Product Details

• Actors: Mei Mei Hu, children
• Directors: Mei Mei Hu
• Format: Color, Digital Sound, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, NTSC
• Number of discs: 1
• Studio: Mei Mei and Me
• DVD Release Date: September 1, 2006
• Run Time: 41 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000J3Q9SK
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #83,819 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Bad" dvd surprisingly beloved!, September 28, 2008

By 

bookaddict (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Play & Learn CHINESE with Mei Mei Vol. 1 (DVD)

I ordered this dvd, knowing not to expect the best of audiovisual quality (see other reviews), and wasn't pleasantly surprised to find otherwise. I bought it because it is the first in this series (the others more highly rated).

Yes, it looks like it was recorded in someone's basement with an amateur camcorder. Yes, it is stilted. Meimei sits frontally and teaches us with little interaction, props etc. The children seem to be her regular students and often seem to wait for behind the camera prompting and seem very selfconscious. They either seem unprepared or precocious. It seems very uninspired and pedantic.

So why 4 stars and not 2? Because my 34 mo old son LOVES IT! I ordered the Little Pim series (he likes), the Baby Learns Chinese (beautiful), the Globe Toddlers Adventures in Mexico (totally overrated), all for him to learn and practice Mandarin... and he continually asks for MeiMei. I thought it slow and repetitive: he sits calmly watching and repeats after MeiMei and the kids. He gets up and copies the students' movements, and we like watching the games and playing associated with the songs. He has started counting in Chinese better than in English. He does all the same movements as MeiMei's students if you ask him his body part names (ie swishing his butt for pi gu! "shake your bottom" says MeiMei) He wants me to sing Ba Luo Bo (Pull out the Carrot) with him.

So, forget what the adults judge to be excellent videography, snappy animations, exciting teaching... this one is a winner!

Now we'll order the next MeiMei chinese dvds with confidence.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Let's clear up some facts..., November 6, 2004

By 

Marc A. Gousie "ESL teacher" (Providence, RI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Play and Learn Chinese with Mei Mei, Volume 1 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Having long familiarity with both Mei Mei (the real person) and all of her products, and being a professional educator of children myself, I would just like to clear up a few facts. First of all, her name does not mean "little sister." As anyone educated in Chinese will tell you, "mei" actually has several meanings, depending on the tone used. Mei Mei's real name happens to mean "plum blossom", and is not an attempt to fool anyone about her age (how ridiculous is that). Secondly, the method she uses to teach Chinese is a proven, long-established tool that every language educator is familiar with (though not all are able to use it so effectively). It is called TPR (Total Physical Response), and every parent should be aware that combining learning with movement is one of the SUREST ways to make that information permanent in a child's mind. Certainly, the video is not slick, like some, but evaluated on the basis of educational content and ability to hold a young one's attention, it is certainly a bargain, an opinion that all of the intelligent reviewers below enthusiastically endorse!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun to learn videos, October 10, 2007

By 

learnlink - See all my reviews

This review is from: Play & Learn CHINESE with Mei Mei Vol. 1 (DVD)

When we put on the video for our 4 year old adopted daughter, her face lights up and she starts to sing along with it. Mei Mei's charm has totally fascinated our daughter. We are so happy to have found the videos so that we can continue to foster both her English and Chinese.