Good strategy

But I dunno, exercises are boring while work is interesting

unless you're dealing with actual beginner programmers who need to do every single exercise cause they haven't computers before,

I wouldn't lecture/exercise past an hour or two with perlintro

Have them read perlintro, go over one or two sample programs, answer any questions about that document

Then give them a copy of Modern Perl and Learn Perl in about 2 hours 30 minutes and perlfaq and

Then have them do actual work, write programs to solve actual work related problems

here is the problem guys ... for this task you'll need doc://split , doc://File::Find::Rule, perldoc://Path::Tiny ... if you're stuck refer to the docs/faqs/books ... We'll meet back here in 3 hours for snacks and code review / q'n'a session

While they the students are writing the programs, you the teacher write the test suite, maybe your own solution of the problem if you've the time and the next actual work problem that needs solving

Then 3 hours later, code review that program together, be the best interactive eLearning LanX you can , get them on the right track and the company style, plug the knowledge holes, have them finish well

Then repeat