Blue swan's new homework gives me some ideas. I really like her way of rewriting the stores in her own words. When you are trying to retell a story or add comments, you add your thinking into it. That is very active way of learning.
When we communicate with other people in English, we don't have pre-written scripts in hands to follow. We got to learn to react quickly on the spot and express ourselves clearly in our own words. That is pretty hard for me. Sometimes Too much stuff gets crowded in the head. Don't know how to sort them out in an organized way. Or sometimes knowing too little to even makes any comments. You can't always talk about weather or food. We need culture here, latest hit movies, new catchy music, good books or whatever knowledge in depth.
I really admire your music knowledge. And there are so many people in this forum well informed on western music. Music is always a good topic to discuss about and share with westerners. But I can hardly put a name onto a song. To remember the names of those singers is simply killing me. For me literature is too heavy; Arts is too illusive. Maybe watching some sitcoms or talk shows, which hardly counts as culture, suits me.
For the first problem (can’t express oneself clearly), starting a journal is a good solution. Writing can make you sit down to sort through your ideas, which can help speak in a clearer way later on. However, keeping a diary on a daily basis is just beyond me. So I think some times make some comment in English in forum is not a bad idea. It is very casual, no pressure, just saying something on some posts that interest you, like what I did today. A few sentences will do if you are in a hurry or blah blah…as much as you want.
That is something doable for lazy bones like me.