Search - Brainy Baby - Spanish on DVD

Excellent Teaching Video for Native and Non-Native Speakers

ROB | 07/17/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Frankly, I am surprised anyone would describe this video as disappointing. I had a home day care and cared for two children whose native language was Spanish and they LOVED watching this video. All the other children did as well, but especially those who already knew the language. The video shows colorful toys and counts them and talks about the colors of the items. The vocabulary words are repeated, as I would expect on any language video. Surely you cannot teach by only saying the words once? There are scenes of happy children playing; most of the examples involve children. Sometimes we see adults holding or cuddling the children. I personally find that children pick up on my own attitude towards the material, in other words, I show excitement and treat the material as interesting and they do too. I do not use the video as a babysitter, but as an educational tool. I sit with the children and say the words out loud and they follow my lead. I make every attempt to show the video at a time when the children are ?fresh? and ready to learn, not late in the day when they are tired. I have also showed the video to friends who are Spanish speaking to explain what I was doing in my day care to teach Spanish to the children. They were very impressed with the video. I found the lessons very structured, the vocabulary very appropriate for young preschool children, and the pace was just right for the children in my day care. My daughter is three and we are moving on to learning more vocabulary words than the basics she learned in this video, but this laid the foundation for her. We still use the video from time to time as review, even now that I no longer have a day care, so that she doesn?t lose what she has already learned. A pamphlet that came with the video suggests you shorten the viewing time if the child?s attention span is short, which sometimes happens. Occasionally we might do a few minutes of Spanish video and then play and then do a few more minutes later. Usually I show the video when she has just woken up or is clearly ready to focus. Learning a foreign language can be demanding, I don?t try to over do it, but I also don?t neglect the importance of presenting lessons in a way that my child can enjoy and also in being persistent. I love the use of toys, foods, common household objects, and cute things like snowmen and giggling babies. I like the way the video gives vocabularies and then builds on it, so that we hear sentences made up of words we already learned. And then we hear questions that are also easy to understand. There isn?t a word of English in it, just Spanish and images to give a context and meaning to the word. None of the Spanish-speaking people that I know found any fault with any pronunciations, or any other aspect of the video. I found it to be excellent, and my daughter is the proof of it. I am so grateful that I was able to introduce her to another language at such a young age when it is much easier for them to learn!"