Welcome to Kids Guide To The Globe, a blog that reviews contemporary foreign language music for kids and families. I scout out the best kids' music in French, German, Spanish, and anything else I can find. Not traditional folk songs, but the groups that are composing and recording and touring right now - all geared towards children.
Learning a foreign language is so much easier, and more fun, with music. Who doesn't know how to say "Morning bells are ringing" in French? Sonnez les matines... Or, thanks to the Beatles, "I wanna hold your hand" in German? Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand... OK, maybe not an exact translation, but at least it's cooler than knowing how to say, "And on that farm he had a pig, E I E I O."
We've got so much great music for kids these days. Rockers and singers doing kids' albums. Great bands playing mainly for kids. That's what I wanted to play for my children, only in languages other than English.
I wanted the German version of John Lithgow, the French Ralph's World, the Spanish answer to Dan Zanes... There had to be something good out there. And what about Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, Italian and Swedish? Just to name a few?
So I got on line and searched. And searched, and searched, and searched, into the wee hours of the dawn, a crazed, bleary-eyed mom on a hopeless, Quixotic Google quest.
Here's what I found: endless, crappy "language learning" drivel. Watered-down compilations of American songs (Old MacDonald, Twinkle Twinkle) translated into other languages. My kids and I won't listen to that in English. Why should we bother with it in French?
Dang, I thought, rubbing my eyes and forcing myself to shut down the computer at 4am. It's so easy for American music. I just hop onto Amazon.com, type in some key words...
rrring! rrring!
It was the Clue Phone. I picked it up. "Darrrrrrrrr," said a voice.
And Kids' Guide To The Globe was born. I search out and review the best in children's foreign language music, from around the world. I post links to fun language learning websites and other tools.
I'll provide links to foreign language websites to make your ordering easier. If you use my links, you pay the same price that you would pay on your own. I get a small commission, which I'll use to keep this website going. I LOVE this music. I listen to it all the time, even without the kids.
My French is rapidly improving, and I now know a smattering of German and Spanish. My children are developing great accents, and respectable vocabularies. And we're learning so much about kids' life in other countries. Little catch-phrases, games, jokes. Stuff you can't get from "Old MacDonald Had a Farm."
I can't wait to see what else I'll dig up. I hope that you enjoy this music, and that you love sharing it with your children, as much as I do.
Carole Gaudet
