Customer Reviews

So Smart! Beginnings: Spanish

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am not only a Spanish speaker, but a Spanish teacher who works regularly with young pre-school and kindergarten-aged children. I'm also certified to work with infants and toddlers and am passionate about early childhood learning, so I feel I know a worthwhile product when I see one.

I first bought this item in 2002 when my first daughter was born because I wanted to offer her more Spanish exposure. Back then, this was released on VHS and came with two cassette tapes. :) We played the old video and cassette tapes so much, they are worn, and we have since purchased the newer DVD format for daughter #2.

What I love about the video is that it is geared very appropriately for the little ones with the bold colors and shapes. I love the way the scenes gently transition and the motion in the video is not too fast-paced and overstimulating. The music, however, is my favorite! Being a Spanish-speaking preschool teacher, music is a big part of life for me, both at home with my own little ones and in the classroom. A lot of Spanish music I have purchased over the years has tended to sound annoying or has had too many voices singing and has lacked clarity for the kids to really pick out the words well and pronounce them properly, has been too fast, and/or, if it's music that been made by non-native speakers, sometimes the accents are HORRIBLE and it's just not how I want my kids to learn Spanish!, etc. If anyone has tried different children's Spanish music, it's been me. I love the So Smart! Spanish soundtrack!- it's phenomenal! The accents of the singers are perfect, there is clarity and the words can easily be understood, and there are so many *catchy* songs-- traditional and new to me. :) You can be a non-native speaker and pick up on the songs, and translations are provided. I have no choice but to give this product 5 stars for these reasons. I've yet to find a comparable product, especially for this age group, and this is coming from someone who has relatives in South America. (My mother-in-law also gives this 5 stars and was very impressed when she got to preview the product during a visit with us.)

My first daughter is now 7 and still remembers these songs quite fondly from her early childhood. She is now singing them to her new 2-month old sister. Even though our youngest is not yet listed as old enough to watch the videos, I catch her gazing over at the bright, robust colors on the tv as we listen and sing to the music. She gets very still and quiet during this time as though she's taking everything in carefully. When we sing these songs, we tend to get lots of smiles from her. :) I have nothing but good things to say about this product. :) My daughters love it and so do I-- and no complaints from my husband, either! ;)

I am crossing my fingers that So Smart! will release the soundtrack and bonus music of the 20 additional songs from their original cassette tape set on CD! Yes, there is actually more music available on the second tape we got with our set that are not on the video. If they do not come out with another Spanish DVD, I am hoping they will at least make mp3s available of the music. (Please email them if you agree! They need to know there is a desire and demand!) :)

Again, we think this is a phenomenal product and totally worthwhile to share with your little ones. We hope you enjoy it as much as we have!

I was not impressed at all with this video, it was boring and the illustrations looked as if they were made in microsoft paint. They were very simple, and "stick figure-ish". The word was shown once such as "pajaro" and then a song about a bird would play, then on to the next word followed by a song about that word. I don't think kids can really learn much from this video, especially with the illustrations being so poor and no real language, just songs. Luckily I only paid a few bucks for this dvd.

Although the DVD is entertaining, it does not have the "teaching" quality necessary for easily learning new words in a different language, which is what I mistakenly thought this DVD was suppose to do - For example, it starts with a picture of the word & an illustration of the word ("El Sol" with a drawing of a sun"), with a man's voice stating the word ONLY ONCE, then a nursery song follows that has the word that was displayed/said within the song. THAT IS IT. Some of the illustrations are confusing, for example, my daughter asked "does that mean rooster or owl?" because the word listed was "El Cucu" & below it was an illustration of a rooster & an owl - my daughter is 2 1/2, since she doesn't read yet, she relies on the illustration to explain what the word means.
Again, my daughter enjoys the music on the DVD, but isn't really learning any Spanish.