Is Muzzy the best home scheme for learning languages?

[MrsWobbleTheWaitress]

DD1's French club won't run over the summer and she really loves it. She's only been doing spoken French so far, but I think their teacher is going to be thinking about doing something for the older children in the group, who are reading and writing at some point.

Anyway, in the meantime, she's quite keen to have something to do at home. She's got a load of French activity books which I got from The Book People but she's not really found them particularly engaging.

So I was wondering about Muzzy? Or is there anything else I haven't thought about?

Also, what about a French penpal? How would I go about finding her someone to write to?

She's 7, btw, and a fluent reader.

If I could get a copy of Muzzy cheaply I would do, but to buy it new is v expensive.

Why not buy some French music CDs (Amazon have some), to listen to in the car, and some bilingual or simple French story books (you can read these with her - you can often buy multipacks from places like redhouse or the book people).

Or, if you have the funds, a day trip or short break in France to stimulate her appetite - nothing like motivation to help people learn a language - and a love of croissants, glaces, and new friends might help.

For a penpal, you could ask the British Council if they run some sort of matching service, or contact your town twinning association if you have one.

We just got Spanish Muzzy from the charity shop, so will be watching with interest!

Also watching with interest, as DD2 is very interested in Spanish (mainly thanks to Dora the Explorer) and I was wondering whether to buy Muzzy for her birthday.

Can't help with the French penpal I'm afraid, but DD1 (8) and DD2 (nearly 6) can write in German if anyone is interested (we're in Austria).

I've found some reviews online saying Muzzy seems to be loved or hated!

Has anyone ever used any Skoldo stuff?

Our Muzzy cost us £2.99, but as usual with charity shops, you just need to keep your eyes open!

I have only ever heard 1 good report of Muzzy - everyone else I've heard comments from has said that it's really old-fashioned and not very good! I have to say that I've never seen it so shouldn't really comment but as a languages teacher, it doesn't sound great from what I've heard and certainly no good as a stand-alone.

SKOLDO I have used with my 3 DCs and I really like it! We used the Elementary French and Spanish books. Each 'lesson' teaches 5 words (colours, numbers to 10, food, drink, clothes, body parts, animals etc) or a question/answer (name, age, where you live, how you are) or a song (some traditional, some made up). The CD is quite clear and a reasonable speed and is included in the price. The songs aren't too irritating either - I can still listen to them, join in and smile and we've been singing them for 4 years!!

Book 1 French is pretty good but very similar to Elementary. Book 2 is rubbish! A collection of worksheets, some of which are very good, but not a coherent course. OK to dip into to reinforce a specific point.

Linzertorte - I'm assuming you are in Linz?! I spent 2 very happy years there back in the 1980s and loved it. Is Jindrak still serving delicious cakes?

Tinuviel - we're actually just outside Vienna, but DH is from a small village near to Linz and we often go there to visit my in-laws. I would never have expected to see Jindrak mentioned on MN! What were you doing in Linz? [nosey emoticon] Yes, it's still there and still has far too many tempting cakes (but stopped serving its Hauskaffee unfortunately; I have to have cafe latte there now instead).

I started as an au-pair in Leonding but had an awful time. So I moved out and taught English at WIFI (Chamber of Commerce). I also did a bit of nannying for a lovely family. Jindrak was my favourite Konditorei!! I still keep in touch with some of the people I met there, if somewhat infrequently! I lived on the Froschberg.

Sorry Mrs W. Hope my info on Muzzy/Skoldo was useful.

Galore Park is quite useful when they get older - very rigorous!!

Yes, the info was really helpful.

Ok, DD1 says she wants Muzzy because she's seen adverts for it on tv and wants to watch the story!

Any ideas how I can persuade her that she'll enjoy Skoldo better? She doesn't like being taught!

Wow!! I didn't know there were Muzzy adverts on TV. Well, in that case, I would maybe compromise and say that if you can get it secondhand, you'll get it and in the meantime, she could have a go with Skoldo. If she doesn't like being taught, I would hand her the book/CD and let her get on with it. It doesn't really need adult input, provided she's willing to check with you if there's something she's not sure about. The songs I put onto my MP3 and we sing them in the car!! It drives DH mad as he doesn't know any French!!

The other thing would be to get some books she knows in English - easy pre-school books - in French and hand her those. My 3 love 'The Mole Who Knew it was None of his Business' in French. We also have Handa's Surprise, Guess How Much I Love You, Elmer's Friends, We're going on a bear hunt and a few others. Some we bought when we were in France (going again this year, so will be stocking up!) However, some are available on amazon. I went onto amazon.fr and put in authors to find out the French titles, then put them into amazon.co.uk.

Ooh great idea about the books, and about the compromise - thank you

I loved Muzzy as a child but can't afford it.

going to attempt to record my old copy from video to dvd!

sorry can't tell you the brand but my mum got a set from The Book People of dual language stories - really simple with English and French.

I agree that Muzzy is old fashioned but that hasn't bothered my daughter at all. She has learned loads from just sitting and watching.
You can get second hand copies of Muzzy on ebay, by the way, but they usually go for £50 or more.
Also, you can ask at the library for bilingual books and did you know that Bookstart (who do free books for 1, 2 and 3 year old) will give you a free bilingual book if you say you are bringing up your child bilingual. They have to be 3 or under though.

Not a Muzzy fan here either, but if you do want to try it, see if your library has it in - there's pretty much always a set somewhere in the county library system and then you can reserve it and have it delivered to your home library for almost free.

That's helpful info, kodokan - thank you!

We got a BBC thing called Serge something or other that had great reviews on amazon and was very inexpensive. The girls like the dvd so far

Don't rule out Michel Thomas- my 9 year old is making great progress on the advanced Russian Course. My 5 year old is begging for the Muzzy French, but I think it's absurdly overpriced and I'll be starting her with Michel as soon as she's ready. Much as I like the idea of a child-friendly language course with cartoons and songs, the hard sell and the price have put me off Muzzy,so I will wait until her attention span improves, and give the overpriced kiddie courses a miss.

I don't get on with Michel Thomas, personally. We have used Rosetta Stone (for Russian and German). DC were 8 and 10 when we started on the Russian.

It is computer-based and we started off using audio and pictures alone. We have now gone back to the beginning and are using pictures with reading. You can also do writing (well, typing) and speak to it.

We bought our first CD very cheaply on eBay. You can also use RS online, on a subscription basis (currently £200pa for access to all levels) but as I expected to go very slowly over years, I thought that it was better value to have the CD at home (£200 per level). We used a 6-month sub for German as we wanted to do that quickly on a daily basis. There is an online demo.

We have not been very constant at Russian but DS is now 15 and considering taking an exam in it, so we have also started with a teacher. However, we are continuing with other methods (such as RS) in order to maximise the time with her. She is quite impressed at how fast we are moving in it.