Product Details

• Actors: Mei Mei Hu, children
• Directors: Mei Mei Hu
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Mei Mei & Me
• DVD Release Date: August 8, 2003
• Run Time: 50 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0002J4ZR8
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #59,943 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Video!, September 30, 2004

By 

Sandy (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dance & Learn Chinese With Mei Mei, Vol. 4 (DVD)

Our girls, 4-years old & 19-months, absolutely LOVE this DVD. They enjoy the music and the basic dances performed by the Chinese girls. Both get out the dress-up clothes and put on costumes before watching the DVD. Our 4-year old is taking Mandarin classes and enjoys recognizing some of the words. The DVD has English, pinyin, and Chinese Character subtitles so you can sing along.

A great tool for younger children and we highly recommend it!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for introducing Chinese to small children, August 4, 2008

By 

Marynna L. Kerce (Atlanta GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dance & Learn Chinese With Mei Mei, Vol. 4 (DVD)

This video is very cleverly designed to teach Chinese in a way that engages children. It is packed with information and is intended for repeated use, not just for a single viewing. In fact, it is probably too long to be watched all in one sitting. (Approximately 50 minutes -- 20 segments, each segment one song as described below.)

This is a very nice introduction to Chinese -- and also would serve as strong, fun, supportive material for all young students of Chinese at various levels of study.

The format is simple and visually appealing, and is designed for repetition. Each song is separately listed on the DVD index, so that you can go directly to a particular song for practice.

Format for each song: (1) a colorful child's artwork about the subject fades to the image of a pleasant schoolteacher who sings a simple song. For example, the first song, "Hello Mommy, Hello Daddy," introduces words for Mommy, Daddy, Grandmother, Grandfather, Big Brother, Little Brother, Big Sister and Little Sister, as well as several forms of the greeting. Following the introductory song by the teacher, (2) the Chinese words for the song are then spoken clearly and slowly by a child, while the words appear as subtitles below the image of the child. The words are listed in English (translated), transliterated Chinese (the Chinese words written in the standard phonetic transcription -- "Pinyin" -- so that English speakers can more easily verify the pronunciation), and Chinese (Chinese characters). Following this introduction to the words, appears (3) a sequence showing children dancing while singing the song, in various locations including the classroom, the park, etc.

Even if children cannot immediately follow the words, playing this video for young children will nevertheless give them important exposure to spoken Chinese. Exposure to the spoken language -- even if the child does not understand at first -- is a necessary prerequisite to language acquisition.

Each of the songs is only a few minutes long, and the music and movement are quite engaging. The teacher is very friendly and appealing, and the children are adorable and easy for children to relate to.

There is particular value for English-speaking children to see other children speaking Chinese while enjoying playing together. Some of the tunes are also familiar to English speakers -- Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes; Mary Had a Little Lamb; Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.

My daughter loves this video and is learning so much from it. Best of all, she can't wait to learn more.

Wonderful!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Video for Adopted Children, June 17, 2008

By 

C. Hollar (Purcellville VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dance & Learn Chinese With Mei Mei, Vol. 4 (DVD)

We returned from China one month ago with our newly adopted 3 year old daughter. With the communication gap, we struggled to find ways of allowing her to hear her native language. (We know almost no Mandarin or Hakka). Someone recommended this video, and I am so glad she did! Our daughter, who was talking in Chinese fluently, loved this video! As soon as I put it on, her little eyes lit up and she began watching it intensely. Before this, American TV never interested her, probably because she didn't understand it. She recognized several of the songs, it's obvious. Now she and I sing "Mama Hao" all the time. It's also been helpful to me in learning some simple words and tunes. I can use the words I learn to help her understand the English counterparts. The songs are all sung first by Mei Mei and girls, then they are slowly emphatically pronunciated by a Chinese girl with the words on the screen (which is so cute to hear), and lastly they are sung and danced to by several Chinese girls. It's adorable to watch and very educational too. My other children get excited when they hear familiar tunes (Mary Had a Little Lamb, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, etc.) and they sing along in English. Plus, for our adopted daughter, it's a link to her native language that she's really not receiving at home.