Comments on: New Lesson Publication Schedule

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This change severely diminishes the value of what I paid for. I am quite unhappy (and I do understand the on-air staff had nothing to do with this decision.)

When I paid for my membership, I was expecting a certain number of podcasts with new content. From what I can understand, the number has basically been cut almost in half. Before, I could expect two or three intermediate or above per week. Now it will be one, maybe.

From my point of view, this seems like bait and switch. Praxis should offer those of use who signed up under the old plans a way out. I have asked for this in a private message yesterday, but have not received a reply.

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Yo también. I'm here for the intermedite and advanced lessons. With fewer of those, I wouldn't renew.

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Should the dialogue be read at least once at the beginning more slowly and more clearly than 3 times at normal speed?

I first thought that it would be helpful not to start off each lesson with 3 readings of the dialogue at normal conversational speed. Why? Because I often get only some of the dialogues. Normal speed can be very, very fast for us foreigners, and often not so clearly articulated. So I felt the time hearing them 3 times at the beginning was wasted on me. However, I now realize that it is a brilliant idea that you struggle to listen a few times to the opening dialogues. Then you explain it with excellent and very clear articulation. Finally, when you hear the dialogues 3 times at the end of the lesson, you really start to understand them!

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eldavid, that is exactly the reason I've chosen not to have an artificial-speed reading in the podcasts. A slower reading might make the learner more comfortable initially, but as a teacher, I believe that a) natural-speed input is better for building listening comprehension chops, and b) ambiguity creates a NEED, which is later filled by the analysis that comes afterward.

As a classroom teacher, I know that if I present the information pre-chewed, my students roll their eyes and think, uh, another thing I have to learn. I usually end up re-teaching it. However, if I'm able to create a need somehow, the students absorb it quicker. For example, when I start to present the preterito, I might ask them what happened on American Idol the night before; at first they're unable to express it, then I show them the preterito, and then we revisit the American Idol recap with the proper forms.

Creating a need is an old teacher trick. I think that in ed school they have a technical term for it, but I don't remember it anymore.

Anyway, thanks eldavid for bringing this up!

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JP, while i agree that learning at speed is really important and slowing down the dialog really wrecks the rythym and feel of the language. Indeed the meaning may be lost if couplets of phrase become disconected.

However especially for the Newbie and Elementary where the ear is still being developed, a careful pronunciation of new/key words prior to the lesson reading might be helpful. (no explanation, just read the vocabulary list and enenuciate)

Also for the intermediate and advanced and in the Taco al Tango when You are featuring jerga, a preface to the lesson listing the terms coupled with their meanings would be real helpful. Extend the key word idea. Regional pronuciations and usage can really confuse sometimes. Like - Welcome to Taco al Tango, todays guest/topic will be. Here are some words to listen for. . . . . . .

. . . . and now, ---( on into the soundtrack. )

It strikes me that the Taco al tango is really kind of close to the advanced media idea. It just lacks the disection of the language which an advanced course would give.

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Great suggestions, cobre!

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Yes, I agree! How 'bout the SpanishPod crew record discussions in Spanish on del Taco al Tango and add a little review of the jerga as Cobre suggests and everyone will happy again!

And I like hearing those that speak Spanish as a second language (JP, Carmen) participate as well. If they make a mistake (rarely!) you could correct them, and this would help us! Or they could ask about certain words/phrases during the discussion which they realize may be more difficult for a non-native speaker to understand.

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Les pido su perdón.

La introducción del "Taco al Tango"s que son todos en español debe estar en español. cómo - Bienvenido a Taco al Tango, el invitado de hoy / tema será. He aquí algunas palabras para su debería escuchar . . . . . . .

. . . . y ahora, --- (en para la banda sonora.)

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First, let me belatedly add that I too am pretty disappointed in the news of reduced content. As with most of the commenters above, I joined for the intermediate and advanced podcasts, and the news that there will be fewer of them definitely makes me rethink whether I'll renew my membership.

I want to stress that you guys do a fabulous job on your podcasts. I'm pretty familiar with what else is out there, and your podcasts have definitely been well worth the subscription cost. I feel that to de-emphasize them in favor of grammar/exercises is a mistake.

On another note, a small suggestion: On your French podcast reviews, you generally go over perhaps 9-10 new vocabulary words, whereas on the Spanish podcast reviews you only review 5 new vocabulary items. Any chance on upping the number of target words in your review podcasts here?

Por último, estoy de acuerdo con docmolly (arriba) en cuanto a unas discusiones con todo el equipo en Del Taco al Tango. JP, tu nivel de español (¡y de francés!) me impresiona muchísimo. No nos importaría si de vez en cuando Liliana (o tú, o quién sea) corrigiera a alguien en el podcast. La mujer de Ben Curtis (de Notes in Spanish) le corrige todo el tiempo en sus podcasts, y lo importante es que nos muestra que los errores son inevitables; hay que aceptarlos y seguir adelante. En eso se aprende y se mejora.