LITTLE PIM BLOG

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Learning French & Spanish: Our Trilingual Adventure with SpanglishBaby

Roxana of SpanglishBaby.com has posted her second Video Blog (Vlog) about language learning with Little Pim. If you’re new to this Vlog series, Roxana is using Little Pim to introduce French to her daughter Vanessa, four years old, who is already bilingual in Spanish and English. Roxana has been doing Skype interviews with me to get tips on making it fun for her daughter to learn French and learning about resources for her to use as a parent who is not fluent in the language her daughter is learning. This week she talks about some of the hurdles she is facing in trying to incorporate French into their daily routine. It's not as easy as she thought it would be! At the end of the video Roxana’s daughter and I sign a French song together so be sure to watch the whole video. Vanessa est adorable!

Are you teaching your child a second or third language?

Read the blog here: http://www.spanglishbaby.com/2010/10/our-trilingual-adventures-with-little-pim-media/

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Learning French & Spanish: Our Trilingual Adventure with SpanglishBaby

Are you teaching your child a second or third language?

Read the blog here: http://www.spanglishbaby.com/2010/10/our-trilingual-adventures-with-little-pim-media/

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Contest: How Do You Say "Halloween"?

Halloween is right around the corner & we're in a spooky mood! How about you? What will you be dressing up as this year? We'd love to see what your little ones in their Halloween costumes.

For this week's contest, either post a photo of your child in a Halloween costume (from this year or previous years) on our Facebook wall or email it to info@littlepim.com.

One person will win either Spanish Bop or French Bop! Both CDs feature three original songs by the popular children's band, Milkshake.

Below are a few Spanish and French Halloween vocabulary words to get you in the spirit of the season!

Spanish

una arana - spider

aterrador - scary

una bruja - witch

una calabaza - pumpkin

caramelos - candy

French

un chat noir - black cat

une chauve-souris - bat

une citrouille - pumpkin

une araignée - spider

un balai - broom

des bonbons - candy

*photo from coolhalloweencostumesforkids.net

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Little Pim Goes to Cambridge Part II (Meeting Dr. Naomi Steiner)

While in Cambridge, I also had the pleasure of meeting the dynamic and charming Dr. Naomi Steiner, a developmental-behavioral pediatrician at Tufts Medical Center. Dr. Steiner wrote the most thorough, practical book I have found about raising bilingual kids (7 Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child). The book shows that every child can learn a second language - whether or not their parents speak the language - and offers step by step approaches for families. As a mother myself raising bilingual children, we had so much to talk about! Dr. Steiner's children speak German, French and English -- and her teenage daughter started Chinese this fall! I am so happy Dr. Steiner is helping to advance the pediatric field’s understanding of the ways speaking two languages benefits young children’s brain development and she will be making important contributions in this fields. Keep an eye out for her.

: Julia & Dr. Steiner

Boston has a very international population, which is why it isn't that surprising that our soon to be Brazilian distributor calls this city home. This is Heloisa Fitzgerald, a talented and passionate fellow mom-preneur I met through Entrepreneur's Organization (EO).

Heloisa is launching "Little Pim Brazil" in 2011. Little Pim is already distributed in 6 countries outside the U.S. and we are very excited that Heloisa, a native of Brazil who is raising her own two daughters bilingual in Portugese and English, is going to introduce the Little Pim method to English learning tots in Brazil. Magnifico!

: Julia and Heloisa

This was a whirlwind 24-hour trip that left me charmed by Cambridge, energized by the people I met, and looking forward to going back for more Little Pim language fun events. Next time I’ll bring my boys, but may not be able to get beyond Curious George & Friends if I do...

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Win One DVD From Little Pim Volume II!

Volume II featuring Bob the Bobcat and Lola the Elephant has been a huge hit with our fans! Our recent appearance on the Today Show introduced the new characters to even more little language learners and we couldn't be more thrilled. Have you seen DVDs 4, 5, or 6? They are available in Spanish, French, and Chinese.

Contest: Win one DVD from Volume II in French, Spanish, or Chinese. Just leave a comment with which DVD you'd like to win and in what language!

Happy, Sad, & Silly

I Can Count!

In My Home

If the winner is a Facebook Fan and newsletter subscriber (subscribe by going to LittlePim.com), at the time their name is announced, they will also win a Little Pim plush panda!

Good luck!

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Little Pim Meets Curious George in Cambridge!

This weekend Little Pim held its first event in Cambridge MA! We held a fun, silly sing-along of Spanish and French songs from our CDs, and showed clips of the new DVDs featuring Little Pim, Bob and Lola. Many thanks to Curious George & Friends and owner Donna Friedman for hosting us. This charming, filled to the brim with goodies toy store has drawn thousands of tourists and locals from its Harvard Square location. It is definitely worth seeing if you and your little ones find yourself in Boston/Cambridge. Just don't blame me if you can't get them out of there!

