The Preschool Learns Spanish DVD put out by Galloping Minds was a surprisingly good hit at our house. I didn't even watch this DVD right away when we got it. Honestly, I thought it would be rather dull.It's not that this video is terribly exciting. But the way the movie is done, I think preschools really CAN learn to speak Spanish. In fact I'm afraid that Zachariah will be studying it when I'm not paying attention, then I'll have no idea what he's saying when he says things in Spanish.
The DVD is broken into 8 segments, such as "Family", "Action Words", "Numbers & Colors", and more. I think these groupings are an important part of the video's layout. It helps learning Spanish make more sense.
The idea is simple. There is soft classical music playing in the background, then pictures appear on the screen. After that a narrator says the word for the picture in English then twice in Spanish. The words in English and Spanish for the picture also appear on the screen. The general idea is that the child watching will see the picture, hear the word in English, relate to the word in Spanish, then repeat the word back in Spanish.
I thought the first time I showed it to Zachariah he would just watch a few minutes of it, then get bored. Boy did he surprise me. He sat right down and paid attention. With the first picture, he was repeating words back in Spanish. Pretty well, too. He didn't sit through the entire 30-some minute video, but I was impressed. He did like it too. He has watched it a few other times and seems to like it.
I think it's good to have some great educational videos around. Entertainment is fun, but when you can put learning and television together, you get my two thumbs up.
This video is meant for children ages 1-5, but I think even kids/teens who are older can learn something from it. It's less exciting for them, but it's still a great learning tool. This has been a good refresher course for my 3 years of high school Spanish that I hardly remember any of.
This DVD is already out for sale. The only place I can find it online is at Galloping Minds page. Here is the link. They have it on sale right now for $12.99 with free shipping. I think that's a great price. Maybe you know someone who would appreciate this for Christmas. Now is a great time to start thinking about that.
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1 comment:
So great to have movies like that to learn another language, like you said though you won't know what they are saying ...LOL. Ross has been learning German though cd's and Violet has been picking up on it, it's very funny.
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