Where it comes to exposing their children to other languages, our parent bloggers are definitely enthusiastic. They’ll gladly try out a variety of resources - even the parents who aren’t exactly fluent in a foreign language, such as the blogger who “took French for seven years” and scored “a 1 out of a possible 5” on her AP test. But then it’s all up to the kids.
Based on the first set of reviews of the Kids Love Spanish DVD series, it seems that the younger kids are the most amenable to this set. The former French student screened it for her toddler daughter, noting that “…it may be my only chance to save [her] from a life of foreign-language incompetence. The kid seems to pick up everything I say (what’s a little cursing in preschool gonna hurt?), so I figured it would be perfect for her.” Another mother stated: “These DVDs give children (and adults!) plenty of little pieces: just as we learn English by repeating nouns and learning common phrases, so do these DVDs introduce our kids to single words and quick phrases that will eventually turn into sentences.”
The two youngest viewers were definitely excited by Kids Love Spanish. One child and her father “sat for over an hour watching various DVDs and practicing words. [She] took to it like ants on sugar - she can now count to 10 in Spanish, say about 10 animal words in Spanish, and can practice the Spanish alphabet.” Her mother attributed the new knowledge to “the repetitive nature of the DVDs…things are repeated again and again which gives the child a chance to say it over and over.”
Another child is also benefiting from the repetitive nature - in that she requests the DVD over and over again: “She begs for kids Spanish morning, noon and night. She shakes her booty to the theme song and jumps right in, repeating every phrase uttered.” But she’s learning and repeating the words and phrases on her own too, as the DVDs “…feature real preschoolers speaking Spanish. Not every kid says the word exactly the same way, nor do they say it perfectly…[she] sees and hears a series of children repeating the word, each with their own individual pronunciation. That, in combination with the repetition, encourages my daughter to say it with them.”
The older kids were a bit more cynical - “My son asked me why they didn’t at least sing in Spanish so kids watching could hear Spanish songs. Excellent point!” - and the bloggers were critical of the production details - “You can tell it was two moms who made these. It looks like they filmed right in their homes.” But as many of us have discovered, kids are often immune to slick production and can be enthralled by programs that we adults can hardly bear (cough … Teletubbies … cough).
One older child’s interest was certainly piqued by Kids Love Spanish. He “repeated many of the Spanish words, and was curious to delve deeper than what was introduced. This curiosity is exactly what I imagine the Brock Sisters had in mind when creating these videos.” Indeed, he later asked his mother “to look up some additional words. He also wanted to know if we could learn the same things in French. I had to laugh when he asked, What comes after French? as if there is a progression from English to Spanish to French to the Great Unknown. We had an interesting conversation about how different people learn different languages at different times, sometimes simultaneously.”
None of us expect our children to master vocabulary words or concepts based on viewing a series of DVDs, but the sort of intellectual curiosity noted above is what we should hope to spark. Kids Love Spanish can be a great tool in awakening that curiosity.
Stay tuned for the rest of the reviews, plus our final Round-Up Review!
Thursday, 9/20 - Lawyer Mama
Monday, 9/24 - Mom to the Screaming Masses
Tuesday, 9/25 - Mommy’s Must Haves
Wednesday, 9/26 - Slouching Mom
Thursday, 9/27 - Ebony Mommy
Friday, 9/28 - Suburban Oblivion, Three Kid Circus
Wednesday, 10/3 - Round Up Review on PBN
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