Higher level subscription questions

xiaohu
 August 29, 2008, 06:21 AM posted in General Discussion

Hi Poddies,

I'm currently on the regular Premium subscription, but thinking very seriously about going with one of the two higher level subscriptions.  Looking over the info provided online in the subscription information section is one thing, but I was wondering if there is anyone out there who might want to share their own experiences about the top-level subscriptions, Guided and Executive.  What kind of progress have you made? Do you feel the guidance of a Chinesepod professional can focus your study?  How do the daily chats with Chinesepod instructors help accelerate your learning process?  How do you feel that supervised lessons, a specific lesson plan provided by Chinesepod and daily speaking practice has accelerated your learning process? 

My level is decently advanced, actually I wouldn't rate my level as "advanced" per se, I'd say it's somewhere in between Upper Intermediate and Advanced...Lower Advanced maybe?  Upper, Upper Intermediate???  Because it's primarily been through self-study, there are some gaping holes that need to be filled so I can finally reach my goal of true fluency. 

So if anyone out there could be so kind as to lend some insight I would be greatly appreciative.

Thank you in advance,

Xiao Hu

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hanyuxuesheng
 August 29, 2008, 09:20 AM

Just have a look at goulniky's detailed post about his "Executive Plan" experience here.

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jamestheron
 August 29, 2008, 02:10 PM

I used the Practice Plan, now the Executive Plan, for a couple months last year before my first trip to China.  I'm also of the same mind as Goulniky about the program.  The help in selecting lessons appropriate to my level and goals was quite beneficial.  After my regular classes started, I went back to the premium plan.

Overall, I feel my progress with learning the language is slow but steady as I have no innate ability or talent to learn other languages.  So, I can't really tell if just two months of the plan was enough for me to see the difference.

On more than a couple occasions, I've experienced sitting in a regular classroom and thinking "is it over yet?" only to realize I've only been there 5-10 minutes. However, the Practice Plan sessions were just the opposite and were over in the blink of an eye.  This is probably the only draw back I can think of.  15-20 minute sessions might be more useful than the 10 minute lessons.

My learning routine became: Listen to the podcast on my commute to work in the morning, listen again on my way back home, do the exercises in the lesson expansion section after dinner, and have the call later in the evening.

I also can't speak highly enough of my teacher Vera, and even got to meet her during my visit to Shanghai :)