How many sessions shall I take per week?

My clients ask me "How many sessions shall I take per week"?
Well, it depends!

I've got students, who have italian sessions every day - 5 days a week - no extra homework - VERY HIGH RETENTION RATE.

Most of them have 2 or 3 sessions per week + extra homework - VERY HIGH RETENTION RATE.

Few of them have 1 session per week but they study, read and listen to podcasts on a daily basis - VERY HIGH RETENTION RATE.

Instead of debating the amount of sessions that should be taken, my post addresses how the available time might be optimally utilized via the scheduling of review and practice.

Cognitive and educational psychology teaches us that spaced repetition over time produces superior long-term learning. It enhances diverse forms of learning, including memory and problem solving.

It is a feasible and cost-effective way to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of learning a language.

Spaced repetition is a fundamental technique in my teaching methods. This is helping my students memorize and learn new information by outspreading reviews of the topics over larger range of time revising the same topic multiple times in a single session.

Condidering that technology and information overload are bombarding us, retaining new information might become even more difficult going forward.

"A study that came from the University of California found that on average we consume around 34 gigabytes of data and information every day. That much data is equivalent to streaming every episode of Stranger Things (1GB per episode, 25 episodes) or scrolling TikTok for 94 hours straight (2.7hrs/GB). "

Shocking, right?

Dafina, BA Hons, Linguistics @ University of Ca’ Foscari - Venice, Italy | Premium Italian Language Coaching