What is the Guided Subscription all about?
clay
June 02, 2008, 09:35 AM posted in General DiscussionRemember what it was like when you had a test in like 9 hours that you hadn't prepared for? When you would spoon instant coffee in your mouth instead of wasting time brewing a whole pot. Maybe a break every hour or so to take down a can of condensed chicken noodle soup straight out of the can?
Perhaps the stuff nightmares are made of, but you did accomplish one important thing... You studied.
And that means you will be less likely to skip out on reviewing that one lesson if you knew you had a test coming up. Bring on the Guided Subscription!
- after purchasing Guided, a teacher will soon email you to find out a convenient time for you to have your Mandarin assessment.
- you will get live initial counseling session with one of our teachers to establish your level and objectives, and they will then assign you daily lessons for the next month (4 working weeks). You can choose to use Skype or have an instructor call you on your phone.
- one month later, its test time. We know its possible you may miss a lesson or three, so you get to choose 10 lessons from which to be tested on
- test will take place over Skype, where where you will communicate verbally and through its messenger. On some parts of the test, you may request to see questions in pinyin/character. Of course, if you dont have Skype, the instructors will call you, where you wont have the reading/writing option.
- every question you have for your teacher during the course of the month will be answered in 24 hours by them. This will be done through the new "counseling" tab of the "me" section. This is one of the great new features of the new Cpod website.
- Based off your test results, and your input (perhaps there was a particular lesson you didn't get to) , the instructor will then assign you another 4 weeks of lessons.
- And....there is a little bonus for the 1year+ subscribers, a DVD with over 850 podcasts on them.
Starting at $29 bucks a month. You can't beat it with a stick.
No more putting those lessons aside for later, no more excuses, and no more not being able to speak Mandarin!
marchey
June 02, 2008, 06:48 PMOther than that...I am tempted. Maybe when I renew my subscription.
sarahjs
June 02, 2008, 07:14 PMI've updated my premium subscription to guided, all I did was choose a years guided and then paided the difference. I'm hoping that it will help keep the momentum going during the early learning stages.
frances
June 02, 2008, 08:22 PMThe "starting from" faux pas as come up in discussion before. Traditionally, a "staring from" price should be the smallest number it is possible to quote, regardless of the important unstated qualifications. Customers understand that a "starting from" price may come with unacceptable limitations.
A car dealership selling used cars "from $99/month" doesn't have to say that if you buy the $99/month car you'll be pushing it to work more often than the other way around - this is understood. A cell phone plan "from $25/month" doesn't need to say that the cheapest plan includes so few minutes that only a Franciscan monk would find them sufficient.
The CPod guided plan doesn't "start from" $49/month. In fact, that's the highest you could possibly pay. It "starts from" $29/month, on the condition that you pre-pay for two years at this rate. As catches go, this is pretty tame. The $29/month guided plan is just as good as the $49/month guided plan. It also includes (presumably) protection against price increases during the two years, and the only difficult thing is that you need to have $699 to spend up front.
johnb
June 03, 2008, 01:49 AMMarchey & Frances, we realized that problem too, and we're going to change the graphic soon!
frances
June 03, 2008, 04:25 AMWell, it's obviously not a "problem" in the strict sense. :) Might as well put up the smaller numbers, since you can.
clay
June 02, 2008, 08:20 AMamichal,
no worries. Just send an email to chinesepod@gmail.com, and our customer service rep Adi will make the adjustement for you.
cuttie
June 12, 2008, 12:35 AMI see the problem in the picture . they should put the answer on display . of course it's right in front of you
bababean
June 14, 2008, 05:44 PMI am a little unclear as to the terms. I am living and working in Zhongshan, Guangdong Province, China and am wondering if the interaction times with the instrutor(s) would be feasible. Yes? No?
Love and Peace to All!
annascott206
June 23, 2008, 03:46 AMMy husband and I share a Chinesepod Premium subscription, but are at really different levels. I studied Chinese for several years, lived in BJ for a year, and work for a Chinese non-profit in Boston. I mostly do the intermediate lessons. He just started, and does the Newbie and Elementary lessons, but uses the subscription as much or more than me, even though he got it for me as a present. I am considering doing a guided subscription, but how would we make that work for 2 of us at different levels? If I did the tests, would he still be able to do his Newbie/Elem lessons, or vice versa? Are we cheating the system, here? :) We just love learning Chinese together...
Any ideas would be appreciated!
clay
June 23, 2008, 04:30 AMbababean,
We have instructors to handle our cusomers across the globe. Some teachers are ready for calls during the middle of the night here to accomdate those in the US and Europe, while we also have those on hand for regular working hours for those in Asia, Australia, ect...
clay
June 23, 2008, 04:35 AMannaandgeorge,
The guided wouldnt work for a two people. lessons are assinged after a live one-on-one evalutation, and the test after 4 weeks of study will be one-on-one. Unless you wanted to sit in and help cheat on your husbands test. ha
clay
June 23, 2008, 06:08 AMthom144d,
good meeting you this past week. always nice to see our poddies swing by
renjingwen
June 24, 2008, 09:53 PMHi, I was told I can download this onto my phone but I'm not sure if that's possible now. can u help? thanx.
thom144e
June 12, 2008, 12:28 AMlove to, but working 40 + having a tin ear, and asking my wife for $700 bucks. ( i'd have to learn a lot of romantic phrases to get that from her, and god help me if she heard me practicing those typeof words without her in the same room hahaha) Any hoo see you on the 17th.
thom
amichal
June 02, 2008, 08:17 AMnihao,
Is it possible to upgrade from premium to guided?