Lesson Recommendations
mickeytoon
May 28, 2009, 09:57 PM posted in General DiscussionI know this has been asked before, but with the growing inventory of lessons it's difficult to pick out the really useful and enjoyable ones. Anyone got any recommendations or favourites?
mark
May 29, 2009, 04:42 AMI went through the lessons chronologically from oldest to newest. There is some reinforcement of vocabulary between the different level lessons from the same week.
Other than that I like the series, even if cpod isn t good at plotting out a drama, the series sets a context and the learning experience seems to go more smoothly as a result.
mickeytoon
May 30, 2009, 08:16 AMPretzellogic, Mark,
Thanks for your input. I don't think I'm a million miles off your recommendations - working through the Canadian Pete and Lao Wang series at the moment.
I'd also be interested in choosing lessons based on certain grammar patterns (e.g. shi .... de) but haven't found an easy way to do this. The grammar section contiunues to baffle me....
Anyone got any advice?
pretzellogic
May 29, 2009, 04:11 AMnow that i'm here in China, and doing it this way, and wishing I had started studying this way sooner, I'd recommend the following:
- Start with a topic, like taxis, and search all the lessons for taxis, including directions, and streets. if you have favorites from this set, you'll memorize them faster. include all levels in your study (from newbie to advanced), no matter what level you're at.
- move to another topic, like food, and search all the lessons for food, including the names of foods, and restaurants. work on those lessons until you get good at working around them, and you can hear and understand what's being said at all levels.
- continue taking topics until you've gone through all 1200 lessons or so.
As you've noted, there are many lessons to choose from, and it turns out that studying a lesson here and there (like food one day, then travel the next, then houses on the third day) doesn't really anchor your intuition as effectively as it might otherwise. I will give the usual disclaimer about everyone learning in different ways, what works for one may not work for another, and do what's best for you.