MUZZY - anyone got feedback from this language program?

[Lizzer]

I've never heard of it until today. Just got a leaflet through the post today claiming you could get a free trial (dvd's books etc) for 30 days. Really want dd to learn French or Italian but dubious as to actual cost (not mentioned anywhere on brochure) if I wanted to go ahead, also the trial's not excatly 'free' as its £7 p&p. don't even know why it was sent to my address btw....

Any advice, good or bad, greatly received.....

Don't bother - it's rubbish! (French teacher speaking here ....)

If you want dd to learn French then send them to classes like 'la jolie ronde' - she's much more likely to actually learn something!

Don't know if there's an equivalent for Italian though.

can't get into jolie ronde unless you go to a school that has it as an after school club, have tried to email them but got no reply

Hi thanks for response, we live in the back of beyond so no jolie ronde unfortunately. I lovely french lady was doing classes from 3 to 6 yrs but dd is 7 now and learnt a bit at school, just wanted to expand on that really. Italian seemed good because we visit the country at least twice a yr. At least I know not to bother with Muzzy, unless anyone else has an opinion to share? [hopeful emoticon]

It's crap - ds1 learnt more spanish from Dora than he ever did from Muzzy. It's really old fashioned cartoon, really not gripping... ended up selling it on ebay.

Which is my next tip - if you have to buy it, get it second hand on ebay. The prices they charge new are a COMPLETE rip off for what you get.

Heard negative stuff about Muzzy and about how much it is for quite porr quality.

This DVD - First Fun with French/panish - are really good fun, and ideal for younger children. DD has learnt lots of French with hers.

DS used it at nursery, and it seemed to work for him, but it was backed up by a couple of the nursery nurses (originally from french speaking islands in the caribbean) speaking and singing in french to the children

Ah, just seen DD is a bit older. DVD still quite good for the vocab, but the actual visuals might be a little too young though.

Shall I measure the thickness of the layer of dust on my two DVD sets? My (very kind) stepdad was keen that I bought these and offered to pay half the cost but waste of money IMO.

Seems quite dated really - I'm sure I remember this series from when I taught EFL in Poland 15 years ago. DD3 is scared of Muzzy anyway.

Somehow I just don't see TV as being the best medium for learning a language. La Jolie Ronde has been good - native speaker, games and songs etc.

sixthformmum - fwiw jolie ronde is run as a franchise operation - it just may be that all the local operators have linked themselves to schools. It's not necessarily always the case.

How do I know this? I toyed with the idea of becoming a franchisee when deciding whether I wanted to go back to teaching in secondary school after ds was born ... (I didn't in the end - decided that I preferred teenagers!)

fortunately TV5 comes as part of cable tv package

Officially binning the muzzl leaflet now! Thanks guys, saved me a fortune methinks [grn]

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