Language Exposure through DVD
Today we rented these non Fiction DVDs from Harold Washington Library:
We don't expect Keith to be able to speak the languages but from these exposures, we hope that his mind and motoric system will shape in a favorable way in helping him to embrace language learning in the future. It's also the perfect timing to introduce different languages to Keith, especially French (the language Concord speaks), Chinese (language that his Nai Nai and Ye Ye speak) and Spanish (the language that his teachers at Kidwatch Plus speak and because he's been exposed to this language before from watching Dora and obsessing Diego).
His attention right now is about all the fighter planes and Concord, just because Concord is supersonic. While he was watching yesterday I told him that the DVD said that Concord was made in France, just like Thalys (he loves Thalys) and in France, people speak French. I also added that Joseph, his friend, speaks French. Joseph's dad, Joseph's grandma and grandpa are from France. He was listening to me very carefully. I thought he was very interested in learning any information regarding his main interests, his friend and regarding where Eiffel tower was (he can't forget about that tower and he always remembers that he's been in France). I asked him if he wanted to hear the French language since Concord, Thaylis, and Joseph are speaking it. He said yes.
So this morning I was browsing the web for DVDs, looking for materials for Keith to watch (DVD is the most convenient for him). I think for most kids, "Learning language with..." type of show worked very well for them. The Chinese for Kids DVD by Learning Tree actually presented in the same style as "Learning language with" and it received good reviews at Amazon.com. In that DVD, the Chinese speaker was a boy so I thought he would be a good role model for Keith and hopefully the movie would be fun for Keith as well. I was happy to know that I could rent the DVD from the Chicago Public Library (too bad it's in the main library in down town! I know Keith would enjoy every single trip to the city though just like his idol Curious George would love visiting the city). As soon as we got home, I played the Chinese for kids for Keith and he loved the DVD. The Chinese boy in the DVD had a dog named Benboo. Keith loved Benboo. He even had too much fun with the exercise part and refused to see the presentation part of the DVD. The exercise was interactive, when he gave wrong answers, Benboo would be pitch black coated with smoke all over him. He thought Benboo was so cute and funny...even though Benboo was only an animated character :)
I hope Keith will like the other two DVDs as well.
We also managed to read a book that Keith picked (just because he wanted to pick a book with letter A on the spine of the book) at the library. The title was A Bear for Miguel. It happened that the book was very interesting to Keith. The story was from El Savador (completed with the map of where the country is: between North America and South America, Keith loved spotting America in a world map), it had Spanish vocabularies in numerous parts of the story (make learning new words fun) and the guerrillas (each of them has gun) were introduced in the story (Keith loves guns, once I asked him if he wanted to take fighting class he said yes and he added that he wanted to take shooting class as well!!). I thought it was a good and fun book to be used in introducing some new Spanish words at least to Keith. I'd love to have more books like this for Keith, just perfect for non native kids trying to acquire new languages. I wished I could easily look up these kind of books from the catalog but I didn't think it was doable and unfortunately I had a librarian that has confirmed it. It's just impossible to narrow my search down to those type of books only :(
Copyright © 2007 Ake Pangestuti Photography. All Rights Reserved.
All watermarked photographic content herein is the sole property of Ake Pangestuti. You MAY NOT modify, alter, or remove any visible or electronic watermark, or disassemble, reverse engineer, or decompile any Image. Obtaining, reproduction and redistribution, either for personal use or for commercial/professional use, of any kind of the materials within this website, including but not limited to its text contents, images and artworks, WITHOUT the express written permission by Ake Pangestuti, is PROHIBITTED under U.S. Federal Copyright laws.
We don't expect Keith to be able to speak the languages but from these exposures, we hope that his mind and motoric system will shape in a favorable way in helping him to embrace language learning in the future. It's also the perfect timing to introduce different languages to Keith, especially French (the language Concord speaks), Chinese (language that his Nai Nai and Ye Ye speak) and Spanish (the language that his teachers at Kidwatch Plus speak and because he's been exposed to this language before from watching Dora and obsessing Diego).
His attention right now is about all the fighter planes and Concord, just because Concord is supersonic. While he was watching yesterday I told him that the DVD said that Concord was made in France, just like Thalys (he loves Thalys) and in France, people speak French. I also added that Joseph, his friend, speaks French. Joseph's dad, Joseph's grandma and grandpa are from France. He was listening to me very carefully. I thought he was very interested in learning any information regarding his main interests, his friend and regarding where Eiffel tower was (he can't forget about that tower and he always remembers that he's been in France). I asked him if he wanted to hear the French language since Concord, Thaylis, and Joseph are speaking it. He said yes.
So this morning I was browsing the web for DVDs, looking for materials for Keith to watch (DVD is the most convenient for him). I think for most kids, "Learning language with..." type of show worked very well for them. The Chinese for Kids DVD by Learning Tree actually presented in the same style as "Learning language with" and it received good reviews at Amazon.com. In that DVD, the Chinese speaker was a boy so I thought he would be a good role model for Keith and hopefully the movie would be fun for Keith as well. I was happy to know that I could rent the DVD from the Chicago Public Library (too bad it's in the main library in down town! I know Keith would enjoy every single trip to the city though just like his idol Curious George would love visiting the city). As soon as we got home, I played the Chinese for kids for Keith and he loved the DVD. The Chinese boy in the DVD had a dog named Benboo. Keith loved Benboo. He even had too much fun with the exercise part and refused to see the presentation part of the DVD. The exercise was interactive, when he gave wrong answers, Benboo would be pitch black coated with smoke all over him. He thought Benboo was so cute and funny...even though Benboo was only an animated character :)
I hope Keith will like the other two DVDs as well.
We also managed to read a book that Keith picked (just because he wanted to pick a book with letter A on the spine of the book) at the library. The title was A Bear for Miguel. It happened that the book was very interesting to Keith. The story was from El Savador (completed with the map of where the country is: between North America and South America, Keith loved spotting America in a world map), it had Spanish vocabularies in numerous parts of the story (make learning new words fun) and the guerrillas (each of them has gun) were introduced in the story (Keith loves guns, once I asked him if he wanted to take fighting class he said yes and he added that he wanted to take shooting class as well!!). I thought it was a good and fun book to be used in introducing some new Spanish words at least to Keith. I'd love to have more books like this for Keith, just perfect for non native kids trying to acquire new languages. I wished I could easily look up these kind of books from the catalog but I didn't think it was doable and unfortunately I had a librarian that has confirmed it. It's just impossible to narrow my search down to those type of books only :(
Copyright © 2007 Ake Pangestuti Photography. All Rights Reserved.
All watermarked photographic content herein is the sole property of Ake Pangestuti. You MAY NOT modify, alter, or remove any visible or electronic watermark, or disassemble, reverse engineer, or decompile any Image. Obtaining, reproduction and redistribution, either for personal use or for commercial/professional use, of any kind of the materials within this website, including but not limited to its text contents, images and artworks, WITHOUT the express written permission by Ake Pangestuti, is PROHIBITTED under U.S. Federal Copyright laws.