Take Responsibility For Your Own Learning
It's normal to expect your teacher to teach you, but that's not how language acquisition works. Your English teacher is really there to present English to you, in all its glory, but you have to learn it. After all, you wouldn't expect a waiter to eat your dinner for you, or a barman to drink your beer for you, would you?
I am always very clear with my students. In the first lesson I tell them, "I am not here to teach you English", and once they have got over the shock I explain, "I am here to help you learn it".
So, what is the difference? Well, once you've been presented with new English words or vocabulary, it's up to you to use them, review what you've learnt, even play with it. It's the only way you'll get it to actually stick in your brain, start to make sense of the structure of English and develop a feeling for the language.
