Chinese through songs - lesson suggestion

I love the song lessons that we already have, and I would most definitely listen to a Chinese music podcast! Or if someone could post some links to some online Chinese radio stations that would be nice, too :)

I second hennings idea for a media for Ele/Int level students , it may also help with the bridge for these levels and possibly free the current media level to be even harder to maybe include some crosstalk instruction or other upper advanced level lessons.

Yes, I would enjoy that too. I once met a young woman in China with fairly good English (doesn't happen as often in the west as on the east coast...) and she said she taught herself with English pop songs

I 've been thinking about doing a show about Chinese media culture, using different sources including music, TV/film, commercials, etc. I'd love to know what you guys would like to be featured and what you think is the most valuable in a variety cultural show.

Below are songs featuring 宋词 (Song poems) sung by my beloved 邓丽君 (Teresa Tseng). There are twelve songs of this kind in her album “淡淡幽情”, all of which are extraordinary beautiful and “educational”!! 但愿人长久 http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=1xcxCv06tXk 独上西楼 http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=6_GjTBB92sg

Jenny, would that be something like a "Media level, easy edition"? Where a commercial / song / blog excerpt etc. is taken apart word by word (more on an Intermediate level). There would be certainly be an audience for this.

I had one student with a remarkable level of fluency and pronunciation who had originally taught himself with backstreet boys' songs - without having the slightest clue about the meaning. Would love the media show to include famous neighborhoods or areas, and segments from cooking shows.

introduce one song to you 张学友——《吻别》 this song also have English version named<>——Michael Learns To Rock

Oops - a mistake in my Chinese there... Should be: 月亮代表我的心 (The moon represents my heart). The other one is 'Jasmine Flower' or 'Mo li hua' in English.

Just thinking of snappy ways to learn Mandarin and an insite into the culture, what about a joke of the week, like a short knock knock joke or equivalent…? Comon CPod, turn me into a Chinese comedian ><

我很喜欢看杂志“故事会”的笑话。

Cartoons are a great way to learn Chinese. We had a cartoon Media lesson here once: http://chinesepod.com/lessons/%E6%BC%AB%E7%94%BB%E3%80%8A%E4%B8%89%E5%9B%BD%E6%BC%94%E4%B9%89%E3%80%8B but that was unfortunately very hard to decipher (characters unclear; resolution not adequate) and also rather advanced in language. It is one of those lessons which never passed the "bookmarked" state in my lesson section.

Jenny, that would be great especially if the vocab was easy enough for learners at lower levels or was explained.

Hi Jenny, That's a great idea. Some of my favorite 'media' shows have been the non-news-article topics, like the cartoon that Henning mentioned, the recent 奋斗 TV series, and the TV commercials. I always find myself wanting to know more about what is popular in China. A show that touches on media/culture/entertainment, both modern and classic, would be an excellent companion to the Dear Amber show, which focuses more on living in and experiencing China. Beyond songs, important films, TV shows, and the like, you could also introduce popular artists, authors, poets, etc. Other ideas: - popular Chinese websites - Chinese humor via 'homemade' videos on tudou.com - comic books and video games - theater / historical dramas - various Chinese handicrafts (fans, shadow puppets, etc) - important people / celebrities - Chinese myths / legends Just a few ideas. I agree that bilingual is the best way to go, because students of all levels would be interested. Hope you're able to get the show started! - Chinese folk music / opera

Another oops. The 'folk music/opera' should be in the list of ideas. Ah.... wishing I could edit my comments. :)

Jenny, That sounds like a great idea. I think popular or historically significant songs, 唐诗, 宋诗, the 百家讲坛 series, (I liked the piece you did about 易中天 that you did recently with Connie) popular or insightful TV/film, commercials all would be great. I think that at least a mix of Chinese and English language discussion would be good.

I've found those Chinese nursery songs to be incredibly helpful (colors song, heads/shoulders, friends song, etc.)... would be thrilled if CPod rolled out some more of those more regularly.