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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very enjoyable, September 23, 2005
This review is from: Signing Time! Volume 3: Everyday Signs DVD (DVD)
I have 2 kids, who are 2.5 and 11 months. This video is NOT geared towards babies. All of the signs are standard ASL, which is good, but it makes them a bit difficult for a baby without coordination to learn. Babies also tend to lack the focus to sit there and watch a video. My son won't even look at the tv. This is a good video to teach YOU some ASL to teach your baby (or you can get an ASL dictionary and do it yourself). I did Baby Signs with my daughter when she wasn't talking yet, and used the board books, which I highly recommend. She's forgotten all of her baby signs but she's picked up the real ASL very quickly from this video, as a preschooler.
For teaching a toddler age 2 or older ASL, it is GREAT. My daughter really likes watching the video and she will mimic the signs and do them later. She is in a phase right now where she likes to tell me who is a boy and who is a girl, so the "I'm a boy/I'm a girl!" song is fabulous. Very catchy and you'll be humming it to yourself. Same with the Silly Pizza song. And the Signing time with Alex and Leah song I get stuck in my head constantly. So it does have good entertainment value as well as educational value for the preschool age set.
I wanted a pretty general video for teaching some ASL signs because these DVDs run $21 and I didn't want to buy the whole series (yet), so I thought this one would have a good enough useful variety. I liked this video better than the 1st one of the series (which I got from the library), so if you're trying to decide between the two and just get 1, I'd recommend this one.
(and for the person who didn't like them teaching "ice cream" and "candy"... guess what are the favorite signs of a toddler? :-) They'll sign what interests them the most, and if they sign "candy!" to you, you can always sign "no!" back! :-D
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Even better than the first one!, May 19, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Signing Time! Volume 3: Everyday Signs DVD (DVD)
The "Signing Time" video series is targeted to young hearing children (intended audience: 0-5 years), though it is a wonderfully non-threatening way for persons of any age to learn sign language. Parents don't need to already know sign language in order to help their children learn the signs in the videos. The videos are quite thorough - with each sign being demonstrated once by Rachel (mother of a deaf child, and co-creator of the series), and then multiple times in a variety of situations by a variety of children. (Note that volumes 2 and 3 are a little less repetitious than Volume 1 - for better or worse, depending on your preference.) The narration on the videos is done primarily by young children. The signs are linked well with the objects, emotions, etc., that they represent. The children in the videos are "real" - demonstrating the signs in their own imperfect ways, according to their abilities - much the same as when children learn to speak with their voices. There is cute animation and fun background music with sound effects that make the videos pleasing to watch. I purchased volumes 1-3 of the Signing Time video series a few weeks ago (along with the music CD containing all the songs in these volumes). While volume 1 ("My First Signs" - with 18 signs) is very good, volumes 2 ("Playtime Signs" - with 28 signs) and 3 ("Everyday Signs" - with 32 signs) are even better. For starters, I thought Rachel looked too serious and tense when she demonstrated signs in the first video, whereas she appears more relaxed and inviting in the newer videos. Perhaps more importantly, though, the latter two videos make much broader use of Rachel's musical talents, with catchy, original songs sprinkled throughout the video (as opposed to only an opening and closing song in the first video). Another change is that in the 2nd and 3rd videos, words are presented in groups (e.g., hot & cold, friend & play, etc) rather than individually. In the extra features section of the DVD there is a new feature called "Putting it all Together" in which Rachel gives useful sign language tips. The tips are excellent, but the segment is much too short. Hopefully this will be expanded in future volumes. The other extra features are: songs, sign review and scene selection. I was disappointed that there isn't a parent's guide with the videos, but I have found helpful information on the signingtime.com website. If you need to be convinced of the benefits of teaching sign language to your hearing child, or you want to see clips from the videos, check out that website.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb, July 10, 2004
This review is from: Signing Time! Volume 3: Everyday Signs DVD (DVD)
This is mainly directed towards hearing children. I am amazed at how quickly my two children (ages 3 and 4) picked up on many of these signs and use them daily. There is a word shown on the screen (mother, for example) and then the lady demonstrates the sign with a description of the sign (you touch your thumb to your chin). Then you see many mothers and many kids signing mother. This one has a lot of songs on it and they are fun songs too. This is well worth the money and very fun.
Enjoy.
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