LITTLE PIM BLOG
Little Pim is Going to BlogHer 09!
BlogHer 2009 takes place this weekend in Chicago. The conference is arguably the biggest event for women bloggers in the nation. We're so excited to be represented at BlogHer by Melanie Edwards of ModernMami.com. Melanie, a Latina working mother, has received numerous mentions and accolades for her blog.
If you're going to BlogHer, look out for Melanie! She'll be distributing Little Pim goodies. Be sure to catch her before she runs out!
A Visit to a DVD Production Center
Sometimes my older son likes to find out How Stuff is Made, and he had a wonderful opportunity when we both had the chance to see the Little Pim DVDs being manufactured at our new replication and fulfillment center. We learned how the DVDs start as clear plastic discs and then a layer of silver - which contains all the content encoded - gets pressed onto the top of the clear disc with a hot press. About 1,000 DVDs pass through this system in a mere 10 minutes. It was pretty cool to see!
Fun with languages while traveling
With the arrival of summer you may be planning a family trip by car, plane, train, or in this economy, bicycle! When you have your little ones captive during travel time, it's a great opportunity to play language games that reinforce their budding skills. And most importantly, it is something fun to do together. By initiating these games you will be showing your child that foreign language matters to you. That will make it much more likely it will matter to them too... You don't have to speak the language yourself to play most of these games! Fun things to do in the car: 1) Play a game where every child gets a point for naming an object you see out the window in another language. Whoever gets the most points gets a treat at the next rest stop or on arrival. you can help out by naming objects the first time (a tree = "un arbre" or a car = "une voiture") and your kids can call them out the next time. 2) Print out the Little Pim coloring pages from our web site and have kids color them in the back seat (you'll need crayons and a lap desk or a hard cover book to lean). Go to GAMES [link removed] on the web site and print out up to 10 pictures of Little Pim to color in, with vocabulary included. 3) Play music in a foreign language and encourage your kids to sing a long 4) Bring flash cards and award prizes for the child who gets the most right, or with one child, a small treat if they can get 5 right in a row. 5) Play "I spy" in the language they are learning. Point out things in the car, in other cars, or in the scenery.
Fun stuff to do on an airplane: 1) Play with flash cards (home made or store bought) 2) Color in Little Pim coloring pages (see above) 3) Get some snacks and put them on the fold out table (i.e. peanuts, pretzels) and count them in the foreign language 4) Write a letter to a member of the family with some foreign language words included (or pictures your child draws, labeled in French/Spanish/Chinese, etc.). Make a big production of mailing it when you arrive at your destination.
Fun stuff to do on a bicycle (you thought I was kidding!): 1) Shout out all the parts of the body in the foreign language 2) Sing verses from simple foreign language songs you both know together 3) Play a made up game where each time you stop, point out an object and if your child can name it in the foreign language (i.e. bus, ice cream, car) then they get a point. When they get to 5 points they get a special treat at home!
Little Pim now at Barnes & Noble
As of today, you can find Little Pim at any one of the 543 Barnes & Noble stores that carry DVDs. We are proud to be part of their new educational DVD section - and part of the month-long "Buy 2 DVDS and Get 1 Free".
Meals Around The World... In Your Kitchen.
I am always looking for ways to introduce my children to newlanguages, and also to the idea that we live in a world with many different cultures, traditions, foods and lifestyles. A friend recently shared an idea her mom used to help her brother and her learn about the wide world from their home in Maryland. Once a month they had a "French night" or "Spanish night" or "Chinese night" where they would eat the foods of that country (imagine crepes, burritos or dumplings) and learn about the places the food came from. They would cook together, look at maps, browse through guide books, play music from the country in question, and talk about what they knew about that country. Sometimes they had a guest at dinner from the chosen country or watched a movie in that language. She and her brother loved these festive, themed evenings, and they are among her happiest family memories. I thought that seemed like a pretty easy and fun way to bring the world to your dinner table, without having to wait on any long lines for check-in!
If you want to try "country night" at home, here are some web sites that can help you fill in the gaps. I suggest you plan three nights at once so you can stock up on ingredients, music and images. It's also a really fun thing to do with other families. Your kids will get even more excited about country night if they see that other kids are also participating. And remember, kids will only sometimes do as you say, but they will *always* do as you do! By making this a regular event and spending time on it, they will learn from you how important it is to know about, respect and enjoy other cultures. If your kids are very young, you can still do this activity to broaden their palate and introduce them to the sounds and rhythms of other languages. You might find you have a pint-sized flamenco music enthusiast or sesame noodles-lover in your family... Bonne chance!
