you must internalize what you learned and use them in all possib

No matter which means to take to learn English, you must transport what you learned to your own and use them in your daily communication. If you donot use it, it will give back to teachers soon after you leave the class room.

I have a little book of about 200 words claimed I must know to prove I am an intelligent communicator. But, the field I am in for my bread and butter needs not those words, so I have no chance to use those words. Even I read and memorize those words many times, I still cannot use them properly.

Most of chinese from mainland china in US are working for high tech industries and are working on specific high tech fields. The daily work needs not commanding a sophisticated English if they do not plan to go to non-tech positions. More interestingly, it needs us having very good English listening skills, but it doesn't demand us to speak English that well. Most of people have no pressure or incentive to enhance their English to the native Speaker level, so they just stay at what they feel confortable.

From my experience, staying in US does improve my English skill dramatically. i can watch TV, read newspapers to find good deals and places to visit. But, most of chinese do not have opportunites to speak out due to no shared interests with the native speakers around. Once, I said something about Bible stories to one coworker, another coworker jumped in to start an in-depth discussion with me about Bible, but I just knew a few paragraphs of Bibble for some personal interests in a polictical event, I must talk away to avoid the topic further.

Due to our busy work, we do not have time to watch all movies, TV shows, sports, and concerts to create a common interest with the native speakers. We are also plugged into American culture, so we do not have the historic backgrounds to have a deep discussion on non-work related subjects.

To speak to native speaker, there are two barriers to overcome. The first is the fear of making mistakes. Most of chinese do not want to show the weakness to coworkers, so that they donot participate in a conversation actively. The second is the time to accumulate the non-technical knowledges, so that it can be used to in non-technical conversations, but you also need to find a native speaker wuth the sane interest. To get over this obstacle, I found participating Toastmaster meetings are very useful in US. I can make mistakes, but not in front of my coworkers. I can show my interests to a group of strangers, who must listen to my speeches and give me some feedback. This is also the benefits of living in US to enhance your speaking skills.

I have observed a few indians and chineses having improved their spoken skills a lot through actively participating Toastmaster weekly meetings.

Staying in US won't help you enhance your English skill if you donot actively speak to people. But, if you stay in a non-English country, I do not think you can improve your English speaking skills through trainings, since you do not have a chance to internalize what you have learned in a real English society.