Disney World of English

[concerned]

Hi All
Just wondering has anyone experience with using Disney World of English?
THe sales rep visited us here yesterday and showed us this, which consisted of books, toys and DVDs.touchpens
Prices range from 4.500 Yen to 14,700 Yen a month for totals of 251,000 Yen to 835,000 Yen respectively
The sales person was really doing the hard sell with us; if we signed up on the day we would of got a free Blue Ray player device which would have allowed our daighter to also study in the car...

My Daughter is one and a half years old, and my wife is Japanese.

I do speak some english to my daughter, but after a days work sometimes dont have much time.
I also plan to send her to KinderGarden which has a little bit of english (English Songs) but not much

Just wondering what others are doing? Are there books/websites recommended?
Thanks

[RetireJapan]

I wouldn't pay for the Disney thing

Anyone who tries to pressure you into signing (deadlines, good offers that expire) probably doesn't have much confidence in their product.

With my 8-year old granddaughter I am the only one who speaks English to her, and her English is better than I expected.

What I did/do:

I only speak to her in English. She complained a bit sometimes (because I speak to other people in Japanese) but I explained why I was doing it and she seems fine with it now.
We watch movies together in English.
I got Netflix and started watching it with her. Now she watches it by herself, but she's only allowed to watch it in English.
We read books together. In order to use her tablet she has to read a book to me in English

I don't see her for more than a few minutes (if that) on weekdays, and a few hours on Sundays, but she can understand pretty much everything I say and occasionally tries to speak English herself. Most of the time she speaks to me in Japanese, which I think is fine as I want to communicate with her/have a good relationship.

She's by no means anywhere near bilingual, but she'll have a really good base if she ever decides she wants to learn English properly. And that is from just a few minutes a day, consistently since she was born.

For a parent living with a child, you should be able to get better results with some effort. Good luck! Having a second language is a gift, especially because you then know that you can learn more

[adamu]

I do speak some english to my daughter, but after a days work sometimes dont have much time.

I'm not a parent, but work will always be there, time with your daughter at this age only one happens once.

Daily English with Dad is a service that that no sales rep could put a price on because it's priceless

P.S. Happy Father's Day.

[concerned]

Thank you both for your replies

*Anyone who tries to pressure you into signing (deadlines, good offers that expire) probably doesn't have much confidence in their product.*

Yep, if this was really any good, it would sell itself...

Thanks! for outlining your approach, appreciate it

I just cancellled my Netflix, must check oout the children content on this

*Daily EnEnglish with Dad is a service that that no sales rep could put a price on because it's priceless *

Yep, best to have a re-evalution of this, and not miss this opportunity.

[RetireJapan]

I just cancellled my Netflix, must check oout the children content on this

Netflix is good because it lets you choose the language and subtitles. I also have Amazon Prime, but almost all their kids stuff is dubbed and can't be changed.

Haven't tried the new Disney service because apparently they are still requiring a docomo account, and I can't be bothered to jump through that hoop

[fools_gold]

Check out the local library services in your home country. For example, many US libraries have contracts with Rakuten Overdrive or Libby so that you can borrow ebooks and videos online. I lived in America for a year, and was pleasantly surprised to find that I could still log on and borrow ebooks to read to my son when I came back to Japan.

[concerned]

I just cancellled my Netflix, must check oout the children content on this

Netflix is good because it lets you choose the language and subtitles. I also have Amazon Prime, but almost all their kids stuff is dubbed and can't be changed.

Thanks! for the tip on Netflix

[concerned]

Check out the local library services in your home country. For example, many US libraries have contracts with Rakuten Overdrive or Libby so that you can borrow ebooks and videos online. I lived in America for a year, and was pleasantly surprised to find that I could still log on and borrow ebooks to read to my son when I came back to Japan.

Thanks! will have a look into this

[mule96]

My wife also mentioned Disney World of English, as our first child is underway They don't put prices on the website, which is always suspicious for me. But with the info here, that feels like an expensive service. Just use half of it for toys/educational content and invest the other half?

I am curious though, is anybody here non-English native and has a trilingual household (eg father and mother speak each in their native language to the child, and the parent speaks English between them)?

[StockBeard]

We used Disney World of English for a couple years on our first kid. My wife got pressured into buying it, although you can buy it used for significantly less which is what she did. We got a version from the 90's with hilariously outdated clothes on all actors.

My two cents: huge waste of money. This thing is freaking expensive (thousands of dollars) for a handful of DVDs and useless word games. Talk and read books to your kids, let them watch the shows they enjoy in English, and they will make much more progress than with that program.

We are in a trilingual househould (Japanese/French/English), however the only really trilingual person is our first kid. For the two other ones, I never had the time to get them up to speed in English/French, so Japanese is their main gig.

What worked for us:
- reading a book in the language of choice, every day before bed
- Playing with them, translating everything they say/act with simple words (e.g. if they're playing with an Elephant plush doll, asking them questions in English e.g. "Oh, is that an Elephant?" "Is he eating the food you made him?")
- Video games and movies. For a very long time my kids ignored that cartoons in Japanese were a thing (then my wife broke that. Be stronger than I was, and banish Japanese from your entertainment options, if you want your kids to catch up on their non-mother language)
- Probably the biggest boost was that we lived 2.5 years in the US. That transformed my son from almost nonexistent English to practically bilingual. Obviously that's not doable by everyone, but I need to call it out as this was the main factor for him. We were in the US when he was between ages 4 to 6. He is 9 now and speaks mostly English (a bit of French) with me.

Again, calling out that this mostly worked for my first kid, but that after that I didn't have the resources to do the same with the next 2 kids. Also the girls don't like Video games and movies as much as their older brother does... but Frozen2 has been a hit, even if it's in English, so there's hope.