So, we took out the "Dedans Dehors" DVD by Whistlefritz and it's pretty great. I've had such bad luck with French DVD's for kids, but this basically met all my needs.
It isn't perfect. The animation is pretty cheap, but at least they didn't try to make it 3D. The acting is so hokey, but my daughter really enjoys all the fake laughter for some reason, and even mimics the French lady's laugh. The songs are okay: not inspired, but actually mildly educational.
The big difference between this program and any other DVD we've seen is that it focuses on some basic concepts, has a lot of repetition, and works the concepts and needed repetition into a narrative. It's methodical, so that by the time you're finished a video, especially if you've seen it a couple of times, you can come up with a few sentences.
For instance, they count cookies. Every time the lady counts the cookies, one of the kids steals one, and she ends up counting to a different number. So she repeats the counting, she repeats the phrase "Where is the cookie", and she also talks about how they are eating the cookies, so that the whole segment ties into other segments about eating.
I really can't stand watching it because of the dreadful acting. My daughter has seen it 3 times and excitedly brings it up in conversation randomly. When I ask her what they're saying on the video she says, "I don't know..." in her far away voice and with a grin on her face, because she is too embarrassed to talk about it. A little frustrating, but a little cute.
There are only two French videos made so far. I hope they make more and that the library stocks them. I wouldn't say that you could learn French watching them, but they're incredibly useful for supplementing haphazard French learning at home.
No comments:
Post a Comment