Let's Go Guang

The first product to be featured on Asianmommy Reviews is "Let's Go Guang, Episode 1:  Meet Guang, the Chinese Dragon."  Asianmommy.com received this product from aha!Chinese for free.

This new Chinese language program comes nicely packaged in a colorful box which includes a DVD, a storybook, an audio CD, flashcards, and a parent/educator guide.  The recommended age group is 2-8 years.  This program was made by Janet Lin Lawson & Karen Wu Audi, founders of aha!Chinese.

"Let's Go Guang" is an introduction-to-Mandarin program, geared towards children who are new to Mandarin Chinese.  The DVD is an animated show featuring a Chinese American family.  The 2 children, Ling and Kai, go with their parents to visit their grandparents' house.  Yeye is doing Kung fu exercises in the backyard and teaches them about his dragon style Kung fu.  There's a funny scene where Yeye tries to chop open a watermelon.  The kids go play in the basement and meet a dragon named Guang.  They learn his story and bring him Chinese dumplings to eat.  He promises to teach them Chinese, and they offer to keep him in their tree house.

The storybook and audio CD relay the same basic story.  The flash cards include English, Pinyin, and simplified Chinese characters for each Mandarin vocabulary word or phrase used in the story.  The parent/educator guide provides the vocabulary list of common words, phrases, and sentences in English, Pinyin, and simplified Chinese.  Some examples are:  Hello, Good-bye, What's your name?, Thank you, You're welcome, I'm sorry, I, you, he, we, they, family members, numbers, dragon, and monkey.  Song lyrics are also included.

What I liked:  I liked that both English and Chinese were used to introduce the kids to Mandarin.  This method maintains their interest better than some total immersion DVDs, where there are too many new words that they can't understand, which can result in boredom & frustration.

I also liked that the DVD added an element of Chinese culture, with the Grandfather's Kung Fu and the story of the Dragon.  My girls especially liked the short clip at the end, where real-life children were learning to make Chinese dumplings from scratch.  My girls are now looking forward to making Chinese dumplings themselves someday.

My daughters, ages 5 & 7, have been taking Mandarin classes for a while, so the Mandarin words used were not new to them.  Despite this, they really enjoyed the DVD.  They also liked the storybook, too.  For me, it was refreshing to find a high-quality, entertaining DVD program that teaches Mandarin Chinese to English-speaking kids.

What could be improved:  When I asked the kids which was their favorite part of the program, my 7-year-old said, "All of it, except for the part with the songs."  I have to agree with her on that.  For an early grade schooler, the story was interesting and fun.  The songs were cute, but pretty simplistic, and probably more suited for a 3-year-old.

Although the boxed set is very appealing, it would be nice to have the option to buy the DVD alone with the guide, or perhaps just the storybook with the audio CD.  That would make the program more affordable for those who'd like to try it.  In addition, for those who are not flash card people, it would be nice if the flash cards were optional, too.

Special offer for Asianmommy.com readers:  aha!Chinese is offering a 20% discount on "Let's Go Guang" to Asianmommy.com readers. You can take advantage of this offer by going to http://shop.ahachinese.com and using the code: AMSave20.