The following describes the way a minimal signifying block of language, a chunk, is analyzed and manipulated to cause the understanding and synthesis of its grammar and assimilation of its meaning at every level.  This is the way pieces of the target language and its culture should be approached and used in learning a foreign language. It is in fact exactly the way that we learn our first language, only now in using it we are conscious of the process and in control of certain 'metalinguistic' techniques which save time.

First of all, what constitutes a minimal chunk?  Is the minimal signifying piece a word?  a phrase?  a sentence?  The answer will vary from situation to situation, but in general, a word, a phrase, or a sentence will usually not qualify as meaningful.  Context is necessary to meaning, and at least several sentences are required in order to make a context.
Once a context has been well-defined, a single word therein has meaning.   Out of context, words, phrases, and sentences do not mean anything.  This is why paradigmatic work, conjugations, declensions, and lists of vocabulary words, do little to facilitate performance in a foreign language.  The army has recently been looking at research into non-lethal crowd control.  One of their interests is a stink-bomb, emitting an extremely repulsive, but not harmful, odor.  It was suggested that the odor of vomit be used in the bomb until a psychologist and neurophysiologist pointed out that tests had been done which showed that out of context, i.e., out of the knowledge of the situation, where the smell came from, what caused it, etc., the smell in question was not offensive and in fact could not be distinguished from certain types of cheese.  This is just the way the brain works:  certain neurons fire alone, and outside the context of the others firing, the signal simply cannot be interpreted conclusively, just as we cannot feel conclusively what the word timber, duck, or basket means.  Our role as teachers is to provide vignettes, slices, of the language/culture big enough to have meaning.

Then we help the student analyze the chunk and appropriate the structures, to the end of synthesizing his own grammar of the target language.  Two types of analysis are possible: one which is purely grammatical, in which everything is explained metalinguistically, analytically; and another in which the student learns to manipulate the structures and synthesize his grammar more functionally.  Whichever may be easier for the student, the second is the only one which will eventually result in performance.

The functional analysis of a chunk is performed through a linguistic operation called commutation.  This simply means substitution.  You know the game called Legos?  Dimpled plastic pieces of various shapes and colors are snapped together to make a multi-colored structure. http://shop.lego.com/images/products/TYPE10/LEGO-US-2057/set384x288us007311.jpg. Given a structure, you could pull off a piece and replace it with one of a different color and still maintain the same structure, so long as the replacement piece was the same shape.  This is like linguistic structures: various substitutions can be made in a sentence which will gradually reveal to the student the meaning of the structure and the meanings of all the relations among its elements.  (Which two are really the same thing.)  It's no coïncidence that the inventors of this toy have made it possible to constuct huge and diverse parts of our world and our human culture with little pieces.  This is the way the human linguistic system works.  It is coïncidental, however--at least I think it is--, that legos and logos differ by only a substituted vowel.  Logos in Greek means, among other things:  logos.html    And this gives a whole new slant on the first few verses of John, which describe the beginnings of existence: en egênetô ên ho logos,  "In the beginning was logos."  This is usually translated into English as "In the beginning was the word,"  and we don't worry too much about what this means.  What a difference it would make to say: "In the beginning was a pure system of rational structural organization, a concept of order."

Here's a simple example of commutation.  This is how you do a 'chunk' of the language.
 

Les Etats-Unis disent atteindre leurs objectifs militaires en Afghanistan

Les responsables du Pentagone assurent que les opérations se déroulent
selon les plans définis au départ. Ils confirment leur intention de poursuivre
les raids pendant le ramadan, qui commence autour du 17 novembre.
Oussama Ben Laden a affirmé, samedi, sur la chaîne Al-Jazira, que ce conflit
était une "guerre religieuse". Il a accusé l'ONU d'être responsable des
souffrances des musulmans.

Now, take the first sentence:

Les Etats-Unis disent atteindre leurs objectifs.

and make Legos substitutions:
    Les Etats-Unis pensent atteindre leurs objectifs.
    Les Etats-Unis espèrent atteindre leurs objectifs.
    Les Etats-Unis désirent atteindre leurs objectifs.
    Les Etat-Unis veulent atteindre leurs objectifs.
    Les Etats-Unis souhaitent atteindre leurs objectifs.
    Les Etats-Unis confirment atteindre leurs objectifs.

Now, take one variant:
Les Etats-Unis confirment atteindre leurs objectifs
Les Etats-Unis confirment avoir atteint leurs objectifs.

Now, the Legos substitution with adjectives:
Les Etats-Unis confirment avoir atteint leurs objectifs militaires.
objectifs militaires...
politiques
sociaux
religieux
économiques

Or, to take another sentence from the chunk,
Ben Laden a accusé l'ONU d'être responsable de la guerre.
Ben Laden a accusé l'ONU d'être la cause de la guerre.
Ben Laden a accusé l'ONU d'avoir été responsable de la guerre.
Ben Laden a accusé l'ONU d'avoir été la cause de la guerre.
Ben Laden a accusé l'ONU d'avoir provoqué la guerre.

Se dérouler:
la classe s'est déroulée lentement
le match s'est déroulé comme prévu
ma vie se déroule joyeusement

poursuivre qq/qch
je poursuis des études de médecine
un homme me poursuit!
la police a poursuivi le criminel en voiture
nous avons l'intention de poursuivre la guerre

responsable de qq/ qch:
je ne suis pas responsable de toi
c'est elle qui est responsable des relations publiques de notre société
    c'est moi qui suis responsable des relations publiques de notre société
    c'est moi qui m'occupe de.....> occupe-toi de tes affaires > occupe-toi de tes oignons!
    c'est moi qui me charge de....

Or take a smaller chunk, a quotation like Le vrai courage, c'est celui de trois heures du matin and produce a little spoken commentary on it, like

Oui, il est facile d'être courageux quand on est entouré d'amis et occupé d'activités, mais au milieu de la nuit, quand on ne peut pas dormir, et on est anxieux, la peur vient.  Le vrai courage, c'est la capacité de faire face à la solitude et à la peur.

Or

Faire face à la peur en compagnie des autres, c'est une chose.  Faire face à la peur en solitude, c'est différent.

There's a little memorization involved in this process, too.  The essence, however, is paraphrasing.

Main thing for now, keep looking for structures in single sentences, that you can identify, make substitutions in, and then paraphrase.  For example, a structure from above,

Il est facile de....., quand on est entouré d'amis.

You can substitute a synonym in the structure and make a paraphrase.

Il est facile d'être courageux
is the same thing as
Il est facile d'être brave
is the same thing as
Il est facile d'être intrépide
is the same thing as
Il est facile d'avoir du courage
is the same thing as
Il est facile de ne pas avoir de peur
is the same thing as
Il est facile de faire face à la peur

and this last one could develop further into another chain
Il est facile de faire face au doute
Il est facile de faire face à l'anxiété
Il est facile de faire face aux problèmes
and the chain continues almost endlessly.

Change the adjective next:
Il est difficile de....
Combine the two:
Il est facile de...., mais il est plus difficile de...

Following it and playing with it by using commutation, the Legos to Logos model, is how you learn a language.  The next step after the purely formal drill of commutation is to render the environment real and personal to the student.