Muzzy courses for kids ... any thoughts?

[Rosie]

Hi..  We shall be moving over in a few months and I was wondering about purchasing the BBC Muzzy course for my 5 and 3 year old, however as its quite expensive I wasn't sure whether its worth forking out that much money.. has anyone had any experience of it and have any comments? Other than that I was going to surf the french equivalent online auction site for French kids videos to supplement the pre-scool french book I have.

Or have people found it's not really to be worried about as they'll pick it all up soon enough once installed in school anyway??!

Thanks, Rosie

[Suze01]

I bought them before we moved out and thought that they were so bad I sent them back for a refund.  The animations were poor and the voices very unclear.

[Tourangelle]

Muzzy apparently does work, but it is quite old.  If I were you, I would get them some tapes of nursery rhymes in French (try amazon.fr "comptines", sorry if you already know this), look at DVDs you already have, perhaps some of them have a French option,  and if you have satellite, stick them in front of teletubbies in French for 20 minutes a day. But don't worry, they are only little, they'll pick it up. (I don't have kids but I'm a teacher)

[tetley]

I looked into the muzzy course, but found it to be expensive, and didn't think it would appeal to my two children.  I bought a few tapes with nursery rhymes, the salut serge video (they enjoyed those), some board games (the shopping one was quite good), and then they had private lessons 1/2 hr per week (was about £12 i think)......my children are both older than your 2, they were aged 8 and 7 when we came here......they have completed their first school year, and are now starting to pick it up really well....and with the accent.  Just remember not to put too much pressure on them, or yourselves!!  I put an ad in the local paper for a native speaker, and surprisingly, we were inundated with people!! in the end the person we decided to go with knew a friend of mine (small world!), and I stayed with them for the whole lesson....I just sat quietly in the room, as it was only 1/2 hr wasn't worth going anywhere, and also, you have to be careful and put your kids first........................and I got a bit of extra vocab out of it!  she spoke to them in french as soon as she opened the door, and did the kissing thing (my kids are still getting used to that!)....could it be an option for you?

[Prof de francais]

I've used Muzzy myself for teaching EFL to young children, and, to be honest, I'm not taken with it either. One of the problems you will find is that there are so few resources out there for teaching yougsters languages, that you have to go with what is available, or do it yourself - the teaching, I mean. The materials are often expensive. There's an awful lot of BS out there where language learning is concerned so you do have to watch out what you are buying. Definitely, if a resource is pricey, make sure you have the option of a satisfaction guarantee.

I don't think that listening to nursery rhymes or songs alone will induce significant language learning. For young children, they will probably have an impact on pronunciation, however, but don't expect any miracles. If you think about it, nursery rhymes are just a tiny part of a child's native language acquisition. He or she would learn the native language whether songs and phymes were available or not, simply through the constant, meaningful interaction with, primarily, the parents.    

I think the idea of hiring a teacher trained and experienced in teaching youngsters is a good way to go, because your children will get some native interaction. If you back that up yourself with reminders throughout the week until the next lesson you should see some very pleasing progress. I recommend you work with the teacher in this respect. If you do this, your nursery rhymes will now be more effective because the children are being bombarded by a proper French accent. 

Have you though about using computer based learning maetrials? That way the whole experience is more interactive. You could try Euro Talk. www.eurotalk.co.uk and no, I'm not affiliated with them in any way, before anyone starts up. I haven't used their children's stuff, so I can't endorse it. I just happen to know they produce certain materials for children, and I think their prices are reasonable. You get a guarantee too. By the way, as far as I know, you are better off not purchasing software through Amazon, because you can't return it.  

Good luck with whatever you choose to do!

[Rosie]

Thanks Tetley thats a great idea.  ive put some ads in local shops and came up with La Jolie Ronde lessons for 3-11 year olds locally, and they're quite cheap too. I think theyre a national company but my local teacher is a French lady so hopefully with half an hour each week that'll be a whole better experience than expensive Muzzy..

Cheers!

[tetley]

 congratulations.....one step closer!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Gooliegumdrop]

Hi Rosie

There is also 'Le Club Français' who I think are similiar to 'La Jolie Ronde'.

As far as Muzzy goes, I bought this for my children a couple of years ago. I am a languages tutor, but thought this might be useful way for them to absorb some of the language passively. Although the method is quite unique, the amount and quality of the materials you get is definitely not worth the money. Your children also have to be 'willing' to watch it. My son, aged 7 at the time, was up for it. However, my elder daughter was much less interested. So, off to eBay our Muzzy was sent. But, Muzzy was highly sort after and was actually sold for only £2 pounds less than I'd riginally paid for it!

Do you know any French yourself? Practising words such as numbers and colours together helps keep an interest going. Games could include games of French bingo, or word games where each of you in turn gives a word in English for the next person to translate into French. Again, this can be done with 'categories' of words such as: animals, days of the week, fruit and vegetables etc. You might find 'The Usborne Book of Everyday Words in French' or 'Usborne Beginner's French Dictionary' useful for these kinds of activities.

Julie.

[Smiley]

I too purchased Muzzy for my daughter. We too were dissapointed with it.

I saw a free download on French-News for a course called 'Before you know it' as it was a free trial I downloaded it. I have found that not only my daughter but also my wife have enjoyed this more. The free download gives you the basics and the full software can be purchased for around $40.00.

Their web-site is  here:  http://www.byki.com/

It works on a series of flip cards. You can do it just for fun or you can test yourself.  Try the download first before buying and see if your kids get on with it.

Good luck with the move.

[Tourangelle]

[quote user="Prof de francais"]

I don't think that listening to nursery rhymes or songs alone will induce significant language learning. For young children, they will probably have an impact on pronunciation, however, but don't expect any miracles.

[/quote]

I wasn't suggesting it would.  It think it's important to remember that the original poster mention quite a short time scale, so regular classes and so on aren't really an option.  Also, as one of the children is three, possibly not speaking great English yet, the most that could be hoped is that some familiarity with the language is gained.