Needs Assessment and Coaching Sessions
aggiexiang
May 29, 2007, 04:39 AM posted in General DiscussionMany of you will have seen that we are offering a special promotion for the month of June, which gives anyone who signs up for 1 year premium a free Needs Assessment and two Coaching Sessions with one of the Practice Plan team. Needs Assessments and Coaching Sessions are both big parts of the Practice Plan, and now seems like a good moment to explain a bit more about what exactly they are.
1) What is a Needs Assessment?
For the Needs Assessment, our counselors will conduct a Language Assessment and a Needs Analysis for you. This takes about 30 minutes.
First, the counselor will do a Language Assessment to determine the right level of study for you. Doing the assessment will make your studies more effective, as it will enable you to start learning at the level most suitable to your ability.
The Needs Analysis is meant to help our counselor learn more about your current situations with regards to learning Chinese, your goals, and your motivations. After becoming more familiar with your needs and requests, our experts can give you some suggestions for self-study. They will also provide guidance, including methods for learning and practicing Chinese that will suit your needs.
2) What is a Coaching Session?
On the ChinesePod website, there are various materials available to aid our learners in their studies of Chinese. However, a lot of learners are anxious to put to use what they have learned, and to practice using the newly acquired language effectively.
What the student needs to do:
- Prepare the lesson in advance - listen to the ChinesePod lesson and do the review exercises on the website.
- Provide us with your telephone number and your preferred time for the session.
Each Coaching Session is about 10 to 15 minutes long. Even for a Newbie level learner, both the learner and the counselor will speak about 60% Chinese during the Coaching Session.
We are happy to give our learners an effective environment to practice Chinese! We invite you to give it a try and see that we can reach your goal of learning Chinese together!
henning
May 30, 2007, 03:20 PMYv, for how long did you sign up? You are definately one of the most diligent here among us (just going by your transscripts) and are way above Upper Intermediate as far as I can tell. So what interests me is: Where do you - being a rather advanced student - benefit most from the service? Pronounciation? Advanced Grammar? And what do you do prepare your sessions?
amber
May 30, 2007, 05:31 AMHi TaiPan, All of our coaches are based in Shanghai. However, there are no long distance fees incurred because the session is conducted over the internet using Skype.
f1b1
May 29, 2007, 03:53 PMOh Jenny, your English is so good we now have to assume that this sort of help isn't necessary! :)
goulnik
May 29, 2007, 04:24 PMany June promotion on Practice Plans ?-) Time will soon be up for me to renew... Very positive feedback from my side on the programme anyway, but quite demanding for small brains like mine if you're thorough in your preparation and review.
man2toe
May 29, 2007, 07:52 PMWhen, where and how do we set up our needs assessment appointment? Is skype the best way to manage the communications?
aggiexiang
May 30, 2007, 01:38 AMHi Yves(goulniky),I'm really glad to hear that you enjoy your Practice Plan! Hi Man2Toe, you are the boss to decide when and where. Our counselor will email you to schedule the appointment as soon as you subscribe. Just let us know your preferable time. Either Skype or landline will work. Which one do you prefer?
man2toe
May 30, 2007, 01:57 AMSubscribe? I already have a premium account. Will I need to re-up for another year to try out the assessment and the two sessions or can this offering attach to my first year subscription? Skype seems to be a method that would allow for good conversation in addition to instant messaging for learned vocabulary-reminders of mistakes corrected etc. Are the teachers willing to type down in conversation words that the learner ran into trouble with? If possible this would allow the learner then to transfer this vocab to their vocab list. I guess I don't know the perimeters of the daily practice lessons. I need to get a skype account. I am a newbie when it comes to skype:( Thank you for the response.
aggiexiang
May 30, 2007, 03:11 AMHi Man2toe, I think the promotion is only for the new one-year premium subscribers in June. But for all our dearest old poddies, it will be the same session if you would like to try our Practice Plan. Of course we are happy to use instant messages as well on Skype when needed- we are actually doing it for the Practice Plan lessons. The daily practice lesson is only 10-15 minutes long each time but still well structured. Our counselor will guide you to speak as much Chinese as you can and it's real "Practice". Don't worry about Skype- we are all new to it and it's not hard to use! Hope that helps.
man2toe
May 30, 2007, 03:16 AMYes, Thank you Aggie.
John
May 29, 2007, 08:00 AMPronunciation feedback early on in one's studies could make a big difference in terms of confidence.
TaiPan
May 30, 2007, 04:30 AMDo you have any coaches in Los Angeles? Is the only way to do this long distance to Shanghai?
TaiPan
May 30, 2007, 10:51 AMThanks Amber, Rather than getting a coaching session on a particular lesson, or pronunciation, or practical use of Chinese etc., Could I pay for a coaching session on practical use of this site and use of the excercises and reviews? I use Chinesepod, 99.9% of the time through my ipod when I'm not at my computer. Then, when I get to my computer and actually have time to visit the site, I find myself bouncing around and reading blogs and trying a few exercises here and there. Don't get me wrong, the site is great, overwhelmingly so. I'm just too ADD to figure out the best way to use it to learn Chinese. A one-on-one call probably isn't the most efficient way to do this for you all. Maybe Chinesepod could hold WebEx training sessions or scheduled Netmeetings to give newcomers the tour and give subscribers the tools to navigate the site for most efficient learning. Any plans for that in the future? -Jonathan
TaiPan
May 30, 2007, 11:06 AMAggie, I listened to your mp3 of the sample practice plan lesson on Ken's blog. The class seemed very valuable. You are a great teacher! jonathan
lester
May 30, 2007, 12:15 PMArrgh! (啊呀）I pulled the trigger too soon and signed up for premium a month ago! But, I can't complain too much, the premium has been worth the investment. I can't afford the "needs assessment" right now. But, I may give it a shot in a few more weeks. And you stragglers out there, this is a great offer! No more excuses.
Andre Reel
May 30, 2007, 01:02 PMHi - any ideas when the practice plan sessions will be available on a 24 hour basis? I was under the impression a 24 service would be available as of end of May... Loving the practice plan so far. Vera is great. But 11pm GMT for me is a tad too late for long term studying. 10.30 GMT would be great!
jennyzhu
May 30, 2007, 01:42 PMDon't mean to be rude, but I often overhear our Practice Team members talking with their fellow students. By the sound of things, everyone is learning and enjoying!
goulnik
May 30, 2007, 02:40 PMI certainly am enjoying it, and obviously the more I put into preparing my daily chats the more I get out of them. Vera is great, and the schedule flexibility suits my business travels. On the flip side, quality of the phone connection can be a challenge at times, but overcoming it is probably excellent training!
amber
May 30, 2007, 02:53 PMHi Taipan, You asked: Could I pay for a coaching session on practical use of this site and use of the excercises and reviews?" Great idea! I've referred your question to Aggie and Eileen, our coaching experts. They will let you know about this asap!
eileen
May 30, 2007, 03:24 AMHi Man2Toe, If you wish to change your premium account to a Practice plan, please email me at chinesepod [at] gmail [dot]com and we can use your remaining credit to upgrade you! :-)
man2toe
May 29, 2007, 04:47 AM真棒!