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As someone who studied many years of French, I am excited to be teaching our kids French as well. Unfortunately, though, it’s not that easy to find many French educational resources for young children. When I saw Cha, Cha, Cha – French Learning Songs from Whistlefritz I knew it would be a great addition to our curriculum!
Whistlefritz believes exposing children to a second language while they are young ensures learning success. This is definitely something I have been reaching for as well as I have been reading some stories in French from the time our oldest was just a toddler. Whistlefritz, though, included some information about ensuring second language learning success for kids that I found really fascinating! In addition to exposing children to a second language early on, they made some interesting points about not being tempted to translate and teaching a second language using immersion. I knew this was more than “just” a CD with songs!
I also found it interesting that Whistlefritz uses the latest research on teaching children languages. They use techniques that are proven – and FUN! They have some impressive awards as well: Winner of a National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA) GOLD Award. Winner of a Mom’s Choice GOLD Award. Named one of the Best 10 Audio-Visual programs of 2012 by Dr. Toy. Winner of The National Parenting Center’s 2012 Seal of Approval. Recommended by the Parents’ Choice Foundation.
When we received the Cha, Cha, Cha – French Learning Songs CD we started using it right away! We actually use it as part of circle time in our homeschool day. It comes with a translation guide in the front of the DVD as well as the lyrics in French, so I could sing along as well! We have had SO much fun! This is our time to dance and enjoy. I have been tempted to have a formal lesson to immediately translate every song, but I’ve resisted the temptation unless they ask. I do give a general introduction in English what the song it about and say the word in English sometimes after it is sung in a casual way. Mostly, though, I act out songs that have words or phrases that can be understood by pointing or actions. (Ex. Pointing to a head or knee or acting out walking.) They have quickly caught on to many the words that way!
One thing I noticed about Cha, Cha, Cha – French Learning Songs CD is that the songs are repetitious. I know this is very important when young children are learning new things. Many times by the end of the song, our older two children (ages 5 and 7) could sing along some of the repeating phrases or words! Plus, when we go over songs we’ve already played before they can start to sing along!
We are really enjoying our Cha, Cha, Cha – French Learning Songs CD, and I was excited to see they offer a French DVD as well! They do also offer numerous resources for Spanish education including Spanish education resources for homeschoolers.
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They say that immersion, rather than translation, is the way to go to learn a foreign language well. Thanks for sharing!
WOW! These sound great! Thank you for sharing!
wewe-thanks for sharing this review–french is not for me!!!
My kids are using the Whistlefritz Spanish DVD’s right now. They absolutely love them-I am sure that any CD would be a hit with them as well. French is one of things I would like to tackle with my older kids, so this would be a fun way of introducing it to them. I really enjoy a program where I can end up learning just as much as the kids, it was surprising but true!
It seems to be harder to learn any language the older you get, but I know I put in the DVD and before you knew it I was catching on and understanding a language I hardly knew about. The immersion really is the way to go with teaching kids and adults new languages.
I agree! Even all of the French I had learned is hard for me to remember because I barely use it anymore!
We have the Whistlefritz Spanish set and my kids love it. We live in west Texas so I figured Spanish would be good for them to learn.
Yeah, I grew up in Northwest Ohio. We didn’t even have a Spanish teacher at my school. So I learned French. Now I live in Texas. I WOULD make sense to learn Spanish, but I really want to pass on French as well since I studied it for years. It’s actually amazing how much Spanish I can understand or guess based on French because they are “cousins.”
Yeah, I actually lived in Romania when I was a teenager and Romanian is also Latin-based. The way the language works is similar and even some of the words.
That is so awesome! I have been working on teaching the girls Spanish – I’ll have to look for this one!
It really is fun!
I took French I & II in high school but I wish I took Spanish though. Rather to meet a French talking person. 🙂
haha Yeah!
I wonder if they have this is German. I am homeschooling my son and he wants to learn German since that was my mother’s first language (Grandpa was army) and I think it is a great way to connect. Thank you for the review!
I started learning a little German, too. My dad was in the Army as well and was stationed in Germany before I was born, and his family went over there to live, too. It’s also my heritage. I do hope to learn it more again, too. Unfortunately, Whistlefritz only has Spanish and French at this time, but I’m not sure if they plan on adding more languages in the future.
That is awesome. I learned French in high school and Spanish in College and after children it kind of jumbled all in my head. I am going to learn German with little man 🙂