I liked the topic and the things introduced and while it was a bit of a shorter lesson, that's absolutely fine. I don't think long necessarily correlates to something that is advanced. I do like the fact that you're bringing in different people to teach the advanced classes, because it better reflects reality and helps us to learn - different speaking patterns, different accents, different ways to express your ideas, etc.
But, I do have a few things that I hope I can share (some are about this lesson specifically, others are about the new advanced lessons as a whole):
1. Audio quality - I don't know if it's because you've used a different microphone or you're in a different room or perhaps these were recorded awhile ago, but the audio quality is not as good as the lower levels. Even between the other new advanced lessons, the audio quality is inconsistent. But the other levels especially have lovely, clear and crisp audio and it makes listening a breeze. I hope audio quality can be improved soon? And hopefully be more consistent too.
2. Speed - The speed that is used for most of the podcast is far too slow for an advanced learner. I know clear speech is important, but natural rhythm is also important. I noticed this in some of the other newer advanced lessons as well. Just because you talk at a natural pace, it doesn't mean that you can't be clear. Natural flow is even more important at an advanced level because usually topics are harder and longer. If the pacing is too slow, students aren't engaging with the content and no matter how good the information is, people don't want to listen. Please, please speak in your natural speed, rather than speaking every word so clearly and slowly. If we want to know the exact pronunciation of the word, we can use the vocabulary list or look in a dictionary. And besides, weren't these presenters hired because they have clear speech?
3. Conversation - This kind of follows on with the the previous point. I feel that this advanced lesson (and some of the previous advanced ones) are really stilted. There is no flow. Even if there isn't a sound engineer (or whoever adds the extra audio effects), if there is an interesting, lively pace between the presenters, people will want to listen and be engaged. If you're going to have two or more people teaching, I think it's important to have a natural conversation. Especially since advanced lessons usually are harder, it's so much more important for the student to want to listen and feel like they're learning something. Otherwise, one person teaching is fine as well - just be engaging and not just reading the script in a monotone voice.
4. Lesson content - I feel like the lower lessons have been far more well-thought out compared to these. I don't mind reading out the phrase that's about to be explained, but then it's just followed by a short explanation. What about a discussion about the phrase or topic? Advanced and upper intermediate students are meant to think more critically, abstractly and be able to use more complex phrasing, but how do we support that with just explanation? Also, in this lesson, why was there English to explain a vocabulary list? I don't mind a little bit of English to help explain difficult words or concepts, but these vocabulary weren't all difficult. I think it may be far more beneficial to use Chinese to explain the words, which you did also do, but you could have used simpler Chinese to explain the word, then follow on with similar explanations to what you did. But I did like the fact that examples were given for each vocab. Also, the vocabulary list explained in the podcast isn't the same as the listed vocabulary, which was a bit frustrating. However, I don't think you necessarily need to discuss vocabulary in higher levels, but rather, pick out a few words that you think students will have difficulty understanding and explain those. So then you can focus more on the discussion and analysis of the dialogue, rather than spending half the podcast explaining vocabulary, that higher level students would typically be able to discover for themselves.
I really like ChinesePod, as it's such a good concept and while I know there are growing pains right now, these lessons are really disappointing.
And I also really like all the presenters' tones of voices and I really want to hear what they have to say, especially in all these new advanced lessons, but that's just not happening.
Why are the lower level lessons so inviting, interesting and designed to allow students to want to learn Chinese, whereas the higher levels are just bland, uninteresting and not as well thought out? Higher level topics and lessons aren't just about harder topics and vocabulary, but development of those ideas and having the ability to convey and understand those ideas. I think more development and fleshing out of concepts is required to help support advanced and upper intermediate learners.
Posted on: 人机合一（一）Android Part 1
July 25, 2018 at 11:08 AMI liked the topic and the things introduced and while it was a bit of a shorter lesson, that's absolutely fine. I don't think long necessarily correlates to something that is advanced. I do like the fact that you're bringing in different people to teach the advanced classes, because it better reflects reality and helps us to learn - different speaking patterns, different accents, different ways to express your ideas, etc.
But, I do have a few things that I hope I can share (some are about this lesson specifically, others are about the new advanced lessons as a whole):
1. Audio quality - I don't know if it's because you've used a different microphone or you're in a different room or perhaps these were recorded awhile ago, but the audio quality is not as good as the lower levels. Even between the other new advanced lessons, the audio quality is inconsistent. But the other levels especially have lovely, clear and crisp audio and it makes listening a breeze. I hope audio quality can be improved soon? And hopefully be more consistent too.
2. Speed - The speed that is used for most of the podcast is far too slow for an advanced learner. I know clear speech is important, but natural rhythm is also important. I noticed this in some of the other newer advanced lessons as well. Just because you talk at a natural pace, it doesn't mean that you can't be clear. Natural flow is even more important at an advanced level because usually topics are harder and longer. If the pacing is too slow, students aren't engaging with the content and no matter how good the information is, people don't want to listen. Please, please speak in your natural speed, rather than speaking every word so clearly and slowly. If we want to know the exact pronunciation of the word, we can use the vocabulary list or look in a dictionary. And besides, weren't these presenters hired because they have clear speech?
3. Conversation - This kind of follows on with the the previous point. I feel that this advanced lesson (and some of the previous advanced ones) are really stilted. There is no flow. Even if there isn't a sound engineer (or whoever adds the extra audio effects), if there is an interesting, lively pace between the presenters, people will want to listen and be engaged. If you're going to have two or more people teaching, I think it's important to have a natural conversation. Especially since advanced lessons usually are harder, it's so much more important for the student to want to listen and feel like they're learning something. Otherwise, one person teaching is fine as well - just be engaging and not just reading the script in a monotone voice.
4. Lesson content - I feel like the lower lessons have been far more well-thought out compared to these. I don't mind reading out the phrase that's about to be explained, but then it's just followed by a short explanation. What about a discussion about the phrase or topic? Advanced and upper intermediate students are meant to think more critically, abstractly and be able to use more complex phrasing, but how do we support that with just explanation? Also, in this lesson, why was there English to explain a vocabulary list? I don't mind a little bit of English to help explain difficult words or concepts, but these vocabulary weren't all difficult. I think it may be far more beneficial to use Chinese to explain the words, which you did also do, but you could have used simpler Chinese to explain the word, then follow on with similar explanations to what you did. But I did like the fact that examples were given for each vocab. Also, the vocabulary list explained in the podcast isn't the same as the listed vocabulary, which was a bit frustrating. However, I don't think you necessarily need to discuss vocabulary in higher levels, but rather, pick out a few words that you think students will have difficulty understanding and explain those. So then you can focus more on the discussion and analysis of the dialogue, rather than spending half the podcast explaining vocabulary, that higher level students would typically be able to discover for themselves.
I really like ChinesePod, as it's such a good concept and while I know there are growing pains right now, these lessons are really disappointing.
And I also really like all the presenters' tones of voices and I really want to hear what they have to say, especially in all these new advanced lessons, but that's just not happening.
Why are the lower level lessons so inviting, interesting and designed to allow students to want to learn Chinese, whereas the higher levels are just bland, uninteresting and not as well thought out? Higher level topics and lessons aren't just about harder topics and vocabulary, but development of those ideas and having the ability to convey and understand those ideas. I think more development and fleshing out of concepts is required to help support advanced and upper intermediate learners.