.In classroom the atmosphere was always good in terms of work but the method we would follow in order to learn was based on grammar and translation so there was not room for real communication. In fact, we would always follow the book to learn the same grammatical points and vocabulary and to do the same sort of activities in which the student is a very passive individual. We would practice thefour linguistic skills: listening, writing, reading and we would employ just a bit of time on speaking. I believe that all the skills are important but, in my modest opinion, as students of a second language we should focus more on the listening and the speaking since they are essential for communication in real life and a language is eventually made to interact with others. Therefore, almost all myyears at school and high school were not very dynamic and useful when studying English but more repetitive and static. Nevertheless, all my experiences were not that negative. I remember having a very good teacher in primary school that inspired us to learn English in a more fun way. We had to record ourselves doing a TV program or we had individual oral presentations that enhanced our confidencein a language different to our mother tongue. Apart from this teacher in primary school I did not have any other interactive experience until I went to university with the exception of one year in High School in which we had assigned a foreign language assistant with whom we would meet once a week. This was a great experience and a way of practicing English in a real context, with a native person.Once in university we could enjoy having Professors from English Speaking countries such as Ireland. Furthermore, we were asked to have debates, oral presentations and to record videos on current affairs. I think the time I was in university was more challenging for me in terms of learning English because since I was doing a BA in English in which we took history, linguistics and literature, thelanguage had a purpose and made me learn in a more intensive way.
Also, I remember studying English in Boston for a month with a grant from the Spanish government. I could get familiar with a different learning approach. Our teacher was Russian and I think precisely because of this reason (she had been an English as a second language student in the past and she knew what we needed to learn andhow to proceed) I faced for the first time a communicative and task based method that in my opinion was very effective and most importantly, it encouraged me to keep learning English with big enthusiasm. The lessons did not focus only on learning the language, but on learning the American culture, as well. We were expected to be open to the culture we were living in and were also given theopportunity to teach our classmates about our countries. This led to conversations on the differences between our own cultures and its reference points. Our teacher suggested that we have debates on general interest issues. This may have been the most positive and constructive experience I had in the classroom.
In 2008 I did my third year of degree in Stirling, a small village in Scotland.Academically speaking, it was an enriching experience. I found their approach to literary studies was more practical than in Spain, giving me an opportunity to learn differently. Also, instead of studying English, I was immersed in classes and social groups with English speakers. My roommates were Scottish and Australian. They were culturally more similar to each other than I was to them. They...