I am getting ready to start teaching my daughter Spanish. This will be our 4th language after English, German, and Afrikaans. To start with I have enrolled her in a 1x/week Spanish music class and purchased a set a CDs with Spanish songs they will be learning in the class for us to listen to at home.
I have been very happy with the Little PIM German DVDs that she has been watching and I am looking for something similar in Spanish. Ideally it will have the words printed on the screen. (versus something like Baby Einstein that you can play in Spanish but it does not show any words) I am a little concerned that she may get confused or get Little PIM overload if I also get the Little PIM Spanish and she has the panda bear talking to her in both German and Spanish. If they had it with a different character I would not have this hesitation.
I have seen many different products to learn Spanish and I would like to just purchase one. I would love to hear from anyone who loves a specific product. I am listing the ones I have heard about below, I’m sure there are still more that are not yet on my list for evaluation.
Little PIM ($50 for 3 DVDs)
Muzzy ($200, gives 5 languages)
KidSpeak at www.transparent.com ($20, but it looks like kid should be older than toddler)
Whistlefritz ($20, the demo didn’t have clear words, and I couldn’t tell what her actionsmeant. I found the demo a bit confusing?)
Your baby Can Read - Spanish Language Learning Kit ($30, one CD and one DVD with songs)
Baby’s First Words CD by Living Language ($10, just songs)
I seem to be following you around this forum. From your list here is my opinion.
I hated Muzzy. I ordered it and sent it back. It was a cartoon, not even a nice cartoon. You can put on a Spanish cartoon station and reap the same benefits.
I think the Bilingual Baby Spanish is very nice. It covers many words and subjects. It is one DVD and you can probably get it for less that $15.
I love Baby’s First Words in Spanish. The songs and poems are excellent. I could listen to that over and over.
I haven’t tried any others, except the Lyric Language DVD’s and CD’s. They were okay. They say something in English then they repeat it in Spanish.
If you find something you love please let me know.
I agree with Krista G in that I wasn’t excited about Muzzy.
I also like Bilingual Baby. If you want the word on the screen, it shows the word when a new word is introduced.
My boy likes Whistlefritz, but it doesn’t show the words on the screen.
If you choose to do something like Rosetta stone, you’d have to sit at the computer and work through it while baby watches. I think the Spanish files on LR would be easier if you are using the computer.
We liked Little Pim, but you might be right in that baby might start mixing if they use the same images. But they also say that they can sort 3 languages in their heads without much problem. I’m not sure.
We like the YBCR English version. If the Spanish version is similar it seems like it would be good.
I’ll have to look into some of the others you have on your list. The only other one we’ve used is Usborne First Fun with Spanish. It follows a little girl around as she teaches some Spanish words. It is a fun one (to borrow at a library, perhaps), but I wouldn’t make it the one I buy.
Hey, I was going to say that language lyrics isn’t the total immersion experience, since it does the phrase in english then spanish, It taught me a lot though.
I heard that YBCR was working to translate their videos into spanish, which i’ve been very excited about. I just checked their website and didn’t see any info about it, but i did see that they’ve now released a Your Child Can Read! set. looks interesting! The link is below.
I’m glad to hear your opinons about Muzzy - I was considering it.
I also just saw that Brainy Baby has Spanish - any thoughts about how good that is?
I wish their were someone close to me that I could borrow some of these from and see how my daughter likes them.
Thank you all for your input. It is very helpful!
Are you able to get netflix or blockbuster online? They have a good selection of brainy baby and other educational videos. I’m not sure which foreign languages they have, but you might want to look.
I have found a cheap dvd range for multilingual learning, called Fun Learning for Kids…it is in English vs Mandarin, German, Spanish and French on the same dvd, and there are 8 dvds in the set. I purchased them in Australia at Sam’s Warehouse (formerly Go-Lo) for $5 each. They aren’t fantastic quality…pictures are clear but it’s all same studio back-drop and very repetitive music to drive you bonkers but they have a lot of English words on-screen (the foreign language is just spoken).
They have a Mandarin range (with pinyin and characters on-screen), nursery rhymes, fairytales and classical music cds…
If anyone purchases these please post a product review and let us know what the costs were. They claim to be the cheapest early learning dvds out there…
PY - I just checked their website and can’t find anything regarding Spanish videos. Am I looking in the wrong place? Thanks!
laughingwater - I just got Whistlefritz a couple weeks ago and love it! I wasn’t the biggest fan after the very first viewing, but it has become one of my favorite videos to play. I just ordered another one of their dvds. We had played Little Pim a million times (or so it seemed :)) and I personally felt like I hadn’t picked up that much Spanish for watching it so many times. However, I’ve learned a lot from a few showings of Whistlefritz. My son is also a lot more engaged. He’s focused the entire time and was even following the motions to their heads, shoulders, knees, & toes song (he’s 18 months)! Hope that helps!
Sorry I’ve been very busy. We too didn’t care for muzzy much.
Here are some of our favorites:
Little Pim in each language: ( I show each video in 10 minute segments ) The kids are really enjoying it and learning a lot.
Language Lyrics: just as extra (whenever they want)
Glenn Doman’s Picture Dictionary cd -roms: (I used these a lot in the beginning. When I use these we just show a few categories, and all in the same language)
Iahp Foreign Lang. material: (We’ll be doing this next) ( it’s a home made book translated into several different languages)
Tweedle Wink: (sometimes)
And lastly: We watch videos like “Curious George”, “Is Your Mama a Llama”, and other regular videos in several different languages ( all from netflix ) as rewards. The kids love them!
I am teaching English, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese and French.
My biggest rocomendation is teach or show something everyday and show it in the same material. I like following Glenn Doman’s method best and show materials at least 15 times before moving on. If I am too busy or forget where we are then we’ll just see the same material for a month, then move on. They really don’t seem to mind.
I’m a Spanish native speaker so I have not bought a lot of DVD’s in Spanish. However, we bought the “My First Words” set from Little Thinkers and my dd loved it. It comes with a DVD with Spanish and English, you can play them separetly or together and they come with three little books. I’m just not sure which level you are looking for, but for begginers I would definetely recommened it.
Hi there,
I got an e-mail from signing time offering their new dvd’s in spanish only vol. 1-2-3, I looking for the e-mail but I can’t find it…I guess I deleted. I am so sorry I can forward to you or be more helpful, but maybe you can email to signing time and ask some info about them.
good luck
Hi,
I’m a Spanish native so I have a lot of DVD’s in Spanish. I’m new and my english is not good. However, we used the “My First Words” too, and Babybits. The links:
I just ordered the ALL of the babybit DVDs - it looks like a great all-in-one educational system that teaches four different languages quite thoroughly. (I also bought all 10 tweedlewink DVDs today as well!) I will report back when I have the DVDs in hand!
I purchased two or three little pim video downloads - I find them very, very slow going - even for me!! Our son must be bored out of his mind. The DVDs I found at the library - for adults - were way better - but still a bit slow going (even for me!)
