Ouch! That's painful. Having learnt to drive in the UK, I did so in a manual driving my dads E46 320i.
He made me sit in the car with the engine running going up and down the gears....(at the time just 5 gears). He didn't let me drive until I could shift into the correct gear with my eyes closed, and he would never let me short-shift.
This is exactly the technique I learnt and I've never missed a year in 21 years of driving...
http://store.uucmotorwerks.com/artic..._technique.htm
Sadly I'm now driving automatics and I don't think my 2 year old son will drive a manual when he learns to drive. It's a dying skill....