About two weeks ago ChinesePod crossed the 600 lesson mark. (Sure, if we wanted to, we might also count the 52 Saturday Show episodes or the 27 Extra lessons, but we’re far too modest for that.) For some, such a prolific two years of lesson creation might be cause for tooting one’s own horn, but we tend to get all introspective about this kind of thing.
What we’ve been thinking about is this: what are our best lessons? We’re not talking about a good line here or there, we’re talking about the lesson as a whole, including the dialogue content, the instructional content, and even the banter between the hosts. What lessons connected with you the most? What lessons are the funniest? What lessons have turned out to be the most useful? What lessons saved your life? What lessons earned you a wife?
Ummm, anyway, we want to hear from you all. We’d like to see a few top ten lists. You guys pick your own criteria for “best.” After 600 lessons, we feel it’s a good time to ask for feedback on what works, because we’re going to be doing more of it.
Post your lists in the comments, and if you know how to do them, other learners will definitely appreciate actual links to the lessons.
中文 Chinese
matthiask Says:
August 20th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
hitlist is difficult at the moment (not too long at chinesepod), but the recent episodes are really genius. My all-time favourite might be the session about the condoms. Simply hilarious and good to listen to.
I’m btw very grateful for changing the introduction of chinesepod from the long annoying intro to this nice chinese sound. When listening often to the podcasts (especially in the beginning, when you have to catch up 600 episodes) it was very bad.
Henning Says:
August 20th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
I regard that question a little too broad for a clear answer.
Regarding long lasting language value the lessons can be pretty easily ordered by the amount and depth of grammar points covered. Grammar points are the bones of future language ability.
Regarding usefulness of vocab: I am for the most part pretty indifferent. Almost every lesson (Intermediate upwards) provided some useful vocab for me - even “Yoga” (瑜珈) turned out to be useful once to identify the topic of a radio broadcast…
But I can give you my so-far-personal “least useful lessons” here: “UI - Discussing Photography” and “UI - Studying Japanese”. But even towards those I also might change my mind in the future.
Regarding life-saving-value: It is not the individual lesson that helped me out in various occasions but an amalgam of lines from different lessons. For personal reasons 自闭症 stood out for me though.
This leaves a heavy weight on “entertainment value”. But that criterion is influenced by the number of repetitions. Once “Bruce Lee” was my No. 1. But I am now in my 10th iteration cycle and can barely motivate myself follow it (lots of English banter in there). .
Eventually you have to differ by level. I do not want to compare Media with Elementry. Media lessons are in general still extremely tough for me, but often really rewarding..
So here are my temporary lists:
Elementary
Elementary - Elevator Emergency (action!)
Elementary - Condoms (usefulness awkwardness)
Elementary - Fast Food (I hate to admit it, but I need this once in a while!)
Intermediate
Intermediate - Lovers’ Spat (drama)
Intermediate - Child-Parent Fight (drama)
Intermediate - Watching a DVD (good overall flow)
Intermediate - Podcasting (too bad - discontinued!)
Intermediate - Chinese Celebrity - Bruce Lee (entertainment)
Intermediate - China’s Supergirl (contemporary culture)
Intermediate - Going to the Gym (need to do sports again)
Upper Intermediate
UI - Black Market Gun Deal (action!)
UI - Bargaining (real-life fun)
UI - Abducted by Aliens (fun factor)
UI - The Scene of the Accident (action)
Advanced
Advanced - 自闭症 (personal reasons)
Advanced - 日本恐怖片 (horror movies!)
Advanced - 坐月子 (lesson was a deja-vu for me)
Advanced - 黑客和电脑病毒 (nerd’s digest)
Advanced - 假冒iPhone (this is China!)
Advanced - 3G通信网 (high informational value)
Media
Media - 太阳系只剩8大行星 (the space factor!)
Media - 是飞碟吗？(mystery…)
Media - 土飞机上天 (this is China)
Media - 黑老大的婚礼 (action)
Media - 开瓶费之争 (this is China)
John Says:
August 21st, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Henning,
Sorry for such a broad question, but I think you came up with some good answers anyway.
It’s also encouraging to see that some of the latest lessons are being received so well.
Still, there have to be more older ones that are considered “classics”… (What’s that Smell, anyone?
)
Brent Says:
August 22nd, 2007 at 5:09 am
My favorite lesson is “Mysterious Visitor”, for some reason It stuck in my brain line by line.
Brent
敦禮 Says:
August 25th, 2007 at 4:19 am
Chinese Onomatopoeia
敦禮 Says:
August 25th, 2007 at 4:54 am
Here are some of the lessons I have enjoyed. I wouldn’t say they are my favorite because I like a lot of the lessons but these are lessons that came to my mind rather quickly after reading Ken’s request.
Chinese Onomatopoeia
Black Market Gun Deal
Phobias
敦禮 Says:
August 25th, 2007 at 4:59 am
argh, where are the other 7? All that code wasted!
leviathan Says:
August 26th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
They are all Fantastic, but….
Intermediate - Going to the Gym
Lots of vocab！ 不是A就是B (Great explanation as always john)
Elementary - Mysterious Visitor
Lot of special effects. Great explanation of Chinese speakers opening the light or opening their television
啊 这里不是三号楼吗
goulnik (郭力毅) Says:
August 28th, 2007 at 12:55 am
我一般无所谓，but the 2 lessons that I really liked for their very different, fast and lively pace are the interviews, New Year’s 春节采访 （E0429) and Experiencing Agricultural Life (D0561）both interviews and a little longer than usual.
Eric in Milwaukee Says:
August 29th, 2007 at 11:18 am
First, thanks for the great work you do. If only you had been around while I was in China!
I enjoyed the lessons that told stories and jokes: Two monks on a mountain (elem), The Man and the Dog, the riddle about sheep, the tortoise and the hare (Sorry, don’t know official names). As a teacher of Chinese, dialogues have grown stale for me, so those lessons really stood out. I’ve told the sheep riddle many, many times and some of my students are telling this really long story about monks…
As for listening enjoyment, I agree with goulnik, the lessons with interviews were very interesting. It was nice to have spontaneous conversation and lots of voices to hear.
Having said that, I don’t mean at all that I would want chinesepod to change its basic format. Jenny, Jon and the others are fantastic and do a great job of writing and introducing lessons that are pertinent and interesting.
Keep up the great work!
richard Says:
August 29th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
My very first Chinese Pod lesson remains my very favorite to this day. I was laughing as I listened, and that actually helped me to remember it. (And I still remember every word, though it must be close to a year old.) Tragically I forget the name, but it was an Elementary and it was a dialogue between “two friends” about to go to lunch when one exclaims she forgot her wallet. And it’s all downhill from there. With friends like these….
chrka Says:
August 31st, 2007 at 5:30 am
Richard,
that would be “Your turn to pay!” at http://chinesepod.com/learnchi.....urn-to-pay . Turns out that the dictionary is very useful to find lessons where one remember a word or two (钱包 in this case)!
leviathan Says:
September 2nd, 2007 at 7:13 am
“Mysterious Visitor”
Where the context and sounds help put the jigsaw together.
Also lessons with no fixed dialog like “useful Phrases” they are great way of conveying Info.
Dialect party mix is amazing also
SalaireDeLaPeur Says:
September 10th, 2007 at 5:39 am
As soon as I saw this question, I thought: “Mysterious Visitor” and “Stomach Trouble.”
I also like all the lessons about parents and children with the child sounding like a grown man, such as “Child-Parent Fight.” These are funny as well as accurate.