Want to learn a second language? This is all you need. The right attitude, and the right environment. As a teacher, it is our job to make sure we have both of these things for our students. The same thing goes for if you want to learn a second language for yourself. Once you have the motivation, you have to go about building the right environment conducive to your learning. Often this means moving to where the target language is spoken to expose yourself to it. Attitude is often lacking in Japan, although there are exceptions.

It's when this attitude isn't backed up by a conducive environment that we run into problems. It's also why I'm a proponent of implementing English education in high school or later. I see no reason to teach English at a younger age than that, and would prefer it if that time was spent to help students get curious about the world, as that would help the attitude part. By then, the students should have a good grasp of how they learn well, and it would be easier to create the conducive environment I'm talking about, because older students learn faster than younger students.

*It appears this didn't go out last night when I meant to send it 🙁 hope you enjoy it though!