Boca Beth es magnifico!

When your five-year-old, who normally eschews all things requiring brain power at the end of his day in favor of Power Rangers, insists on watching an educational video while he's eating his dessert and develops a little bit of attitude when it's time for his bath instead of finishing the video, you know you're onto something.

This something is Boca Beth. Developed by educator Beth Butler, Boca Beth focuses on teaching children a second language in a way that's lighthearted and fun. I received a DVD called "I Like Animals/Me Gustan Animales", a CD filled with songs, a coloring book, a Boca puppet (that was immediately commandeered by Monkey Man), and a little mini-maraca (also stolen by him). It was like Christmas!

The DVD, which features Beth Butler as the narrator, isn't as slick as some kids' videos that are out there. But what it lacks in video wizardry, it makes up for in Beth's sheer enthusiasm for Spanish that shines through the entire DVD. And not only is she enthusiastic, but her voice is very pleasant and soothing. She talks about the animals in English and Spanish, along with subtitles at the bottom of the screen. I found this part of the video to be the easiest to follow along with. Interspersed throughout are songs, which are typical kid songs like "Five Little Monkeys" that are sung in English and Spanish, with some songs given new lyrics to teach new words. It's very cleverly done without being cheesy.

At the end of the video, there is an instructional session that Beth Butler does with a group of preschoolers and toddlers and their parents. While the group is genuinely enthusiastic (and the kids are absolutely a riot to watch as they are totally hooked at this point), the audio quality in this part of the video is pretty disappointing. The songs that she sings while using puppets and props have great promise, but it's hard to understand at points and perhaps either better sound engineering or some subtitles at the bottom would help a lot. Despite this, though, Beth's passion comes bursting through in her interaction with the kids and it's hard not to get caught up in the little class. Even Monkey Man was bopping along with the songs.

We listened to the CD in the car a few times - honestly, Monkey Man is way more visual so he liked the DVD a lot better. He has never been a big fan of children's CD's, much like his mom - if it's not Def Leppard, he's pretty much not into it very much. I thought the songs were very catchy and decided to try them out the other weekend when we had friends over that had younger children. They were dancing out in our driveway like a bunch of fiends, so I would say that despite Monkey Man's music issues, the CD is popular with most kids who don't get into headbanging. Ahem.

Monkey Man was totally enamored with Boca, the puppet that goes along with the set. He has carried Boca around quite a bit since he came into our life! And to go along with that, the coloring book features Boca and is just as good as a textbook in my opinion - each page has a word in Spanish and English, and we've gone through the coloring book a lot to not only color but to go over the words.

Boca Beth might not be as slickly produced as Baby Einstein videos are, but in my own opinion the educational value of the program is far superior. Beth Butler has done an excellent job presenting Spanish in a way that is not only appealing to a wide age range, but it's done in a way that's downright infectious. Not to mention that after watching the video myself, I probably learned more Spanish than I did in two years of college-level Spanish classes!

Check out Boca Beth - they have several other videos available as well as other products. You can purchase them at the Boca Beth website, or at Amazon.

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