I'll cut right to the chase: the Whistlefritz Spanish Immersion Program that I received free-for-review from the Parent Bloggers Network is terrific!
Yes, I want my kids to learn Spanish. We live in California, where it won't be long before the Hispanic population will no longer be considered a "minority." Stereotypical or not, as the Cat loves soccer, it would behoove him to learn Spanish since it is the Latin American countries who take soccer seriously (as fútbol, of course.)
I don't want my boys to feel uncomfortable speaking Spanish as I did. We all know that the earlier children are exposed to language, the more "effortless" it becomes. Well, we were pretty busy with all the social-skills stuff with the Cat (and still are, to an extent,) and his perceived language delay in English meant that I didn't push a second language (as I thought I would when I was an overambitious pregnant person.)
Luckily, it isn't too late.
The Cat adores Whistlefritz. We have two DVDs, "Vamos a Jugar" and "Los Animales." Both cover similar concepts vocabulary-wise, but the information is presented differently in each of the DVDs. Instead of a separate DVD called "counting," the two we had both introduced counting during the course of other topics. For "Vamos a Jugar," the hostess Maria counted fingers. She and the kids sang a song about counting fingers (and how one hand has five fingers, so two hands have ten fingers.) For "Los Animales," they counted (what else?) animals!
Likewise, la cerda (pig) is introduced in "Los Animales," but then makes an appearance in "Vamos a Jugar." So does the lion, and a host of other characters. The "Hello Song" is the same for both DVDs and other ways of introducing material rely on repeated vocabulary words. I was quite impressed that instead of maintaining present tense, the DVD covered several verb tenses for the same verb, just as it would occur in real life.
Similarly, the addition of "ito" to mean "little" was used freely, as it would naturally. So instead of always referring to friends as "amigos," the hostess Maria called them "amigitos." And the burro was called (yes!) a "burrito!"
And so, the vocabulary and tense-shifts weren't completely over-simplified as is usual for an introductory lesson. Instead, the "immersion" presents simple words but allows at least a little bit of variation so that the viewer can recognize patterns that might occur with other words. Conversely, in-school language learning is usually by tense or other forced category. Applied learning appeals to me, and I could tell it appeals to the Cat.
The Cat is definitely intrigued. He wants to learn more Spanish. He enjoyed the other Spanish DVD I received from the Parent Bloggers Network, but it was a more passive experience for him. As I noted in my review of that, I indicated concern about so much English: that DVD program is terrific for introducing strict vocabulary, but The Whistlefritz Spanish DVDs show true Spanish-in-action.
The Cat is creating his own concepts using Spanish words. So he's doing math with Spanish. I thought it was funny to hear him saying, "Hey! Ocho plus Neuve is Diez-y-siete!" but given that he loves math (and that his English fluency in many ways developed through numerical concepts,) this tickles me.
I wish there were more The Whistlefritz DVDs. I like the balance between repeated words and new concepts. I love the smiles. Each concept is playacted in a way that makes it very clear what the verb or noun is, and then the repeated "extra" words (prepositions, adjectives, etc.) show up enough so that (I hope) their meaning can be properly inferred. "Maria" didn't speak super-slowly, but she didn't speak super-quickly either. I like this.
At the start of this school year, I hesitated a little bit when I read about a before-school immersion program for Spanish. "That would be great," I thought, "but the Cat would probably freak out." I am happy to say that is no longer the case. The Cat is really excited about Spanish and enjoyed "deciphering" the various words on the The Whistlefritz DVDs. He has told me point blank that he wants to learn more. We will seriously consider the before-school Spanish program now!
The Whistlefritz DVDs are aimed at 2-5. In that regard the Cat - at age seven - is technically above the target audience; however, I believe he benefitted from these DVDs tremendously. I think he is in a position where we could play the other set of DVDs to help him expand his vocabulary, but then keep up the The Whistlefritz DVDs to maintain the "whole language" approach. I look forward to when Whistlefritz will (hopefully!) put out more DVDs.
Spliggle is 3.5, so is right in the middle of the target demographic. He absolutely loved the DVDs as entertainment. When the DVD counted in Spanish, he counted in English right along. When the DVD identified animals, he'd give the English name with joy. I haven't heard any Spanish come through his lips, but he's asked for the The Whistlefritz DVDs over and over again. I imagine that even if he isn't saying the Spanish words, the connections and understanding is in its initial steps.
