Pinata! and More!: Bilingual Songs for Children

Rating:
Summary: A great educational tool!
Review: I disagree with the previous review that said it gave mixed messages! My kids who are all under the age of 6 are learning new words. They love singing the songs both in spanish and english. As children we learn to speak english by hearing our parents speak it, not by conjugating verbs! That is the approach we are taking in teaching our kids to speak spanish. Sandra Barchas has provided a wonderful suppliment to our curricullum. It is fun and I enjoy the songs as well. We all find ourselves singing it throughout our day. I highly reccomend it! Thanks! Kim Chase

Rating:
Summary: Charming!
Review: I think it' a charming cassette with great songs.

Rating:
Summary: Mixed lyrics give mixed messages
Review: This is a 25 page book and tape set of 20 songs. The illustrations are simple black and white drawings and the songs are sung intermitantly with Spanish and English lyrics. Through my years of experience as both a Spanish and ESL teacher I feel complelled to mention that it is best to learn languages through a single language approach. In other words, a song ought to be strictly in Spanish or in English rather than mixing the two languages half hazardly. You run the risk of low comprehension in both languages.

To her credit Sarah Barchas wrote the majority of the 20 songs and accompanies with her guitar. She has a very folksy voice yet can be a bit monotoned at times. Four of the songs Ms. Barchas wrote practice colors and one involves farm animals. The remaining songs she authored revolve around famous modern hispanics and Mexican history. Lastly, Ms. Barchas included 3 tradtional songs: Las mananitas, Los pollitos, and De colores. Again, all songs are one lyric line of Spanish and the next is English.