Curious George & Friends carries a wonderful selection of educational books and toys in addition to its eponymous monkey collections. Little Pim is proud to have been part of Curious George's offerings for over a year. This was a fun chance to meet local families, share some songs in Spanish and French and talk with parents about raising our children with more than one language.

One question that comes up a lot is "when is the right age to start?". My answer is always the same - you can't start too young. Babies' brains are hard-wired to learn up to three languages at once and the earlier you introduce the new languages, the easier it is for them to pick them up. I suggest parents start with music and books, then introduce DVDs when they are ready, and expand to classes, playgroups and tutors.

Enjoy the photo and video below!

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Little Pim on The Today Show- Language Learning For Kids

Little Pim was featured on the Today Show on Wednesday, September 29th. The segment - "Kids Getting Ahead With Spanish, Mandarin" - was part of NBC's Education Nation week of programming. The demand for second language programs for children has been steadily increasing as parents learn about the developmental and employment advantages to growing up bilingual.

The segment featured parents and experts (including Little Pim founder, Julia Pimsleur Levine) who emphasized the importance of starting kids early on learning a second or third language.

Daniella Montalto of the NYU Institute of Learning and Academic Achievement expanded on the cognitive benefits to early second language acquisition, "Academically, children who have learned a second language tend to be better readers and writers...they also score higher on IQ tests."

Clips of Little Pim Mandarin, Spanish, and French were shown in the segment as well: ".. language DVDs, like Little Pim, [are] teaching little ones languages like Spanish, Mandarin and French."

We hope you were able to tune in! If not, enjoy the clip below. A big thank you to the Today Show for including us!

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Contest: Win a Copy of Little Pim French: In My Home (DVD 4)

Here's your chance to win a copy of Little Pim French: In My Home (DVD 4).Little Pim is an award-winning foreign language immersion DVD series for babies, toddlers and preschoolers.

Here's how to enter this contest:

Translate one of the French vocabulary words below into English. Leave the word as a comment.

une chaise

une maison

un lit

une cuisine

une table

One winner will be chosen randomly. If the winner (that could be you!) is also a Little Pim newsletter subscriber, he or she will be sent a bonus prize! Subscribe to the newsletter by going to LittlePim.com and looking for the blue box on the right.

Bonne chance!

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Sing Along With Little Pim at Giggle

This week I had a great time meeting moms, babies and caregivers when Little Pim hosted the first of three free foreign language events at Giggle stores in Manhattan. We sang songs in Spanish and French with a live guitarist named Pamela. Clips of Little Pim in various languages were also shown and many parents asked me questions about their children's foreign language learning.

At the end, we all enjoyed croissant treats while our kids colored in pictures of Little Pim! Please join us for one of our next events:

-- September 21st at the Giggle in Soho or

-- September 28th at the Giggle Upper East Side

The events are at 5:00PM and last about 45 minutes.

Little Pim's founder and mother of two, Julia Pimsleur Levine, will be in attendance.

Click here to register and RSVP : http://www.giggle.com/store_events.aspx#soho.

We'll also be in Boston on October 9th at the Curious George Book Store in Cambridge at 4:00 pm.

Visit the website: http://www.curiousg.com/index.aspx

Hasta pronto!

Two young Spanish learners:

Video clip of Pamela singing and playing guitar:

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Contest: Little Pim + SpanglishBaby = A Trilingual Adventure!

A couple of months ago I had the privilege of meeting some amazing multilingual bloggers at a special lunch I hosted for BlogHer conference attendees. One of those bloggers was Roxana Soto; she runs the website SpanglishBaby with her business partner, Ana Flores. When they suggested that SpanglishBaby and Little Pim partner up to help Roxana teach her 4-year-old her third language, French, how could we say no?

From Roxana via SpanglishBaby.com:

"In an effort to make this venture into a third language more of a reality, we’ve partnered with the fabulous Little Pim and will be using their entertaining and educational products and materials for our trilingual adventures.

The plan is for me to document Vanessa’s progress through regular posts and to also bring you expert advice in the form of vlogs of the consultations we’ll have with Julia Pimsleur Levine -- Little Pim’s founder -- to help us along our journey!"

Whether you're using Little Pim to help your child learn English, start on a second language or a fifth, you'll want to follow this journey and glean some tips along the way.

Watch the first vlog below. Happy language learning!

Contest: In the comments below, share one way you can help or are helping your child pick up words from a second language. One person who comments will win either Spanish Bop or French Bop!

Click "Share on Facebook" and receive a bonus entry by leaving an "I shared!" comment below!

If the winning person is also a subscriber of the Little Pim newsletter when they are picked, they'll also receive a Little Pim Plush Panda! Subscribe here: http://www.LittlePim.com/