Why no DVDs?

At Small Talk we don’t sell DVDs for children.  It’s not that we don’t like them.  Between us, we have more copies of “Finding Nemo,” “Cars” and “The Sword in the Stone,” than we know what do with.  But those videos aren’t making our kids any smarter.  Research shows that movie and television viewing for kids younger than 3 years is often ineffective and in some cases can cause ADHD by age 7 (Read about this in the “Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics” here and here).  The Walt Disney Company even issued refunds for its Baby Einstein DVDs, admitting that they had falsely advertised the videos’ ability to increase baby brilliance (Read about this in the NY Times here).

As far as learning a language goes, studies have shown that babies and young children learn best when they have real, one-on-one interactions with a person who speaks that language (Read about this in Time Magazine here and on Patricia Kuhl’s website here).  When parents and caretakers play with babies, cooing, laughing and talking “baby talk,” the child’s brain is stimulated and language learning occurs.

At Small Talk for Kids we do our best to replicate those parent-child interactions that provided us all with the knowledge of our first language:

• Small Talk classes are play focused and intentionally small, so kids (and parents) can maximize interaction with a native speaking teacher.
• Small Talk at Home materials are designed to create authentic parent child interactions in the context of a second language. Every Small Talk at Home material comes with a set of activities for you and your child.  Our books come with MP3s and Videos (short ones, for you the parent or caregiver to watch with your child).  The MP3s and Videos provide authentic pronunciation of the book text and key vocabulary.  They are tools for parents to use to help them play/read with their children in another language.