Customer Reviews

Beth Manners' Magic French for Kids: ages 2-6

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I am a mother of a 5 year old and a 2 year old. I've been trying to expose them to other languages and thought that I would pick this up. They love it! I was really surprised at how easily my 2 year old can follow the story. This CD (or tape) teaches children simple conjugations and French words and phrases by telling a cute little story about Bobby and his French friend, Marie. Bobby says the English word or phrase and Marie says it in French. We just bought Beth Manners' other French title and can't wait to play it. Enjoy!

I am polishing up on my French at the same time! The phrases are useful and come with a story line. Since the voices are children's, my daughter is much more interested in listening. There is singing intermixed too, which also holds my two year old's daughter's interest more. Since it is not just a straight "here is the word, here is the translation" it doesn't have a strickly academic feel. I definitely recommend this. I wish they had a video too!

I am a mother of a 6 year old and a French teacher for grades Kinder through 2nd so I expected to get a lot of use out of this tape. However, the format is not one that makes it enjoyable for children to hear repeatedly. My daughter is much happier listening to songs rather than hear a far fetched story poorly acted. I would recommend the "Bonjour mes Amis" Videos instead as the vocabulary is more useful and the story includes real life events. Stick to song tapes in the car.

My 4-year old decided she wants to learn French because of her heroine, Madeline. After trying some French immersion CDs and videos with very limited success, I was so pleased to find a product geared to new learners with no previous French language background. The format is very engaging and interesting. Nice mixture of games, music, vocabulary, singing and Three Bears story. We'll be listening to this CD a lot!

My daughter is 5. She is taking French at school so she is already learning french there. This is a great CD to play for her in the car and in the evenings before bed.

Beth Manners' Magic French for Kids reinforces the vocabulary my daughter is already learning and introduces new words. The storyline, songs and general premise of the CD keeps her interest.

However, I do not believe that this CD would be sufficient if you were interested in your child learning French as a second language. The strength of this CD is as a supplement or introduction to the French Language.

I have a kid who is almost 7 years old. He enjoys this CD so much, he demands the CD be played on the way and coming back from school.

My wife and I enjoy the songs so much, that we become involved as a group in the car.

My son is already using the simple expressions the CD comes with and we push each other to learn the language.

I do recommend it even for older kids than the author suggest (2-6).

This is a great CD. My sons, 22 months and 3 1/2 years old both love it. Both boys sing along in french with the songs. The songs are nice because they are simple and fun and teach elementary french phrases and vocabulary.

I can't over-emphasize how important it is that it be fun! My older son sometimes complains when I speak or read french, but he never gets tired of this cd. He really likes Bobby and Marie, the children who narrate the french-speaking adventures.

I bought this CD with Beth Manner's Magic French for Kids based on other customer reviews and I have not been disappointed. I like having both CD's.

I bought French for Children at the same time based on good reviews from parents and teachers and I also like it. French for Children has two CD's for kids and one for adults and comes with a book for practicing counting and colors. My 22-month old is counting to ten in french because he learned the counting song on French for Children.

If you plan to buy only one CD, I'd recommend either of the Beth Manners products for younger children who are not reading since the little kids don't get much out of the book. The fact that the cd has children speaking french is another plus, because the younger kids are very drawn to the childish voices.

On the other hand, if your kids are reading they'll probably like French for Children, and they can practice and do fun activities with the book. My son is very taken with the cartoon character Super Chat.

The only reason I did not give this product five stars is that the children on Fun French for Kids are not native speakers, whereas the man and the woman on French for Children are native and have a better accent. It's not a big deal, just something to be aware of. The boy on Fun French for Kids stresses the beginning of the words, so "bonjour" sounds like "BONjour" instead of "bonJOUR."

Bottom line, if you can, get all three. That way you get more variety and two different ways of learning similar material.

This is a great product for kids! They are having so much fun "helping" Madame Magique that they don't realize that they are actually learning a lot at the same time. I am French/English bilingual, but it is still quite hard to teach my daughter French when there is no one else (apart from me) for her to speak with. I believe that children learn best when they have others of their own age to practice with - this program IS the next best thing!

I am French but my wife is American and I am trying to encourage my two children's interest in the language. Both of them love Fun French For Kids. Everything is pronounced with a perfect accent and the stories keep them entertained. I can tell you, because I am French, that the accents are perfect. The music is wonderful as well.

This is a very nice, well thought out tape to accompany early study of French. It cleverly chooses vocabulary that is reused in various contexts to reinforce it without making it boring. For instance, Bobby and Marie pack for a trip to France and take some toys along: trucks and cars and trains. When they are in France they need to take transportation to get to Versailles. Should they take a truck? A car? A train? My 5 and 6yos really enjoy it and are picking out phrases from this tape, such as "Where are you?" and "Je suis triste" and using them. The way Bobby and Marie speak alternately in French and English really makes it clear what each word or phrase means. I've been looking at a lot of French materials and this is definitely among the best audio offerings. The music and story may not be over the top great but the pedagogical principals are sound and it works.