Here is the recommended method for this course:
1. Come back to the site to get your new video and material regularly. I recommend do not wait more than 2 days between lessons. The reason for this is that each lesson reinforces the memories built in the last lesson. If you wait more than 2 days, the working memories trained in the last video may have already disappeared. You should not watch more than 1 video per day, as the method is optimized to take advantage of a full night’s sleep as an interval between videos. This is for greatest efficacy.
2. After you login, the home page will show you a list of lessons you have access to. For free members, you only have access to lesson plans, a short sample video and a short MP3 recording of the lesson material. For gold members, you will see in addition the full video courses. On each of these you can download the format you want to use and take with you.
3. First find the lesson you’re going to study today, for example, Module 1 Lesson 15. Go to the lesson plan and play the MP3 while you read the lesson plan. I recommend doing this while at the computer. It is not important to remember all the contents: practice seeing it and reading it is enough at this point. If you want more practice with the MP3 while away from the computer, download it.
4. Next, go to the video lesson, for example Module 1 Lesson 15 Video. Do not look at the lesson plan while watching the video, and repeat everything after the Chinese speaker at the same time when Mike repeats it. He sometimes intentionally makes errors to compensate for learners’ appropriate levels. The video will start with a review of Lesson 11 conversation with no English cues, then the same for Lesson 12, lesson 13 will review the vocabulary, sentence structures and conversation with English cues, the same for lesson 14. Finally an introduction to the vocabulary and sentences of Lesson 15, but no conversation introduced until the review in the next video.
The video is streaming and optimized for playback on the Internet, however, if your bandwidth experiences any lagging, then download it first. The online player is in Windows Media Player format. Windows users should download WMV files. Apple users should download MP4 / iPod formats. There is also a Pocket PC Windows Mobile format for your cellphone or PDA.
Whether you watch or just listen to the video is irrelevant. The most important thing is that your tongue is moving in repetition. This is the only way you will gain your progress in learning this language. You may not be able to repeat everything on the first day, but since each video reviews up to a maximum of 5 days, you’ll get better at it by the 2nd or 3rd day. Don’t beat yourself up or feel like a failure if you can’t do it on the first day of practice. THIS IS NORMAL.
Again, here are the four steps:
1. Do a new video lesson, no more than 2 days apart, and no more than 1 video per day.
2. Login to access lessons.
3. Listen to the MP3 that goes with the text.
4. Watch the full-length video which will review the previous 4 lessons.
Since the videos are inter-linked with each other by review lessons, it’s important to watch them in order so you get full review practice. If you skip one, you’ll miss an important review session.