When we started learning about past tense (primary school, probably 6th year, amazing teacher), the first thing we learned was a list of irregular verbs. We spent at least a week just memorizing them before the regular -d/-ed verbs were even mentioned. I'd like to think it was a deliberate choice, to condition us to consider irregular verbs first when using past tense.

That same teacher also taught us how to write and read the international phonetic alphabet. Again, she was amazing.