GIMP isn't Photoshop. Adobe Photoshop is an entirely different application.
What you want to do is sometimes called selective colorization. Just google GIMP selective colorization tutorial. http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=gimp+selective+colorization+tutorial&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a
Or you could use my method:
1. Open your color image
2. Right click the background layer in the layers dialog and choose duplicate layer
3. Click Colors>Desaturate>OK
4. Right click the new black and white layer in the layers dialog, and choose add layer mask. Choose black-full transparency in the options.
5. Click on the paintbrush, choose white as your foreground color
6. Paint over the area you want, to bring the color back.
7. If you make a mistake, and go over the lines, change your paintbrush color to black and paint the black and white image back.
8. Painting in white will reveal the image under the layer mask, painting in black will repair the layer mask.
If you use the above method, and save your file as an XCF, you will still retain the original color image on the background layer. If you switch off the black and white layer (uncheck the eye icon in the layers dialog) you will see the original color image.