Links:
To order a GeoPuzzle, Travel Mania game or other Geo Toys
If you have favorite foods from other countries you like to make for your family, please tell us about them and we can add them to our blog, which is read by thousands of parents interested in their children having a multi-national experience from an early age. Email us at info@littlepim.com.
Constance Zimmer of HBO's Entourage loves Little Pim!
Sometimes when I am watching my four-year old and fourteen month-old squabble over cheese puffs or when I've been playing "come and get me" complete with crawling under dining room table one too many times, my mind drifts to my alter ego... an accomplished professional woman wheeling and dealing with the big boys in a Prada suit, who would never have a smudge of baby yogurt on her needs-a-dry-cleaning jacket that she tries to get out with a napkin at work. This alter ego looks something like... DANA GORDON, the beautiful no-nonsense studio executive on HBO's hit show Entourage who engages in hilarious love-hate banter with ARI GOLD (Jeremy Pivens). In the last season, DANA was the second in charge at a major motion picture studio, looked fantastic, and was at the top of her game. So imagine how thrilled I was to learn that Constance Zimmer, who plays DANA GORDON on Entourage, is using Little Pim with her daughter Coco! They were recently photographed at a Little Pim event at The Tree House Social Club in Los Angeles and Celebrity Babies picked up the story. Constance's daughter Coco is 15-months old, and Constance would like her to speak French, like her dad, Russ Lamoureux, so they have been watching the French DVDs at home. Constance says, "Little Pim is fun for her [Coco] and something we enjoy doing together.”
Merci bien Constance et Coco! And thanks Constance, for reminding me that behind some of those glamorous, perfectly put together stars we see on TV...is another mom like us!
Behind the Scenes Making Little Pim's First CD
We recently recorded songs for our upcoming Little Pim CDs in French and Spanish, which we'll be releasing this summer. As a filmmaker, I've had the chance to go "behind the scenes" on countless films, but I had never been part of a CD production. It was so much fun! We had kids (including my son Emmett, seen here with Adele and Adrian) do backup in French and Spanish and brought in two very talented singers, Violette de Bartillat for the French and Barbara Brousal to sing Spanish. We had three popular Milkshake songs for them to sing that the band adapted to include Little Pim vocabulary, and that we then translated into French and Spanish. Both Violette and Barbara have beautiful voices and perfect accents in French and Spanish. Their love of kids and music really came through when they sang and I felt like I had front row seats at a rock concert.
I also learned how you make harmony: the singers sing the song, then hear it played back in their headphones and sing harmony with themselves. On one of our songs, a beautiful lullaby called "When you are Sleeping", they actually layered in three different harmonies. Here is a little taste of the Spanish version. I hope you'll love the songs as much as I do.
Parents want to Know: How Is Little Pim Like The Pimsleur Method?
Many parents who research Little Pim soon discover my name is Julia Pimsleur Levine, and want to know if I have a connection to well-known Pimsleur Method. The Pimsleur Method was created by my father, Dr. Paul Pimsleur. The next question is usually whether and how my father's work influenced Little Pim. I grew up with my father’s ground-breaking research into how people acquire second languages, so the Pimsleur Method was certainly part of the inspiration for Little Pim and a big influence. The Little Pim method is entirely different from the Pimsleur Method, as it was designed for young children, not adults. I drew from research on how babies, toddlers and little kids learn languages and worked with Dr. April Benasich, a leading neuroscientist from Rutgers University. I am proud to be continuing my father's legacy with Little Pim (Dr. Pimsleur passed away in 1977). In many ways our teaching series is a natural extension of my father's early work; before he created the Pimsleur Method, he spent many months studying how children learn languages. In fact, he was trying to recreate for adults the ease with which children can acquire second and third languages.
Here are some of the teaching principles shared by Little Pim and the Pimsleur Method as well as an explanation of how they differ:
1. Graduated Interval Recall - One of the key reasons the Pimsleur Method works, is it uses Graduated Interval Recall, first used by my father, in which words you have been taught are brought back to your attention at exactly the right moment before you're about to forget them. Little Pim also uses a recall method, which is particularly effective with kids since they have a natural love of repetition and keep coming back for more.
