Dinosaur King: Learning Japanese with Anime

This blog post has moved here to the new Foreign Language Fun site.  See you there!

My dinosaur-obsessed little boy has a new favorite show–Dinosaur King.  We were searching YouTube for the first episode, when we stumbled upon the original Japanese version of the cartoon.  My son was just as absorbed by the dinosaur action as if the words were in his native English.  Here’s a clip:

While I don’t advocate watching anime as an effective way to learn Japanese, it is an awfully fun way for kids to hear the sounds of an unfamiliar foreign language.  

So I went in search of a good online site for teaching Japanese to kids and I found a gold mine!  You’ve just got to explore Kids Web Japan.  Go to the green menu on the left of the screen for language lessons.  These are some of the best online children’s lessons I’ve seen in any language:  written text, audio, cute cartoons, simple grammar, alphabet, and exercises.  You’ll also find language learning anime with subtitles and time to repeat useful phrases. 

Here’s what we’ve learned so far:

• Konnichiwa – Good Afternoon
• Arigato - Thank you
• Hai – Yes
• Iie – No
• Sayonara – Goodbye
• Kodai Ōja Kyōryū Kingu - Ancient Ruler Dinosaur King

Hopefully, Dinosaur King in Japanese will be the springboard I need to introduce my little anime fan to a new foreign language.

Preschool Foreign Language Counting Game: One Elephant Went Out to Play

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I’ve got a fun preschool/kindergarten activity that’s perfect for counting in English, French, Spanish, German, and more.

Do you know the classic preschool elephant song?  It goes like this:  

One elephant went out to play

Upon a spider’s web one day,

He had such enormous fun

That he called for another elephant to come.

 

The second verse has two elephants, the third verse has three elephants, and so on.  You can find foreign language versions of this fun song on the Teach Me CD’s, as well as other sources.  I love the Teach Me CD’s, but for this particular song I just use it as a teacher resource for learning the words.  The verses go back and forth between English and the target language, which throws me just a bit.  

So, here’s how you can turn a cute, catchy elephant song into a fun and effective game.  Gather the children into a close circle and have them hold on to the edges of a small parachute.  (I find a vinyl tablecloth to be a dandy, frugal parachute substitute.)  Ta-da . . . it’s a spider’s web!

Prepare small, laminated paper elephants and number them from 1-10.  Toss Elephant #1 onto the spider’s web and sing the song as the children gently move the parachute up and down.  Kids love to see the elephant jumping up and down and having such enormous fun!  When the verse is done, everyone shouts, “Come!” in the target language.  Add in Elephant #2 and count the elephants.  Sing again.  Call over another elephant.  Count.  Sing.  Get the drill?  Continue the routine until all ten elephants have a turn.  This game is so hands on and repetitive, staying immersed in the target language is a breeze.

I just played this game a few weeks ago with kids ages 2-7.  Then we played it again later in the week.  The kids keep asking me to bring the elephants back to play.  I’m telling you, this game’s a hit with the little ones!

The Teach Me CD’s are available in ten languages:  English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hebrew, and Russian.

For more counting ideas, check out my article on Foreign Language Number Games.

Teach Me a Language: Songs for Teaching Kids Foreign Languages

This post has been moved here to the new Foreign Language Fun site.  See you there!

Teach Me CD's: Order from www.teachmetapes.com

If you’re looking for a fun way to introduce your child to a foreign language, start with a little music.  There’s a great little product called Teach Me Tapes.  Well, they were tapes back in the ’80′s when they were first produced. My tapes have been replaced with CD’s for quite some time, of course, but I’m still using these gems years and years later.  

The Teach Me CD’s have cute bilingual songs performed by professional musicians.  Most tracks are introduced with a short narration by a native-speaking child.  The songs are classic, traditional songs from both English and the target culture.  My Teach Me French CD is invaluable as I teach French to 3-6 year olds this summer.  The kids really like bilingual versions of The More We Get Together, Mary Had a Little Lamb, and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.

Kids learn basic vocabulary and phrases with the Teach Me music.  Things like greetings, family, weather, alphabet, etc.  It’s not a language program in itself, but it’s perfect for introducing kids to language for the first time and for enriching a language program.  It’s such a staple of my teaching, it’s hard to imagine life without it.

The original Teach Me CD’s are available in ten languages:  English (ESL), French, Spanish, German, Chinese, Hebrew, Korean, Japanese, Italian, and Russian.

Visit the Teach Me website to order these outstanding CD’s for your students or your children.

For additional reading, check out these articles:

How Music Helps Language Learning

Foreign Language Learning Materials for Kids