Music Friday: Rock n' Learn Spanish

Hey there, it is that time of the week again and I am finially on the ball this week. I just wanted to remind you first of a post I did a few weeks ago on Music Friday. Emelie Sande was the focus of the post and I am happy to report that she is finally being played on the radio here and her music is fantastic. Check her out!
                                                                      

This week I am heading back into kids music, yeah! My kids have been enjoying listening to an educational cd in the car that is to help them learn Spanish. It is a cd called Rock n' Learn Spanish, they also have DVDs.

                                                                      

I have to say that it is a bit loud but my 2 year old repeats the words already and with very good pronunciation for a two year old. My son can count to ten in Spanish. Since this is the best age for learning language (after all that is one of their main jobs during the first few years so they can communicate with us) I figure that listening to this will at least help get a few words in there brains. I already knew most of it but am understanding it much better now.

Interestingly there are many of the same benefits to brain growth with learning a second language as there are for exposure to music.  During the early years our brains actually build more brain cells to deal with new languages (including music)! This seems to help later in life with processing all information (http://www.musiclingua.com/early-language-benefits.html). What a perfect pair. :)

I know that I still remember what words mean from Raffi songs that were in sung in Spanish that I listened to when I was a child. After taking a year and a half of college Spanish those are still the easiest words for me to understand. I also remember a lot of the songs we sang in French class in high school but not much else. This just helps to provide anecdotal evidence that music helps to reinforce the learning of a second language and that learning it young is very helpful.

Have a great weekend!