When I am talking to friends I rarely use completely proper english. I, like most people, use slang and other terminology that wouldn't be considered proper throughout the day.
I believe the origin of the language is very important. I once had a professor who went into great debts about the roots of words and their relations to other language. I loved how he did that
For me the hardest is listening. Hearing a language from a native speaker is much harder than hearing it from an instructor. The easiest for me is reading.
Starting with rich english wouldn't be beneficial for ESL learners. I would recommend what rodserd has to say, start with children's books and work your way up.
like most americans I started studying my second language while in middle school. That language being spanish. I continued learning spanish through college and eventually added french to my studies!
Hey guys. I am glad to be here. I am a native english speaker and am currently studying Spanish and French. Eventually I would like to learn Mandarin but that won't be for awhile!