diff --git a/fairseq/options.py b/fairseq/options.py
index beb352473..bfbb9765e 100644
--- a/fairseq/options.py
+++ b/fairseq/options.py
@@ -233,6 +233,8 @@ def add_dataset_args(parser, train=False, gen=False):
         group.add_argument('--max-sentences-valid', type=int, metavar='N',
                            help='maximum number of sentences in a validation batch'
                                 ' (defaults to --max-sentences)')
+        group.add_argument('--curriculum', default=0, type=int, metavar='N',
+                           help='don\'t shuffle batches for first N epochs')
     if gen:
         group.add_argument('--gen-subset', default='test', metavar='SPLIT',
                            help='data subset to generate (train, valid, test)')
diff --git a/fairseq/tasks/fairseq_task.py b/fairseq/tasks/fairseq_task.py
index bb8be0bda..adc0161ce 100644
--- a/fairseq/tasks/fairseq_task.py
+++ b/fairseq/tasks/fairseq_task.py
@@ -90,9 +90,9 @@ class FairseqTask(object):
         return self.datasets[split]
 
     def get_batch_iterator(
-            self, dataset, max_tokens=None, max_sentences=None, max_positions=None,
-            ignore_invalid_inputs=False, required_batch_size_multiple=1,
-            seed=1, num_shards=1, shard_id=0, num_workers=0,
+        self, dataset, max_tokens=None, max_sentences=None, max_positions=None,
+        ignore_invalid_inputs=False, required_batch_size_multiple=1,
+        seed=1, num_shards=1, shard_id=0, num_workers=0,
     ):
         """
         Get an iterator that yields batches of data from the given dataset.
diff --git a/train.py b/train.py
index d678bb7b8..30a441889 100644
--- a/train.py
+++ b/train.py
@@ -120,13 +120,15 @@ def main(args, init_distributed=False):
 
 def train(args, trainer, task, epoch_itr):
     """Train the model for one epoch."""
-
     # Update parameters every N batches
-
-    # Initialize data iterator
-    itr = epoch_itr.next_epoch_itr(fix_batches_to_gpus=args.fix_batches_to_gpus)
     update_freq = args.update_freq[epoch_itr.epoch - 1] \
             if epoch_itr.epoch <= len(args.update_freq) else args.update_freq[-1]
+
+    # Initialize data iterator
+    itr = epoch_itr.next_epoch_itr(
+        fix_batches_to_gpus=args.fix_batches_to_gpus,
+        shuffle=(epoch_itr.epoch >= args.curriculum),
+    )
     itr = iterators.GroupedIterator(itr, update_freq)
     progress = progress_bar.build_progress_bar(
         args, itr, epoch_itr.epoch, no_progress_bar='simple',