Teach Me Hebrew (Paperback and Audio CD): A Musical Journey Through the Day

Rating:
Summary: Teach your toddlers to talk (in other languages)
Review: I purchased this lovely introductory tape and played it for my son, who was then about 18 months old. He adored it, and sang along with it, and asked me questions about it - so much so that the tape just plum wore out! So I am now ordering another one in Hebrew, and one in Russian, too. I believe that learning language arts through song and interesting narrative is an effective tool - it's enjoyable rather than tedious for the child. The fact that the narratives are voiced by children is also very important, as I think children prefer to hear young voices just like theirs. Teach Me Tapes are a job well done! Wish I'd thought of doing it myself!

Rating:
Summary: Fine if you don't want an authentic accent
Review: I've searched unsuccessfully to find Hebrew materials suitable for my young children to assist me in teaching them the language, and I was very excited when I came upon this item. The concept of translating familiar songs is nice, but the execution loses a lot in my eyes (or ears, actually) because they didn't bother to get speakers with native Israeli accents. It doesn't seem like it would have taken a whole lot of effort to do this and the product would have been infinitely better. If you don't mind your kids learning Hebrew with a very strong American accent, this is a good choice. Otherwise you (and I) will have to keep looking. I haven't listened to other languages in this series so I don't know if they are similarly American-accented or not.