2. Immersion - The Pimsleur Method uses total audio immersion, and Little Pim uses both visual and audio immersion. The addition of visuals is integral to Little Pim's entertainment immersion method. I know as a mother, and it was confirmed by my research, that kids won't learn unless they're having fun, so we have brought the fun to the forefront in Little Pim. Making the series' teacher a loveable panda and including real kids involved in joyous every day activities like blowing bubbles, playing with toys and eating yummy foods, are all part of what keeps little ones entertained. Our focus on immersion is just as central to the Little Pim methodology as it is in the Pimsleur method for adults. Native speakers do all the teaching in our DVDs, through Little Pim the Panda.
3. Core Vocabulary - The Pimsleur Method focuses on teaching commonly used words in order to lead to a comprehensive understanding of a “core vocabulary.” Similarly Little Pim teaches young children a carefully selected 60 words per DVD (180 in the 3-disc series). These are essential words in the language they will be able to use right away and build from, to create a variety of phrases. After all, exposure to language is more than memorizing vocabulary and rote phrases. The 60 words are re-combined to form new sentences, which expands the language experience to include a variety of ways to use words in different daily situations.
Of course, the most important influence of all, was that my father instilled in me a love of language learning and teaching languages. Like my father, I think language learning should be fun, easy, and teach words you can use immediately.
Zanes en espa ol
This Sunday, rather than listen to Emmett's favorite French CD for the 1,199th time, we popped in Dan Zanes' new ¡Nueva York! CD and gave it a whirl. The disc features songs in both Spanish and English, all with a fun, modern sound that makes it as listenable for adults as it is addictive for kids. Zanes is one of the most popular childrens' singers around -- along the lines of Raffi --- and is local to the New York area (I think Brooklyn). I find listening to music in another language is a great way to familiarize your kids with basic words and phrases in a context that can last a lifetime. Think about how long you hold onto song lyrics, even those you heard as a wee child. Sometimes by the end of a crazy day I can't even remember what I ate for breakfast, but I'll never forget the words to "Frère Jacques," which I learned in grade school in France, or the entire Carly Simon repertoire, which is burned into my brain, for better or for worse.
My interest in Zanes and his music is of course an extension of my fascination with fun language learning, and the planning that is going into Little Pim's CD project. What's really great about ¡Nueva York! in particular, for both existing fans and those new to Dan Zanes, is his decision to use the album as an opportunity to work with many talented artists and musicians, including Barbara Brousal, an accomplished vocalist and frequent Zanes collaborator who taught Spanish at St. Anne's grade school for nine years and may very well be the Spanish singer on our Little Pim CD. We are so thrilled at the prospect of working with such a talented musician on our project. But until our CD is ready, I suggest sampling ¡Nueva York! For Parents trying to teach their kids Spanish, this is a lively creative selection to add to the mix. Hasta pronto!
Milkshake, Music, and Little Pim
Last Saturday afternoon, Emmett and I went to see the kids’ band Milkshake perform at the new 92nd Street Y in Tribeca. Milkshake has been a longtime favorite in our household. Their line about "goat stew" in the song "Breakfast Time" makes Emmett collapse in fits of laughter. When I started thinking about putting together a music CD to complement the Little Pim series, Lisa Matthews and her merry band were at the top of my crazy wish list. I felt like I had won the kiddie music jackpot when they recently agreed to work with Little Pim.
In the audience at the show, I was reminded of all the reasons Milkshake were my top choice as collaborators. They tend to be parents' favorites in their kids' music collection. Their songs are cheerful and contemporary, their lyrics a great balance of cutely cloaked lessons and unabashed silliness. The band exudes a contagious positive energy and has a unique understanding of how to capture childrens’ attention. On stage, dressed as a baseball player in a tutu, Lisa batted big blow up balls for kids to catch in the audience while playing “Baseball.” During “Bottle of Sunshine,” she held up a big plastic bottle and showered the kids with thousands of squares of yellow confetti – a little kid’s dream.
At one point Lisa addressed the audience saying, “Our drummer can count to ten in Spanish. Can anyone in the audience count to ten in other languages?” I was astounded at the number of little hands that flew up around me. Emmett was chosen to count in French, and another child in the audience rattled off one-to-ten in Spanish. A two-and-a-half year old behind me counted to ten in Chinese, effortlessly. I even heard shouts of Korean numbers, recognizing them from when I used to watch Emmett’s tae-kwon-do class yell them out together during their push-ups: "Ha-na, tul, set!"
I later joked with Lisa, asking her if she threw this element into the show for my benefit. Of course, multiculturalism is a big part of Milkshake’s winning formula, and it’s a big part of the reason I am excited and honored to work with them in the near future.
