I started my Monday morning in the best way possible: with a cup of tea, sunshine through the window, and a ChinesePod lesson! I have been studying Chinese for (ouch…) almost a decade (don’t let me go off on a rampant on how fast time goes by and how I’m getting old, etc.) but as I have only lived there for a year (a long time ago, in 2006-2007) and do not have the opportunity or will power to spend every waking hour practicing Chinese, I can use some language exercise. While, as a student of Chinese literature, my reading skills are not bad, my listening comprehension and kouyu (口语）skills suffer from not being in an immersing language environment. ChinesePod to the rescue! I have been a member since summer last year, and spent many hours listening to their lessons over summer break. But even with a little less ‘free’ time, ChinesePod allows me to inhale a little bit of Chinese every day. I listen to one lesson every morning (or at least, that is my goal…), usually at the upper-intermediate or advanced level. But even if I would listen to an intermediate level, or even beginner, there is much to learn, as repetition is really the only way for a language to stick! So here’s what I do: 1) I listen to the audio (or recently, video!) podcast once, 2) I maybe listen again (and again) if I don’t understand it the first time, 3) I listen to (and read) the dialogue, 4) I look at the vocabulary list, 5) I look at the extension examples (very helpful!), and 6) I do the exercises. And this is the beauty of ChinesePod: it has everything you need for a full-body workout on one page! Listening and reading comprehension are well covered, writing can easily be added by just having a pen and paper at hand, and if you upgrade to a higher subscription level, you can even include conversation lessons! So, that’s ChinesePod in a pod-shell. Our office now has three four people subscribed and we will keep you updated about our experiences with learning Chinese at different levels using ChinesePod. But don’t just take our word for it, go and check out ChinesePod for yourself at www.chinesepod.com