There is no better teacher than to actually go out and speak the language, so I'm not surprised you got good results one-on-one. Similarly, but probably with less efficiency, I'd like to recommend Michel Thomas' language tapes. They focus entirely on conversation and active use of the language.

One thing we should shy away from is the marketing message of "learning like children", like Rosetta Stone is doing. It is fairly well documented that adults can learn languages at least close to as well as children [0][1], but adults learn differently.

Here's something you can do as an adult which a child lacks the prerequisite hooks to do:

- English words ending in -ible or -able – possible, table, comfortable, probable – have the same meaning in French. They're pronounced differently (ending sounds like -sibl or -abl in French, not -səbl̩ or -eɪbəl)

- Same with -ent and -ant: important, different, etc. Usually adds an -e when writing. (pronounced with -ɑ̃ not -ənt)

- Also words ending in -ary: Military, necessary. Change the ending to -aire when writing. (pr. -ɛʁ not -ɛɹi)

- Lastly, -ence + -ance: Difference, importance. (pr. -ɑ̃s not -əns)

Congratulations, you now know well over 1000 words in French.

0: http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/myths.html 1: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/life-bilingual/201309/ho...