Disney World of English

[Isaac Mom]

Hi there

I am new to Geobaby forum and would like to seek for comments.

My son is 22 months and both my hubby and I are Chinese and working. To be honest, we want our son to be bilingual, so we speak English whenever we talk to him. It appears that he totally understands us but he answers in Cantonese. It's pretty funny. It's because both of our parents and maid speak Cantonese to him.

In the recent Baby Expo I was introduced Disney World of English, which attracts us and we think it can provide a good English environment to my son to learn while playing, but the price is really out of my expectation. We are still struggling whether it is worth buying it.

Is anyone using this and any comment to it?

Thanks
Isaac Mom

 

[carang]

continue speaking to your son in english. when you rent a dvd, rent an english one. when you watch tv, watch the english channle. when you buy books, buy english books.

do NOT spend so much money on it. I have tutored English for 11+ years and can say, I'm not very impressed with the products you mentioned. it is normal for him to answer in what he feels comfortable with, he isn't even 2 years old yet!

my hubby is chinese, i'm canadian. i speak english, my hubby chinese to our 19 month old son. he answer some things in english, and other things in chinese. he shouldn't start to realise the difference until 2-2.5 years of age. even then, he will choose what he considers to be the "easiest" way to answer.

i have cousins in canada who are COMPLETELY bi-lingual in English and French. Even now that they are adults, they switch back and forth depending on what they are talking about and who the are talking to. This is part of being bi-lingual.

good luck!

 

[carang]

ps. english families would be unlikely to spend that kind of money on the same product. why? because you learn to speak and use a language by speaking and using a language. if you continue the way you are, your child will speak english.

 

[mrs momo]

it is indeed very expensive (around 50k for the full set) and also from what i have heard, you have to spend time with your child to get full use out of it. if u were going to just play the dvds then u might as well find a friend who has it and dub it or buy a pirated version from shenzhen.

if u r impressed with the so called reader, there is another cheaper version called popupenglish. www.popupenglish.com

personally, i would rather spend the money taking my baby to playgroups or overseas holidays instead.

 

[msmslau]

i agree with mrs. momo. babies learn most when they are actually doing things with you.

 

[Isaac Mom]

Hi there

Really appreciate the response from carang and ms momo.

I definitely will continue to speak English with my son. Honestly I also tried to speak English to hubby whenever my son was with us, but you know it's feeling weird two native Chinese converse in English, so we gradually gave it up.

The reality is both of us have to work and usually return home late around 8:00 pm. We only have 2 hours at most with our son in the evening and 1/2 hour in the morning. This is also the reason why we want to have an education material to assist him to be familiar with English.

Sometimes I would really admire some mommies who do not have to work. Nevertheless, my son gives me a lot of happiness that he surprises me with his new words. Now he is able to speak some Cantonese sentences and simple English words. The usual English word he says is "mommy please"

Cheers
Isaac Mom

 

[joannek]

totally agree with carang.

both hubby & i are chinese. i try to get hubby, grandparents to speak cantonese to baby, while i speak cantonese in full sentences or english in full sentences (i have to emphasis in full sentences, cos some of my friends speak to there babies in broken english + cantonese in cantonese grammar, which i find horrendous), nanny speaks english. i only buy english books & DVD (not that i don't wanna buy chinese, but i don't know where to find them). baby understands both cantonese & english 100%. she answers in single words english or chinese wherever she finds easier to pronounce.

so if you're afraid bab's english won't be good enough, english books & english DVDs are enough. they'll pick up the proper pronunciation from the DVDs. unless you guys can't speak english properly, then u can consider otherwise. but still i think that disney english thing is ridiculously expensive.

 

[Isaac Mom]

cannot agree more with joannek, the price is ridiculous. I actually tried to find one in Shenzhen during business trip, but couldn't find it

We are currently giving my son DVD with songs that he can follows and sings. For reading books, he cannot concentrate even on few pages. I am trying every night with 15 minutes but he can usually stay with 5 minutes.

 

[carang]

15 minutes to a 19 month old or evena 2 year old is a lifetime... keep it to 5 minutes. when they start to lose interest, STOP. do NOT force your child to sit through something he is not enjoying. it will only make him hate it.

as for spending only 2 hours with him...don't worry! if both you and hubby only speak to him in english during those two hours, he'll pick it up!

 

[joannek]

plus, i wouldn't worry about it if you speak fluently. i can tell your english level is pretty good from your posts. i sure don't think you need it.

but hey, it's only normal to wonder whether we should buy it. i also did start a thread asking the same question about 6 mths ago. the reason was cos i have a friend who bought the set when her son was 9mths & her son was speaking single words at 12 mth, reciting a to z at 15mths. he's now 22 mths & speaking in FULL SENTENCES with correct grammar & prepositions (he even uses the word "otherwise" correctly!!! and he can sing the full "old macdonald had a farm" "pussy cat where have u been", etc. i thought it was the Disney thing. and then i did some research & learn that it's not the disney thing, it's the boy. he's just a little genius. i get the agent to come to my place & expain why the thing costs so much. she said it's your beloved offspring's future you're talking about, so it's priceless. (??) so i went on to ask her whether there are any english speaking parents bought the set. she said "no, cos it's a set for learning english & english native speakers don't need to buy the set to teach their children english."

i guess it's very good if the parents AND the caregiver don't speak english, or their pronunciation isn't accurate.