Just thought I'd drop another line to say that I think CLO is the best !  When I first started on Level 4 it was a bit of a shock having many more lessons without "set pieces" and english guidance....you see, I listen to the podcasts going to and from work, and trying to make sense of the explanations given in chinese was a bit dangerous, to say the least ( particularly when I had to keep refering to the english transcripts, Haha ).  But now I'm getting used to it...there is so much repetition that my understanding is becoming more "instinctive", and I'm preparing for each

...I think the podcasts are really good. The grammar explanations are well done, they give good attention to teaching proper tones, and the subject matter of the lessons is on par with what Chinese Pod covers. They certainly don’t cut any corners. And since the teachers aren’t all from just the mainland or just from Taiwan, listeners are exposed to the slight accent, vocabulary, and tonal differences they’re likely to encounter in their daily encounters with Chinese people from different areas of the world.