Dance & Learn With Mei Mei

We own three Mei Mei dvds (1st, 2nd, and this one). This is by far my two-year-old daughter's favorite! She loves to copy the children's dance moves while she is watching it. We are continuously singing the songs from this dvd! I like how they speak the songs before singing them so there is a chance to learn the tones. As with the other Mei Mei dvds we own, the production quality is not top notch, but my daughter could care less.

This video is very cleverly designed to teach Chinese in a way that engages children. It is packed with information and is intended for repeated use, not just for a single viewing. In fact, it is probably too long to be watched all in one sitting. (Approximately 50 minutes -- 20 segments, each segment one song as described below.)

This is a very nice introduction to Chinese -- and also would serve as strong, fun, supportive material for all young students of Chinese at various levels of study.

The format is simple and visually appealing, and is designed for repetition. Each song is separately listed on the DVD index, so that you can go directly to a particular song for practice.

Format for each song: (1) a colorful child's artwork about the subject fades to the image of a pleasant schoolteacher who sings a simple song. For example, the first song, "Hello Mommy, Hello Daddy," introduces words for Mommy, Daddy, Grandmother, Grandfather, Big Brother, Little Brother, Big Sister and Little Sister, as well as several forms of the greeting. Following the introductory song by the teacher, (2) the Chinese words for the song are then spoken clearly and slowly by a child, while the words appear as subtitles below the image of the child. The words are listed in English (translated), transliterated Chinese (the Chinese words written in the standard phonetic transcription -- "Pinyin" -- so that English speakers can more easily verify the pronunciation), and Chinese (Chinese characters). Following this introduction to the words, appears (3) a sequence showing children dancing while singing the song, in various locations including the classroom, the park, etc.

Even if children cannot immediately follow the words, playing this video for young children will nevertheless give them important exposure to spoken Chinese. Exposure to the spoken language -- even if the child does not understand at first -- is a necessary prerequisite to language acquisition.

Each of the songs is only a few minutes long, and the music and movement are quite engaging. The teacher is very friendly and appealing, and the children are adorable and easy for children to relate to.

There is particular value for English-speaking children to see other children speaking Chinese while enjoying playing together. Some of the tunes are also familiar to English speakers -- Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes; Mary Had a Little Lamb; Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.

My daughter loves this video and is learning so much from it. Best of all, she can't wait to learn more.

Wonderful!

We returned from China one month ago with our newly adopted 3 year old daughter. With the communication gap, we struggled to find ways of allowing her to hear her native language. (We know almost no Mandarin or Hakka). Someone recommended this video, and I am so glad she did! Our daughter, who was talking in Chinese fluently, loved this video! As soon as I put it on, her little eyes lit up and she began watching it intensely. Before this, American TV never interested her, probably because she didn't understand it. She recognized several of the songs, it's obvious. Now she and I sing "Mama Hao" all the time. It's also been helpful to me in learning some simple words and tunes. I can use the words I learn to help her understand the English counterparts. The songs are all sung first by Mei Mei and girls, then they are slowly emphatically pronunciated by a Chinese girl with the words on the screen (which is so cute to hear), and lastly they are sung and danced to by several Chinese girls. It's adorable to watch and very educational too. My other children get excited when they hear familiar tunes (Mary Had a Little Lamb, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, etc.) and they sing along in English. Plus, for our adopted daughter, it's a link to her native language that she's really not receiving at home.

My daughter who is 2 1/2 was adopted from China 3 months ago. I recently bought this video and she LOVES it! She asks to watch Mei Mei at least 3 times a day. It is about singing and dancing so there is no talking, as one reviewer pointed out. However, the format makes it easy to learn the words. The songs are first sung by Mei Mei then repeated very slowly in spoken languange instead of singing by one of the children so that you can learn how to pronounce the words. The words are shown on the screen in Mandarin, Pinyin and English. Then the children sing the song and dance along to it. It's a very easy way to learn. Even I have learned some of the songs to sing with my daughter, which makes her very happy. This was our first Mei Mei DVD but will not be our last!

Both of my daughters have loved this video and it has been watched many, many, many times--probably approaching about a hudred times or more. My oldest daughter is learning traditional Mandarin and was happy that she is familiar with a couple of songs in her class due to this DVD. My not quite two-year old loves it the most. When my other daughter was about her age, she liked it more. The format goes like this: Mei Mei sings ths song with a group of children. One or two of the kids are then shown pronouncing the words from the song with translations at the bottom of the screen. Finally, the same song is sung and danced to by a group of the students in costumes. The production is pretty low quality and not polished, but the end result isn't at all affected by these flaws. In the end, my kids watch this far and above more than anything else, including any and all types of children's programming. Both girls regularly sing and dance with the girls on the video.