I always thought I would raise my children speaking French, but alas, it’s a bit difficult to do when you are not a native speaker or living in a French speaking community. Over the years, I have decided that learning Spanish may be the best for them.
I use some apps on my e-pad for pronunciation and vocabulary building, but wanted something more engaging. So when I was contacted by TheLanguageBear.com to review two of their children’s language learning books, I immediately said yes! I received two books: Bosley Sees the World and Bosley Goes to the Beach. In exchange for these books, I am providing this review.
And the review is GREAT! We love these books. The stories are cute, bright, colorful, and fun. The bear character, Bosley, is cute and full of adventure!
Learning Spanish with Bosley
I really love the set up of the book. My favorite features:
- the English and Spanish versions of the book are side by side (or one after the other depending on the page layout) so you can compare phrases and expressions in the two languages
- there are also highlighted words to aid in vocabulary development
- the books are bright and fun to read
- the books include a glossary of key vocabulary at the end
- Spanish is only one of MANY languages that you can choose to learn through the Bosley books
My kids and I enjoy reading these and learning Spanish together.
If I have one complaint it is that there is no pronunciation guide. I am afraid that I might be teaching my kids Spanish with a French accent! But have no fear. I found a free online audio program that pronounces and translates between English and Spanish so we’re all set. I just type in the Spanish version of the Bosley story and learn how to sound it out!
One other positive is the actual website. TheLanguageBear website contains useful articles and information on how to teach and learn foreign languages. I really enjoyed the article “Common Misconceptions About Raising Bilingual Children” which debunks the five main misconceptions that are generally believed about teaching small children a second language.
The website also includes great articles on language delays, learning a second language, and a post on the Top 10 Ways to Encourage Second Language Learning.
I am fully committed to teaching my children Spanish, and I’m so glad to have fantastic tools like these books at my fingertips.
Bonus – right now The Language Bear is offering a free copy of Bosley Sees the World – just for signing up for their newsletter! How great is that?
So head on over and get yourself your free copy! Let the language fun begin!
As a reminder, I received two books in exchange for my review!
Victoria from the Busy House Big Heart says
June 30, 2013 at 1:09 pmFrench is Canada’s second official language, but I don’t hear it all that often in the area of Canada that I live in (Asian languages and Spanish more so). That still didn’t stop them from building a francophone school (not even immersion, completely French) right beside my house. I would love for Alexander to learn French (and the location of the school is great), but I wouldn’t be able to help him with his homework past grade 5 maybe.
Je suis un canard avec fromage, et tu?
katbiggie says
June 30, 2013 at 1:46 pmI guess you’ll have to start learning French along with him! Et je suis pas un canard! 🙂
Janine Huldie says
June 30, 2013 at 2:28 pmWow, I loved learning more about this, because it truly sounds like a great program to help teach kids second languages, such as Spanish. Will totally have to try and look for my girls. So thank you seriously for sharing this here!!
katbiggie says
June 30, 2013 at 3:27 pmSure – make sure to sign up for the newsletter and get a free book!
Tracy says
June 30, 2013 at 10:54 pmThis is wonderful. My children went to an elementary school from Kindergarten on that had Spanish immersion 2 days a week. They are both fully bilingual. It is true that if they learn early enough they don’t have the “American” accent. When my daughter lived in Guatemala with her son and his father for 9 months, many didn’t believe that she was an American. Her accent was too good. Add that they don’t believe that Americans want to learn the language well enough to speak it…. Needless to say, my 3 yo grandson is already bilingual and knows what language to speak to who. He doesn’t even try Spanish with his grandfather, and speaks “Spangllish” to me and his auntie….. His language development in English or Spanish alone was slower, but if you included all his words, it was on track.
Tim says
July 1, 2013 at 8:29 amKat, Thanks for this awesome review, and especially the pic of your son reading the book. It’s great to see Bosley bringing joy to so many kids and helping them learn and grow at the same time. Just an FYI: I will be releasing an audio version and a video version (perhaps an “app” version) of the book very soon to help with the pronunciation issue.
Thanks again!
katbiggie says
July 1, 2013 at 8:36 amThank you – glad to hear the audio version is coming! I was actually going to reach out to you and suggest that you record someone reading the book in other languages and post on your website. Looking forward to it!
Pary Moppins says
July 1, 2013 at 8:51 amIt’s always better to have kiddos learn a language at a young age. Their minds are like sponges. 🙂 Godd luck in your Spanish speaking endeavor.
The Dose of Reality says
July 1, 2013 at 10:26 amThat is super cool! Both of my girls take Spanish at school but this would be an excellent way to keep up their skills over the summer! :)-Ashley
Vashti Quiroz-Vega says
July 2, 2013 at 11:24 pmThat’s great Kat! Learning a second language is a great idea. Spanish is great because it’s the 4th most spoken language in the world, with English as the 2nd, and French as the 10th most spoken languages. Muy buena idea. 😀
greenminimalism says
July 24, 2013 at 5:44 pmThis is a great post, highlighting one of the best ways to learn Spanish. Linguist Kato Lomb said that the main thing that holds people back when learning a language is fear – like a denominator dividing your skill. Confidence is everything!