The 5 skills in Language Learning

It is not a mistake. The four skills are now the five skills.
Speaking, listening, reading and writing are nothing without the most important skill of all: pronunciation, or phonetics, or phonology..., call it what you wish, the sounds of the language.
From square one, from lesson one in our language studies we must insist on pronouncing well. We must demand phonetic correction from our teacher all the time.
English has a large variety of sounds that present a challenge for foreigners, especially Spanish-speaking ones.
Comparing sounds in two languages, comparing words, we will detect the difference.
A /d/ in English has a sound that a Spanish /d/ will never have. Compare did with dedo. (Or majestad, parado, dad, lad)
No wonder people do not understand us. No wonder we do not understand people.
Insist on a thorough grounding in sound repetition.