There is no one best way. I needed the structure of class. I live in Norway, and folks are quick to speak English with me until I got firmly into an intermedia

There is no one best way. I needed the structure of class. I live in Norway, and folks are quick to speak English with me until I got firmly into an intermediate level... and it still happens. Oh well :) But even without classes, I suggest getting a few language learning books designed for adults learning Spanish as a second language. Work through the workbooks. Many come with web support as well. The ones I used covered basic everyday situations, helped with sounds, and covered grammer slowly. Around here, there are language cafes that help folks get speaking practice. Childrens shows helped me, as the speech is simple and clear. The TV station has transcripts as well - I found this very helpful. Watch once, view transcript and translate, and watch again. Listen to television/radio as much as possible. Play this stuff as background sound when you are working on things. The exposure trains your ear. Speak when you can, even if you are repeating after the children's shows you are watching. Try to speak every time you go to the store, for example. Read. Children's books at first, perhaps. Harry Potter is also a good: You are probably familiar with the story and it repeats words quite often. Move to novels once you tire of children's books but before you feel you are "ready" for them. They'll be hard at first, but at least you can pick things up you are interested in. Newspapers are handy as they introduce information that you might not be interested in. You might be able to find news for children online or something like that as well. Or one that is easy to read (I found that in Norwegian). Write down words you don't know - and their translations - even if you never look at the list again. Write, especially if you have a local that can read it and correct things for you. Rewrite with corrections. Copy newspaper articles. I suggest writing by hand instead of typing at first, but eventually you'll want to type as well. When typing, make sure you have a spell check on your computer that can spell check spanish. Apps are helpful for building vocabulary. After you get a good vocabulary base, make sure you start studying idioms. These color the language. Google translate isn't always spot-on, but still very helpful. You might have to type more than one word to get a proper translation - it is like this in Norwegian because some words might mean one thing yet when combined mean something completely different.