Friday, October 9, 2009

Boca Beth Song Review and CD Giveaway

Every parent wants the best for their child and for many of us that means exposing our children to a second language. What better way to do this than through music? I recently had the chance to hear a couple of songs from Boca Beth, a company that has created a unique Spanish/English bilingual language program. Boca Beth's songs teach vocabulary such as colors, numbers, names of fruits, days of the week, and so much more. There is even a limited edition CD of bilingual Christian songs.

What I like:
  • Bear took to the bright, upbeat songs right away and was able to sing along almost immediately.
  • The songs I reviewed include both Spanish and English within the song. This is called a bilingual presentation or parallel learning. This is how Bear learns a lot of her French at home as I will speak to her in English and then immediately say the same thing to her in French.
  • This bilingual presentation encourages parents who may not have any knowledge of Spanish.
  • The repetition of the words and phrases allow children (and parents) to learn the vocabulary more quickly.
  • The Christian song I got to hear taught values such as sharing, helping around the house, and being kind.
  • Boca Beth offers many free resources on her website. There are vocabulary cards that display the words in both English and Spanish. The cards mostly have photographs, which I liked, and also include phonetic spelling so you know how to pronounce the words. There are also coloring pages available.
What I liked less:
  • Just a minor quirk, but it can actually be a positive thing. The songs are not sung by a native speaker. Yet, this very thing acts more as encouragement to parents, helping them realize that they do not have to speak Spanish fluently to be able to provide a bilingual environment for their children.
You can see the Boca Beth program in action on youtube . What a wonderful, active way to learn.

Giveaway:

Boca Beth has generously offered their best selling bilingual music CD, My First Songs in Spanish, and a child size maraca for a giveaway. The giveaway is open to US residents and ends October 22.

How to Enter:
Mandatory entry:
Visit Boca Beth and tell me one thing that makes her program unique.

Extra entries:
1. Follow The Adventures of Bear (leave a separate comment for each entry)
2. Blog about this giveaway and leave a link to the post - 2 entries (leave a separate comment for each entry)
3. Follow me on Twitter and tweet about the giveaway - 3 entries

Please make sure your blogger email is enabled or leave your email in the comment. Your entry will be deleted otherwise. I will use random number generator to choose a winner.

19 comments:

  1. I have heard about Boca Beth but I have not had any experience with her product. Since my son already speaks Spanish, I would be mostly interested in the CD for my Mommy and Me Spanish classes that I hold at my house for non-Spanish speaking friends. I went to the website and I like the bilingual format of the songs. They would be perfect for the pre-school age children in my classes. I will blog about your giveaway this weekend.

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  2. I went to the website and I like how they have gone green :) I think that the CD would be a great addition to my Mommy and Me Music Class that I hold at my house :)

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  3. I am already a follower... I love your blog :)

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  4. I have wanted to try these CDs with Wes. The girls take Spanish in school, so I thought it would be neat for Wes to start learning the basics.

    What makes Boca Beth unique? She has gone green!

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  5. I am a follower.

    Keeping my fingers (and toes) crossed.

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  6. I subscribed - Google Reader.

    Keeping my fingers (and toes) crossed.

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  7. I blogged about your giveaway. http://mybilingualboys.blogspot.com/2009/10/great-giveaways-boca-beth.html
    I will do a follow-up/reminder blog in a week. :)

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  8. The parent doesn't need to be a 2nd-language speaker - so it might actually work for us! :)

    janemaritz at yahoo dot com

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  9. I'm a follower...

    janemaritz at yahoo dot com

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  10. And we posted about this at Winning Readings:

    http://winningreadings.blogspot.com/2009/10/my-first-songs-in-spanish-cd.html

    janemaritz at yahoo dot com
    #1

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  11. And we posted about this at Winning Readings:

    http://winningreadings.blogspot.com/2009/10/my-first-songs-in-spanish-cd.html

    janemaritz at yahoo dot com
    #2

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  12. I think Boca Beth is unique because she teaches a valuable language skill but she also teaches values to children & makes it fun so they don't even realize its a lesson :) The fact she has gone green is a bonus :)
    plb8156@aol.com

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  13. I follow on google friends
    plb8156@aol.com

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  14. I follow on twitter & tweeted 1
    http://twitter.com/plb8156/status/5041739921
    plb8156@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  15. I follow on twitter & tweeted 2
    http://twitter.com/plb8156/status/5041739921
    plb8156@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  16. I follow on twitter & tweeted 3
    http://twitter.com/plb8156/status/5041739921
    plb8156@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  17. I like that we (parents) don't have to be fluent in the foreign language.

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