Knowing a second language is an undisputed advantage - not just when traveling abroad, but in all sorts of circumstances. And the prevailing wisdom is that young children, even those who are still learning their native language, are ideal candidates to begin learning a second language.

Based on the feedback from the bloggers and their children, the Kids Love Spanish DVD series is best suited to the pre-school set. The kids in that age range adored it: “My youngest son sat there laughing at the videos, oohing and ahhhing over the pictures, and practicing the words along with the children on the video.” A mother of two older boys, ages 5 and 9, commented that, “…this series would be perfect for children ages two to four. Let’s face it, those are the kids who love repetition! Who can’t get enough of seeing pictures of other children!” She went on to say, “I can’t go back in time to show it to [my younger son] at two, or [my older son] at three, but I feel confident that if I could, they would want to watch it over and over and over again and would learn some Spanish in the process.” The general consensus among parents of school-age kids was that the repetition was too much for them; they were ready to move on to the next step!

But the parents agreed that the methodology of the DVDs - repetition of words by a variety of speakers, augmented by pictures and video - was sound:

• “Each video shows clips of many different children and adults saying the Spanish word or phrase, interspersed with video illustrating the concept. For example, the word perro was repeated over and over by many children, interspersed with videos and pictures of dogs. I really liked that my children were hearing the many variations of accents and pronunciation. I think it made both of them less hesitant to try the words out for themselves.“
• “For all the repetition, they still manage to pack a surprising amount of material into each 30 minute DVD. I didn’t count, but I would estimate each episode covered between 20-30 words. I like how each disc covers a particular category of words, and the topics range from colors to numbers to animals to alphabets to family words, moving on to simple phrases in disc 7.“

One mother noted that: “Some of the words had more explanation given, while others did not. For example, comida (food) was said several times by the kids, but little more was said or done. The kids simply stood in front of the camera and said the word. Having them point to or eat food might have been more helpful.” She went on to give a contrasting example: “However, other words received a lot of explanation, such as agua (water). Agua was presented in several ways, with kids drinking glasses of water, babies splashing in water, and kids swimming in a pool (with commentary such as The baby is splashing in the agua.).”

A few parents were surprised by the song lyrics, which were in English instead of Spanish:

• “One other thing that struck us all as odd was that all of the songs were in English. My seven year-old asked Why not sing in Spanish? Why not, indeed - I can’t believe the songs that my preschooler comes home with, all in Spanish. It’s definitely an easy way to learn for most of us.
• “While the DVDs were colorful and presented very clear examples of pronunciation I did hope for more Spanish songs incorporated in the teaching portion. The music video presentation for the DVD was the same in both DVDs we watched and while one Spanish song was included in addition to the Spanish ABCs, there was a very extended Kids Love Spanish song done entirely in English.“
• “The only thing that would have improved [her] enjoyment of Kids Love Spanish would have been more songs. She is a musical child, and learns well through song. Had they taught catchy Spanish songs, she probably would be singing them every day.“

Instead of relying on Dora the Explorer for language acquisition (a show that most school-age kids abandon in favor of more complex storylines), parents of pre-schoolers would be better served by a series such as Kids Love Spanish. One blogger concluded: “For basic language acclimation and knowledge for children not exposed to daily Spanish lessons, I think that these DVDS would be exactly what you are looking for in a language teaching set. The concepts are clear and the pronunciation varied, which helps adjust the ear to nuances in daily speaking. The subjects are varied and the kids shown in the video appear to be enjoying themselves and make Spanish seem like fun.”

And at the early stages, learning most definitely ought to be fun.

Get more information on Kids Love Spanish at the Brock sisters’ website!