Interleaved Learning, Interleaving, or why LingQ Works so Well

Google "interleaving", or "interleaved learning" to learn more about this approach to learning that goes counter to how most people learn. I think I learn languages well mostly because I interleave, not primarily because of any special talent. Anyone can interleave.

[benzvd]

I admire your 90 days challenge. As of now, me too, I am challenging myself for Mongolian language as I am planning to visit Mongolia in July. 

[littleripper]

The flashcard system on lingq has helped me learn in other areas of my life. It taught me to organize a system for learning skills. Instead of vocab though you can break down a skill into small parts and do a similar system. I first saw this while using lingq. Great website for learning languages and just learning to learn in general. I'm currently learning to draw human anatomy. I want to be able to draw the body as a whole or in parts and from any layer and view. So I have spent time organizing how I will learn this and the system I have planned out is much like the flash cards system in lingq. Weird hobby, I know, but learning is fun and for me it started with language learning at lingq. Highly recommended for all ages.

[rearantes]

Steve, I started to follow your activities about one and a half year ago and today a can get a conclusion: your methods really work. I knew only a few words in English without any context, today I feel much more confident in reading and listening English contents. I still have too much to improve writing and even more speaking. Although I won't give in, and I am thinking in learn also French soon. Thanks for all your explanations.

[treiscuarenta]

Very interesting video! You just summed up how I learned to read in Spanish. I had TY, Colloquial and Assimil books and scanned them from time to time (without working on them), combined with mass anki flashcarding from time to time and reading bbc mundo articles on science, education and health most of the time etc. It was too boring for me to actually work with these books but I used them as a reference for my progress. I merely read through the chapters quickly every now and again (like 3-4 chapters in 15 minutes) and didn't worry about what I didn't know. I was amazed one time when I picked up the TY book and found it difficult to find words that I didn't know. 

[Pakanahymni]

Actually I started learning Icelandic last Autumn and what I did was gather all materials I could find and I read all of them cursorily so I got drilled in the basics many times from a few fronts and I found that this method was very good as I didn't get tired with any particular method and I managed to keep the stuff fresh all the time.

[Ribeiro]

Hi Steve. I'm brazilian and i love your method and as you always say, it's natural one, not simply a method, but I like A J Hoge lessons and his enthusiastic way of teaching english, it worked for me and he does the same recommendations of you, that is "be surrounded by everything on english" listening and reading a lot.

[eugrus]

In my German legal studies I am mostly confronted between reading theory, doing cases and reading sample  solutions for the cases. Other than that there are minor activities including learning optimal ways to structure certain problems and testing myself on definitions and logical structures (Germans are obsessed with flashcards, by the way).
I am still nowhere near finding the right balance (in Russia it was just a huge dis-balance towards theory).
Quite often I am thinking about how what we know about learning languages could apply (what you are talking about in this video as well), but I am not sure it really does. I also started Spitzer's “Lernen” you've referred to many times and there's really a lot of methodological literature for German law students. On the other hand, getting into these (methodological) things deeply is time consuming itself.

[dennisconner]

Great video! Explains the success of the students who use the Saxon math books!

[cophnia]

Wow this "lingq" seems to me a very good resource, I feel it is exactly what I need

[kombatconditioningmasterty]

How does this apply to bixing or karate

[BungsViet]

great video, thanks for putting me on to this subject and the research. It makes for some interesting reading

[arjunmoore]

Hello steve How would a person, who is a complete beginner in Russian start Learning on LingQ. Also how similar are Ukrainian and Russain grammar wise. 

[atyers]

Hi Steve. I really enjoy watching your videos. In Ontario, French teachers are really starting to use the AIM (Accelerated Integrated Method) of teaching. I have used it myself and love it. Students learn skits with hand gestures. Perhaps you can do a video on it to let others know! Thanks again

[skunkfuultimatee]

On average, how many hours do you spend studying a language a day? I'm just curious because I am learning Russian, and I watched one of your videos on your 90 day challenge on Korean, and on day five, you had already accumulated 15, 000 words! And it's been a week and I have only 120 words accumulated!

[simonobrien]

Research shows that learners progress in stages. Learning specific blocks of grammer for example to a high level is not efficient and It won't advance a person, and go through the process needed to become able to freely generate speech. Tackling content and making mistakes will allow the learner to create rules to strucher speech and 'fight' to communicate accuratley. As time passes this 'fight' will become easier and the learners' errors will make way for accurate grammer. But they will not get there without the fight and grappling will the language. So I guess 'interleaving' another name or proxy term for this IDK. I've never heard of It. This method that allows the brain to go through the process It needs to advance. A lot of this refers to output and thinking and making mistakes but It shares paralels with the principal of interspersed input.

[JariSatta]

"I fear not the man who has practiced 10, 000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10, 000 times" ----Bruce Lee.

[Spitfireseven]

Dear Stevaradini, I 'm not sure what the current state of the dental health system is in Canada but mercury fillings can and will mess with your ability to memorize. Lecithin has been my silent nutrient partner in memorization. It's cheap and available at the vitamin store. Good luck.

[atft]

IMHO, interleaving is just another word for something that has been known for decades as varied practice. I think most good teachers understand the importance of it. Of course, there are teachers who blindly follow textbooks, which often are written with the idea of block learning, because it is easier to present material in this way. However, the main promoters of block learning are standardized tests. If you want to boost your performance on some test, usually block learning is the fastest way to achieve that. So relying heavily on those tests to assess students' progress can lead to suboptimal learning in the long run (/watch?v=MMixjUDJVlw).

BTW, what is your opinion about the 'Less is More' idea. Dr. Angela Friederici argues that for successful language learning, one should focus on syntax and basic rules first and only later try to increase one's vocabulary. Accordingly to her, children do not learn a second language in school well, because they focus too much on vocabulary. When children acquire their first language, they tend to master basic syntactic rules first with a very limited vocabulary (/watch?v=8v25hSG27ic).

[derbar]

So when you keep referring people to LinQ all the time, you want those moneies ;)