Lesson Quality

[fritzad]

Why have there been no new intermediate or advanced lessons for 2011 on German Pod 101. Are Chuck and Judith still with the company or are they perhaps just on holidays? She is in my opinion a very good language instructor and I'd hate to see her gone! My subscription is due for renewal shortly and I'm reluctant to renew due to my precieved decrease in quality of the lessons on your site. Also I've tried to contact German Pod 101 several times and no one ever seems to respond anymore??? Whats going on! :

[Sprachprofi]

Yes, I'm still with the company and producing new beginner lessons.

For 2011, the company plan is to have a new beginner lesson every week and a new advanced audio blog every other week, plus weekly throwback lessons and video lessons. There has been an issue with the audio editing for the advanced audio blogs, but they will be released soon, you'll see a bunch of audio blogs appear all at once.

I'm not sure what's happening with the mail; I logged onto the mail server but it didn't show any new messages; presumably somebody downloaded them and is taking care of them.

Hope this answers your questions.

[fritzad]

I appreciate your reply and I'm glad to hear you and Chuck are still with German Pod 101. I must confess though, I'm a little disappointed that the new format does not include any lessons at the intermediate level. I find this level to be just about right for me now. The beginner series is to simplistic and the advanced series is a little to difficult to be enjoyable. With the intermediate series, I feel I'm still learning without being overwhelmed. It's just the right level of material to keep me motivated at this time. Seems to me that the Company has created a bit of a void with this new format?

[Sprachprofi]

I don't think that there's a gap - if you study all four intermediate-level series and memorize all the vocabulary, you should find season 3 & 4 of the audioblogs easy enough. I believe seasons 1 & 2 of the audioblogs are a bit harder, just as season 1 of the intermediate series should rightfully be called an upper intermediate series.

Beginner lessons are of course very important, considering GermanPod101 attracts so many students who start from scratch or who are stuck at the beginner level.However, we already have a lot more beginner-level materials than intermediate-level materials, so just for that reason I would have liked to create another intermediate series now, too. Hopefully I will have the chance in the second half of this year.

[chris4285176]

Wait, does this mean that there will be no new Intermediat and Upper Intermediate lessons anymore?

[Sprachprofi]

There will be more, don't worry. I already have a lesson plan for the next lower intermediate series, I just don't know when we'll be recording & publishing it.

[chris4285176]

[Sprachprofi]

Alright, we will be recording the new Lower Intermediate series next month, so it should go out in summer.

[fritzad]

Great! Looking forward to the new series!

[erik43]

Hey Judith...

I sent a personal message to SPRACHPROFI last month and haven't heard back. Just found this blog and noticed messages re: the next intermediate series... I too am looking forward to it... but also hoping for something that progresses from the S2 and S3 (haven't done the Advanced Intermediate yet), but also found S1 not to my liking... following music (though I like music) just didn't 'click' for me. I may try it again later, unless you come up with another, more advanced intermediate. I don't think I'm ready for advanced yet. Need to consolidate. I am currently reviewing and reviewing S2 and S3 before I hit Advanced Intermediate. I will do that soon. Right now, I've just transferred all the Grammar Points from S2 and S3 to a Word document so I can edit it a bit, put it in order and study them all. Lots of good insights in there. Little 'tricks' that tie together some of the other learning that I'm doing.

Keep it up and keep the Intermediate stuff coming. Also, any tips on getting speaking going would help. My vocablulary and reading skills are always increasing. listening comprehension too, but putting sentences together on demand is problematic. I know I simply need more opportunities and practice, but wonder if there's any tips on how to best prepare and focus on those attempts. I often 'script' little conversation bits when I know I'm going to get to speak to someone in German, but somehow feel that 'cheating'... Any suggestions on the best way to ingrain conversation and better be able to spontaneously call on the vocabulary to build sentences in conversation?