I just answered a similar question from someone else, so I am going to tell you the same exact thing that I just told them... If you want to improve your listening skills, listen as much as possible. There are unlimited resources online in English (youtube, radio websites, news sites, podcasts from itunes). Put them on your phone or mp3 player and listen to them everywhere all the time. When you're walking, driving, sitting, sleeping, etc. Your brain will start learning new words without even trying. You'll learn new expressions from their context, and you will learn words that you might not find in a text book. For speaking, you need to speak as much as possible. This might sound like common sense, but it's true. Listening/understanding happens in a different part of the brain than speaking. So even if you can understand a language well, it is still important to use it out loud. Your brain needs to strengthen those connections, and this is done by speaking as much as possible. Try to find a native speaker of the language you want to learn. Then try to spend as much time talking to them in that language without switching back to your native language. This is when you will see a lot of improvement.