Through research and classroom observation undertaken while conceptualizing and implementing the Intensive French program in Canada, many new insights were gained into the development of communication skills in a classroom situation. Five lessons learned about the development of spontaneous oral communication are presented in this article: the ineffectiveness of core French in primary school; the minimum number of intensive hours necessary to develop spontaneous oral communication; the need to develop implicit competence rather than explicit knowledge; the distinction between accuracy as knowledge and accuracy as skill; and the importance of teaching strategies focussing on language use. These lessons have implications for our understanding of how oral competence in an L2 develops and for the improvement of communicative language pedagogy. (Contains 4 figures, 3 tables, and 8 notes.)