Chinesepod Oscars

Great idea! Here's two of my Oscar nominations: Best sound effect: Without a doubt those clicky whirry noises in the 'Elevator Emergency' lesson (though I still would have liked it if the woman screamed when she realized she was stuck!)http://chinesepod.com/lessons/elevator-emergency/discussion Oops - I've just realized that lesson is from 2006. Oh well, I listened to it in 2007 anyway. Most worrying moment: When Jenny said she was going to luàn chuān mǎlù (jaywalk) and get arrested by the traffic cops, just to show how you can use your Chinese skills outside the classroom. Fortunately I think Ken put her off sufficiently. Phew! (http://chinesepod.com/lessons/jaywalking/discussion) I'll have a more serious think about my favorite lessons later. All I can say is ChinesePod did amazingly in 2007, and I'm sure you guys can build on that to become even better, funnier, and just all round greater in 2008.

Another option for stroke order and character practice. There is also a set of childrens books designed for Chinese children being raised overseas by a university in China. The set contains 12 books and each comes with either one or two CD's for study. On the CD's for each chapter, the new characters are drawn in animation as the audio calls out the formal name of each stroke used. Very nice. These are very cheap. 14 chapters in each book, 12 books and about 10 new characters per chapter. Each chapter centers around a story and they get progressively complex. The books are a couple dollars each as are the CD's. The workbooks I have not found to be of much use. Buy the text and the corresponding CD and I think you will be pleasantly surprised. It a child like theme but its a nice change of pace sometimes. There are several locations listed you can order from. Do not order by email - it doesnt work well but if you call them the books will arrive in a couple days. I ordered from the new york office and had good service. Try volume one and two and if you like them you can buy more. Be sure to get the CD's. You will need them. http://acclub.org/content/blogcategory/30/44/

Other potential categories: Best Drama in a Dialog Best Banter in a Podcast Listener's Choice: All Time Favorite Lesson

Do I get to vote here?

Best Sound Effects: Godzilla Most Enthusiastic New User: MarcelBdt or RJBerki. Best Cpod Newcomer: Clay Extended Whining in a Lesson: Male lead in Turbulence

Of course, Ken, but be warned that any vote for yourself will likely not be counted in the final tally. :-)

And lets not forget the technical side of the CPod magic - you know, the part of the Oscars that isn't televised! Best new feature on the site: the pop out of the player so you can switch tabs without interrupting the podcast.. Can anyone think of any others more worthy?

speaking of the pop out - why doesnt it work from the home page. I open to see a new lesson but have to go to dialouge or something to even use the pop out. Sort of defeats some of its purpose I think. I have to switch tabs to select the option that will then allow me to be independent from switching tabs ??? Still helps but......

thanks for the mention tvan, I must say, that one caught me by surprise. The fact that I was on vacation for two weeks at xmas probably led to way too much posting. I hope "enthusiastic" is a good thing.

best comedy - parking lot rage. Still my favorite lesson. best sound effects - Jenny re-creating the sounds of a physical altercation in the same episode. :-)

ChinesePod Oscars....A FAN-TAS-tic idea! When does the voting begin?

What about best lesson photo? The First Tone Are you OK? Scary Clown Describing Athletes

How about Death by Ninja, one of my favorites! The acting is really over the top. And even though it is a classic, I still like Ken's obvious discomfort in the make-up one.

Lunetta - "Are You Okay?" is the best lesson graphic EVER. It totally gets my vote.

There should be an oscar for the best helping hand a user has given to a fellow user, even inadvertently. In my case it would go to RJBerki who posted about a piece of software that allows you to copy a character to the clipboard and it grabs it and draws it for you on a 4*4 grid, showing the proper stroke order. Brilliant.

On the topic of looking back on the chinese year (almost) gone, I am wondering what experiences people have had in the year wrestling with this demanding but rewarding language. As a recent quote I heard which is apt I think here - "we're all alone in this together" which captures the individual paths that we are all on in the learning process while at the same time being together through the CHinesepod medium. So has the previous 12 months been a time of steady progess, a plateau or a brick wall? What stage are at and how is your motivation level now compared to a year ago? For me it has been a breakthrough grappling seriously with characters for the first time and trying to wean myself off Pinyin. But I am up for the fight! Would you award yourself an oscar or maybe just a nomination?

For best lesson photo I vote for "Wrong Number": Wrong Number The expression on this guys face is classic and I love the retro teal-colored phone...gives the image a nice 1970's feel. lustchina or RJBerki, would one of you provide a link or conversation name that references that character software? Sounds interesting. Thanks.

No problem Calkins but I'll expect a nomination for best supporting user :) http://www.cchar.com/ my free trial has coincidentally just run out, $36 to continue. I think it'll be money well spent.

My nomination for best supporting user: lustchina :D Bummer, the software doesn't work on Macs. Thanks though! It looks like a great program.

Ah RJBerki, how nice of tvan to elevate us..:) I agree with you, if I applied for a new job, I am not sure I would emphasize a reference that said that am "enthusiastic". But enthusiasm without too much achievement to show fits pretty well with me and this weird language..:) I'd like to nominate "Experiencing Agricultural Life", "Sheep, Wolves, and Fruit: a Riddle" because these are fun and quite different from the average lessons, and also the entire Jizhou series..:)