I've taken both Spanish and Italian in the past, and what really set apart the 'good' classes from the 'bad' classes was that the good classes inspired me to associate the language with things I did and encountered in everyday life. The bad classes tended to just focus on memorization and repetitive exercises to 'pound' the information into your brain.

The good classes, on the other hand, made a connection between the words and phrases and real life. One of the most interesting activities I ever did in a language class was an assignment where we had to stand in front of the class and explain an everyday activity in front of everyone. As simple as it sounds, it really made me start to think about OTHER daily activities and how they would be described in the language, and it became sort of a snowball effect.

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