Need some advice on my new study plan

[emuboy]

I just moved back from China after studying there for the last 6 or so months. I want to continue studying Chinese before I sell my soul and begin postgrad study next year.

 

Currently I have about 3-5 hours a day to work on my Chinese. I have been struggling a bit to work out how to split up my time, I think partly because my goals aren't really clear. I'm tossing up whether or not to sit HSK 5 towards the end of the year, but have a few issues with this as well. Firstly I'll describe what I've been doing at the moment for study and try to give a bit of an idea about where I'm at.

 

I currently spend a while every morning going through 5-10 new words on Pleco, and then get through my reviews. I then do a 10-20 minute review of my most recent 10 Popup Chinese dialogues as listening practice; after this I work through a new lesson. I then move onto a TV show, I just started a new one called 家有儿女, and work through that for 30-40 minutes. I also spend about 30-50 minutes every day chatting with someone over Wechat (voice chat) and have just started reading graded readers again.

 

So my questions are basically:

(1) Any suggestions on adding anything into my routine? I've thought about changing it up with the podcasts as I've now gotten through about 130 of the Popup Chinese lessons, and whole stack of the intermediate/elementary stuff on iMandarinpod as well - what's Chinesepod like at the moment? I heard the hosts recently left, still worth a look? I've also been considering getting onto iTalki and just doing a few sessions. I also feel like one of the potential weaknesses in this approach is that I don't really have any textbook or anything to teach grammar and stuff like that - although I'm not really sure if that's such an issue.

(2) My main reasons for considering HSK 5 as a goal were (a) it will help with motivation, (b) it gives me something to work towards and (c) that it might be useful later on (I can put it on my CV). My long term goal with Chinese has always been to get to a level of proficiency where I can use it to help me in the space industry.

 

Thanks!

[Bibu]

sounds you are around hsk4. Before HSK4 is all about daily communication , a little focus on reading and writing. So completing HSK4 is sort of milestone.

 

After HSK4 is advanced reading and writing, need a well planned learning schedule, rather than a time table, and a tutor to answer your questions.

 

With HSK4 and below,  a tutor is best to have as you need ask questions sometime, or you have  a lot time to work it out. Anyhow, Q&A is not the key in this stage,  practice and a good textbook is .

[roddy]

Just a quick note, we have transcripts for ten of those 家有兒女 shows if you want them. And post in that topic if you have any questions or comments!

[emuboy]

Cheers for the replies! solid transcripts.