1. Stacey

I had lessons in Hindi at a local language school. Unfortunately the only class available at my level was late in the evening. So after a long day at school, and then all the written homework we have to do, I didn't have a lot of energy left for language learning. Also, some of my classmates were much older than me and I didn't really get to know them. But that didn't matter because whenever we did group activities, which I'd never done before, but took to straight away, I made sure I was with the younger ones. I was having lessons every evening and that was costing my parents quite a lot, but we'd booked to go to India later that year so there was no time to lose.

2. Chloe

I really want to learn Polish so I bought a course of language lessons as an MP3 to play on my iPod. That meant I could work on it anywhere I went, particularly at those times when you've got nothing to do, like standing at the bus stop. Once I was concentrating so hard on getting a grammar point right that I completely forgot I was on the bus and I started repeating restaurant phrases aloud. I felt a bit uncomfortable when I noticed everyone looking at me, so I didn't do that again. Actually, one problem with learning on my own was not knowing when I was saying words properly and when I wasn't. Overall, though, it was a useful course and I think it was good value for money.

3. Amy

I used the Internet to improve my Spanish. It cost nothing, of course, and although at first I didn't know quite where to look, in the end I came across some great websites where I could practise reading and listening and do grammar exercises. At the same time, I was joining social networking sites and getting in touch with Spanish-speaking teenagers from various parts of the world. I also tried online chat in Spanish, but I couldn't keep up with people. All the time I was thinking about my grammar and it was taking me so long to reply to each sentence after I'd read it that I didn't think it was fair on them, so I gave up. I'll try again sometime, though.

4. Laura

I was living with an English-speaking family and the idea was that I'd pick up a lot of language by being there with them, but it just wasn't happening. Everyone watched television all the time and rarely spoke to me. After a week I left and moved in with a couple who had young children, and that was better. They were all very friendly and I could chat with them anytime, really. When I got things wrong they would often correct me and I think that helped me improve my speaking a lot. I would also have liked to be nearer the city centre, because the house was so far out of town that I couldn't get to the kinds of places where other teenagers went in the evenings.