Customer Reviews

Spanish for Kids: Learn Spanish Beginner Level 1 Volume 2

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

 

 

I bought Spanish for Kids volume 2 because my daughter and I really enjoyed the first volume by Language Tree. She's currently fixated on learning different languages (something I hope she continues) and the previous video is one of her favorite "learning tools".

This DVD provides a good introduction to words and phrases related to telling time, eating lunch, and playing. We particularly liked the segment where the kids played the Spanish-speaking world's national pastime of futbol (soccer) while teaching words related to the sport and playing.

The DVD moves at a pretty brisk pace but this was OK because there was a lot of repetition. There is also a function to turn on/off subtitles in Spanish and English. This was very useful to test our comprehension of what we had just learned.

Overall, highly recommended!

I watched this with my grandaughter tonight. She is five. We enjoyed it together.

She has watched this and other Spanish children's videos before. Tonight she choose this one to watch. When a child chooses to watch, they are willing to learn.

In addition to being a review for me, she and I are developing a shared vocabulary. That is, I know what she is learning so we can converse in Spanish.

The video mixes live and animated video. It uses animation to emphasize the object being discussed. It is effective. However, an adult finds it a little stilted. Children do not seem to care.

I bought the dvd to enhance the learning of Spanish for my niece & nephews. The teaching is easy for them to learn, as well as their mother too.

I would give this DVD 3.5 stars but rounded down because of the DVD's inexcusable glitches.

The acting is quite bad, but that's unfortunately standard in language-learning videos. The little Chihuahua did nothing for me, but I can how the dog would pique a child's interest. The songs are almost embarrassingly bad, especially the one about body parts. And, really, couldn't Language Tree find a better costume than a green T-shirt with a few "leaves" attached?

The DVD's saving graces are its simple repetition (teaching how to make polite requests and telling time, for example) and short conversations. It's unusual to see nearly native-speaker speed in a beginning-level DVD, so it was a refreshing change from the (necessary) slow conversational speed of other DVDs. I found the short conversations extremely helpful in reinforcing vocabulary and sentence structure. Being able to switch subtitles off, to English, and to Spanish is quite nice, but I'd like an additional choice to see BOTH Spanish and English simultaneously.

However, what makes this DVD frustrating is its poor quality. On the title menu, choosing the picture for food sends you to a game about body parts. The scene forward and back navigation buttons are erratic. The animations for the DVD "games" are agonizingly slow, and even if you choose "video play" (meaning that you skip the games) you still have to sit through the slow-paced introduction to every single game. The games are a good idea to encourage active listening, but the slow pace makes it less than enjoyable. The pace for vocabulary review after each conversation is extremely slow, and there is no option to fast-forward.

I borrowed my copy from a library and have used it to study the conversations, but the DVD is not worth the money to purchase as a private copy.

Good luck with your Spanish study! I will look for another edition in this series, but only to borrow. I won't be buying anything from Language Tree soon.

I loved this video because they teach on the level of toddlers. This video held the attention of my 4 year old son, and he retained alot of the info the first time around.

Spanish is sooo much easier to learn for children when there's entertainment included. The language and intonations will expose the children to another voice than the teacher's or the Spanish news channel. All for stimulation and education.

I purchased both vol. 1 and 2 and was not very happy with my purchase.They do not repeat enough, plus if you have a young child watching, someone has to be present to move through the exercises. My granddaughter likes the info but gets frustrated because she needs someone there to get through the reinforcement exercises. Even I found that I needed to hear them pronounce the words more for better reinforcement. I could not even back it up during the playing to re-listen. I do not recommend these DVD's.