In November I wrote about how research says it’s retrieval more than repetition that helps consolidate our learning. That said, it’s still very valuable when learning a language to do ‘drilling’ exercises that help embed into your brain certain patterns. I’ve been trying to memorise case endings. Using the ‘look, cover, write, check’ method helps somewhat, but it is putting them into real contexts that rather than learning them as an isolated list that aids progess the most. This is where Moodle quizzes really shine: when created well, they offer regular drilling practice to supplement other teaching by presenting the case endings in meaningful sentences. I’ve been working through the RedKalinka Moodle quizzes (blog here) and am starting to really feel the benefit. I am determined to get 100% on each quiz but this sometimes involved repeated attempts until I get them all correct. And that act of repetition is embedding the structures. Dative case anyone? I wasn’t so good at twenty past nine, but half an hour later, I was much more confident 🙂
There are no shiny, sparkly, gamified aspects to these quizzes: no hidden treasure,tokens, XP points or badges (although seeing the progress block go from red to green is quite motivating.) But the satisfaction in finally getting that 100% does it for me. I’m off to try another one……