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Tips and strategies for intense learning | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4944 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes  Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 9 of 27 30 September 2011 at 8:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for the thread, the timeboxing idea is a great one. I need to try it for my nonlanguage studies.
Do you think coffee is that bad for learning in general? I have tried to intensively study for an exam without coffee and failed miserably. I don't drink it much normally (once in a few weeks), but a week or two before a huge exam, I need to sleep less and focus more. Is there a different way from coffee? I tried tea but it works much less and I need to drink lots of it and way before I start studying. I tried having a shower when I am already tired, but this way i could spend whole night in the bathroom instead of work. Any more ideas? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| AndyMeg Diglot Groupie Colombia Joined 4861 days ago 48 posts - 62 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English Studies: Japanese, Korean | Message 10 of 27 30 September 2011 at 11:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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Try the pomodoro technique. It is a really interesting and useful technique.
Here is the official link with all the information: http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/book.html You can download the book and other resources for free, and if you want a paper version, you can buy it. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5119 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 11 of 27 01 October 2011 at 6:16am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm trying to increase quality focus time too. I think this time boxing thing is a good idea. I've noticed that I
do am lot better when I take a break and come back later. It's kind of frustrating since I get impatient and want to just study study etc. I've also tried listening to music while studying which helps sometimes. Anything to keep me in a good mood pretty much. I'm sure healthy is good but being in a good mood seems to be most important (exercise does help me with that though) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4844 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 12 of 27 01 October 2011 at 9:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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As a teacher, I can tell you that one of the most important ways to keep learning effective is to vary the method. According to Geoff Petty (a highly paid cognitivist), you should do no more than 20 minutes on a single type of activity, even less if you're young. After that, the retention just drops off. The rule of thumb for teachers is that an activity should take no more than 1 minute per year old the student is, up to a maximum of 20. Long before reading Petty, I heard about other research giving retention the 20 minute limit. I found it funny that Pimsleur, supposedly scientific in its method, has 30 minutes per lesson. I personally break every Pimsleur lesson in 2, and switch to something else after 15 minutes.
By a type of activity, Petty means things like reading, writing, listening, talking, drawing, etc. Practically speaking, you could study vocab for 20 minutes, then listen to audio for 20 minutes, then read for 20 minutes, then practice oral excercises for 20 minutes, etc. I know when you get in the zone, you'd rather keep on doing the same thing. But if you simply adjust what you're doing, you can keep yourself in the zone, and improve your effectiveness. I never follow the 20 minute limit exactly, but I make sure I vary my tasks regularly. One personal tip, is that I like studying while going for a walk. I either flip through vocab cards or listen to something. 9 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Icaria909 Senior Member United States Joined 5526 days ago 201 posts - 346 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 13 of 27 02 October 2011 at 3:59am | IP Logged | ||
I wholeheartedly agree. In my experience, I can only study in increments of 15 minutes. Varying the method is also a great idea. On Sundays (the only day I can do intensive study) I spend 3/4 of the time doing active studying like making word lists, etc, but I also like to devote 1/4 of my time to watch movies or TV shows or just listen to a book on tape in my L2. The passive studying helps to keep my enjoyment of studying up and motivate me to continue with more strenuous work. Edited by Icaria909 on 02 October 2011 at 4:00am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4763 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 14 of 27 03 October 2011 at 1:49am | IP Logged | ||
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Not disagreeing with any of this, but it is somewhat opposed to the original presentation
of the L-R method, which talked of ~10 hours at a time .... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6844 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 15 of 27 03 October 2011 at 11:03am | IP Logged | ||
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That's more about intensity and sinking into the "foreign language mode" which at least I can't do in just a couple of minutes. Not that I've ever done L-R for several hours in a row either (I have other things to do), but I can see the point.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6485 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 16 of 27 03 October 2011 at 5:03pm | IP Logged | ||
Jeff Lindqvist makes a very good point - how do we apply this to our language learning? Do we stop studying every 20 minutes, or change languages, or switch from vocabulary to reading, or stop a very specific kind of flashcard study, etc. I agree that there's some merit to the idea that one should take a break periodically, but it's probably impossible to nail down the length of interval or type of language activities that need to be broken up. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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