A couple of months ago, I saw some demographic posted on this site that the Newbie lessons get more downloads than any of the others. I’m sure part of that is because even the Intermediate and Advanced students listen to them, but I’m sure that there actually are a lot of Newbies out there. It can’t just be me. 
Now, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m teetering on the brink of being a full-fledged Elementary student. (I wonder if they’ll boot me from the blog. Hmmm.) The Newbie lessons are actually really easy for me, and I get that little thrill every time I get the end of a new Elementary lesson and I can actually understand everything when they review the dialogue. Cool, right?
You know where I get hung up, though? You know what slaps me around and makes me its prom date every time? It’s the damned expansion area. Now, for those of you who aren’t premium subscribers (and well, shame on you, first of all!), after you listen to the podcast and review the PDF transcript, there’s this area where additional vocabulary is given, but it’s all wrapped up with the vocab you just learned. And yeah, there’s a great audio link that lets you hear it, but there’s nothing else there to help drive home all that new stuff. And there’s just a lot of it. Sometimes I’m tempted to skim over those new sentences, but I’ve seen some of the supplementary vocabulary in the review questions later on. Tricksy, these hobbitses!
There’s no cure for it but time, of course. You just have to spend the 30 minutes or so digging in your heels and getting it done. My retention on those areas is still not as good as I’d like it to be, but I think that’s because I have no way to review those new sentences when I’m away from the computer. And, you know… my time is finite. I work two jobs and my weekend gig as a male gigolo keeps me busier than ever. What’s a boy to do? 
In other news, I spoke with Aggie last night. She’s sick, the poor thing. We barely got started with the language assessment before we had to call it quits. If you’ve got any good mojo out there, please send it her way and wish her a speedy recovery.
Xie xie!
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Wait until you try intermediate expansion, then you’ll have fun.
Yah, they do throw you a curve ball at first…I seem to be able to guess at more and more of them as time goes on. (Did I mention I got a sweet tutor, so things are picking up on the ‘learning Chinese’ front). I think I like the expansion best because the podcasts can be kind of passive, just listen, soak it in like a sponge, but the expansions I really have to grit my teeth and use my brain for.
Male gigolos are so cool. The new black really.
Frank: Was that your comment the other day about using Pimsleur. I too fond it dry — but very effective. Multiple tutors are impressed with my accent (of course probably just being very nice). Anyway, i have developed some learning materials to help learn characters for people that went through Pimsleur. I’d like to share some with you and see if you think it’s useful. And if that was a different fran, um, “nevermind”.
Thanks for your blog and the great picks. Hope you are in Shanghai by the time I visit (this summer? later?) also keep us posted on the ‘octagon’ thanks! harry
Hmmm, no way to edit comments? I meant to say “different frank” and “pics” not picks. as in pictures. Other blogging forum things let me edit my typos. Apologies to all.
Hey there, Harry! No, that wasn’t me on the Pimsleur thing, but I’d love to see any learning aids you’ve developed. Maybe I’ll even share them with everybody who reads my blog. All three of you!
I so wish the expansion sentences were on mobile MP3 files.
i’d like to share these with you — how do i email them to you? i assume you can see my email address posted with this note. let me know. thanks. harry