The way students pick up English is much different from the way they learn any other subjects at school. The students will be able to use the language after a bit long term of process. They have to strive by trying to get used to listen, think, and speak in this language before they master it by heart. In the other words, people can hardly communicate in English, as L2, even though they have got its subject from schools (Elementary, Junior High, and Senior High Schools) for years.
There are some factors needed in the process;
- Parents/ Family
Home can be a good place to develop a lingual ability of children. Parents have a chance to encourage their children to make speaking English as a habit. They can start introducing English to the children as early as possible. During the pre school period or the early years of elementary school is the best time to develop the vocabularies and structure/grammatical skill.
- Teachers
Schools may play the most important role in the process, but anyway, it doesn't mean that English teacher is the only man who carries this "heavy job". In this case, I may pick out what Mr. Yeo (SVO) said in his workshop; "There's no Harry Potter's
-Environmental Aspect
English environment should not be created at home and school only. Friends sometimes influence the skills development process much more than what parents and teachers do. However, teachers and parents only take a little part in this aspect. Moreover, it really happens when a child doesn't really have enough time to get along with his/ her parents. Some linguists even say that a "lingua franca"s learning process is much influenced by the learner's social interaction.
Without any support from those elements above, I think it's a bit hard to make a child speaks English. Parents cannot expect their children become bilingual just by sending them into an English course if they do not see any English atmosphere at home, at their playtime outside, or at school hours; No matter how expensive it costs, or how good the teacher is.
