Learning a language isn't just about learning words and rules. It's about communication, and how best to communicate the idea in your mind to the other person. While we do strive for fluency in using languages, it is impossible to achieve perfection. We use whatever grammar and vocabulary that we've acquired, in conjunction with gestures, inflections, good pronunciation, and whatever examples we can conjure up to communicate that idea. If the other person understands the meaning of what we've been trying to communicate, then we're successful.

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I've found in my years of teaching that confidence is the key. However, it is futile to simply tell a person to be confident. If the person could be confident on his or her own, he or she would have already done it. It is therefore, the responsibility of the teacher to build confidence in the student. This comes from the teacher's ability to understand and assess the student's needs, strengths and weaknesses, and then address them appropriately.

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In the lessons that I teach, class time is practice time. While we do need to impart some knowledge in the lessons, it is in the practice where the student acquires confidence and fluency. It is where the student makes mistakes, gets corrected, laughs it off, and tries again. We play games, do quizzes, activities, role-plays, and presentations. We listen to songs, narrations, and conversations. We read stories, articles and advertisements. We write notes, letters, emails, diaries, and reports. We build confidence.