In learning a foreign language, one should first pay attention to speaking. It is the groundwork of reading and writing. You'd better try your best to speak. Don't be afraid of making mistakes. But be careful not to let them keep you from improving the language. While you are doing this, a good exercise is to write - keep a diary, write notes, letters or articles, then if you can, ask someone to go through what you have written and tell you where is wrong . Many mistakes in your speaking will be easily found when you write. Through correcting the mistakes, you can do better in learning a language.  If you are slow in speaking, don't worry. One of the helpful ways is by reading, either aloud or to yourself. The important thing is to choose something interesting to read. It can't be too difficult for you. When you are reading in this way, don't stop to look up the words if you can guess their meanings or if they have nothing important to do with the sentence. You can do that some other time . From the passage we know the groundwork is   _   while you are learning a foreign language.
reading writing speaking listening